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estinoseSummary: A friend of Cassie's discovers something she shouldn't.
Disclaimers: Everybody except maybe Cassie's old friends and the MotD belong to Saban (or whoever owns PR now).
Author's Notes: I decided to take a break and write this fic that was posed to me. Based loosely on a real incident (aka why cellphones and I don't mix... long story). As you can probably guess, this is not a Jen/Wes fic. Set early second season Turbo.
Everyone Makes Mistakes
by Estirose
copyright 2002
Her cellphone rang.
Cassie snatched it up, breathless. "Hey, girl," came from the other end of the line. A smile lighted up her face as she recognized the voice. Andrea had been one of her closest friends at school, at least until Cassie had decided to come down to Stone Canyon, in the hopes of catching a music producer's eye.
She hadn't yet, of course. Yes, she had wanted a career in music, but she'd been handed something more important. Something far more important than her original goals and aims.
Cassie Chan, total newcomer to the area, had followed her heart and ended up being chosen to be a Ranger by Katherine, her now-retired predecessor. She'd been on the team only a few weeks and she had to admit that she wouldn't have missed it for the world.
Which, of course, didn't mean that she didn't miss her friends back home, nor that Rangering had its own tough spots, but some things were a small price to pay.
"Hey, Andrea. What's happening?" she asked enthusiastically. Andrea didn't share her taste in music, of course, but her friend had provided her plenty of piano support on the pianos hidden in the back hallways of the fine arts building.
"Not much. Ms. Richardson just said she missed you; thought you might want to hear that."
Ms. Richardson had been one of Cassie's English teachers, as well as being the school's drama coach. Cassie arched her eyebrows in surprise. "She did?"
"Don't act so surprised," Andrea said. "I mean, you did great. Just because she didn't say anything didn't mean she didn't like you. I keep telling you that."
Cassie grinned again, taking a sip of her soda. For once, all was quiet, with nary a Divatox monster to be found to disrupt her day. It was safe to discuss her past with one of her better friends instead of being tense and waiting for a monster alert. "I'll take that as a complement."
"You'd better," Andrea replied. "Anyway, we're doing 'Oliver!' this year. I got a bit part again. Old Sally, or somebody like that, and so I get to be in this tavern scene and then I get to talk about lockets, but that's it. You didn't miss much. Aaron's up to his usual havoc, Mr. Card's got us all doing diagrams again. The same old same old."
She could just about hear the rolling of Andrea's eyes as she related the last tidbits of what had been their mutual life at LB High. High school was a pretty staid place, and she wasn't about to admit that she missed things from there sometimes, and how lonely Angel Grove High was even with her teammates present.
Screaming came from her left and she instinctively turned towards the source, all thoughts of pleasant days at her old high school disappearing as half a dozen people fled down the street. The source of their vexation was immediately apparent as one of Divatox's uglier creations became visible. "Andrea, talk to you later," she said, quickly hitting the 'end transmission' without looking as she pocketed the cellphone, moving to intercept the monster before it could harm anyone. Protect the civilians, that was what a Ranger did.
"Stop right there!" she yelled at it, knowing that it probably wouldn't stop but hoping to gain as much of its attention as was possible. She had to get it to focus in on her instead of the fleeing people.
"Ah, Pink Ranger," the monster replied, in what was a somewhat pleasant contrast to its ugly appearance. The discrepancy made her stare, almost forgetting who she was and what she was there for. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Perrizmo, and I will eradicate your memory from the face of this planet."
"You and what army?" she asked, seeing no pirahnatrons around to annoy her or cause a distraction.
"Ah, but the powers of the mind are so much more satisfactory than the use of brute force," he said. "It is unfortunate, though, that my employer prefers more of a direct approach."
With that, he shot out a beam of bright light, and Cassie remembered no more.
* * *
Cassie woke up in the command center, blinking and wondering why she was there. No monsters had attacked to her knowledge, yet apparently her teammates were there. TJ walked over to her, gently pushing her back down onto the table. "Lie down."
"What happened?" she asked, lying back down. Spots stopped dancing in front of her eyes, and she felt a little better once she kept her head down.
"Divatox's monster hit you pretty hard," TJ offered. "Alpha says you'll be okay, but you need to rest a while."
"Monster? What monster?" Cassie asked, raising her head and then deciding that it wasn't the wisest thing to do. She plopped it back down.
TJ looked pained. "You don't remember?" he asked. She shook her head.
"It looks like she was hit by some kind of ray," the youngest member of Cassie's team, Justin, replied.
"But none of us were," TJ said to him, and when he turned she could just about see Justin.
"Maybe it's some kind of effect that Perrizmo could only use every few minutes. After all, we defeated him pretty easily," Ashley offered from somewhere farther away.
"In any case, she needs to rest," TJ said to the others, facing away from her. He'd said it in his best Leader Voice, though with TJ, it was always more of a suggestion than a command.
"I'll take her home," Ashley offered. "She's been checked so I don't think her family will worry."
TJ nodded. "Cassie? Do you feel up to it?"
Cassie lifted herself off the table, knowing that she'd prefer her own bed to the hard surface of the diagnostic table. The spots lingered in front of her eyes, though, and she had to admit that she'd be glad to get off her feet once she got to where she could relax.
* * *
The phone rang, and Cassie levered herself out of bed to answer it. Her cellphone, once she had found it, had proved to have run out of charge, mostly due to her leaving it on. She wondered how long she'd been out really, since the monster of the day had somehow caused her to lose some of her memories.
"Cassie? Hello?"
It was Andrea, and she sounded anxious. Cassie's forehead wrinkled as she tried to think of what would cause her friend to sound so upset. "What's up, Andrea?"
"I gotta tell you something... but your cell was off, I tried calling you and I couldn't get you. Is anyone else home?"
Cassie shook her head. "I don't know. I just woke up. What's wrong, Andrea?" she asked, knowing that Andrea was on the verge of babbling things over and over. Cassie had seen her in that state once or twice before and she didn't particularly want to hear it again.
"It's... Cassie. I know. I know about you. Uh, call me back when you're sure you're alone, okay?"
With that, the phone clicked and went to a dialtone.
* * *
"Cassie, what's wrong?" TJ asked. The current leader of the Power Rangers looked concerned, but then again, TJ tended to be concerned a lot. He had taken Tommy's role and run with it. Cassie made a face, not certain she wanted to tell her friend and team leader, but finally gave up, not wanting to have TJ stare at her in concern. That was more than she could really handle.
"I got a call from a friend earlier," she said. "She said she tried to call me, wanted to make sure I was alone, and when I said I wasn't sure, she hung up on me!"
TJ leaned forward, instantly assuming what she considered "confidential friend" mode, though he also used that posture and tone when they were about to discuss Ranger matters. But it wasn't Ranger matters that had her worried. it was the matter of one odd phone call from one slightly odd friend in her former high school. There was no way that Andrea could know about Cassie being a Ranger, and Cassie meant to keep it that way. "Maybe you should call her again."
"I don't know, TJ. Andrea usually gets over these things in a day or two. I've just never have her panic over the line with me."
"Still," TJ said, in what was the verge of becoming his Leader voice, "I think you should. Just to clear things up."
In the end, Cassie couldn't argue.
* * *
"Andrea," Cassie said, sitting in her bedroom. "I'm alone. What's up?"
Her friend sounded slightly out-of-breath, to the verge of hyperventilating. "Uh... I guess I'll say this... you forgot to hang up your cell. When that monster attacked. And... I guess you can guess what I heard."
"Cell phone conversation?" Cassie asked, wondering what her friend was talking about.
"Uh, yeah. You guys had a monster attack yesterday, remember?"
Oh, gods. The monster. Cassie felt an urge to smack herself. She must have been talking to Andrea just before the monster attacked, and she'd apparently not hit the disconnect button hard enough.
Which meant that she'd said something that had revealed her identity as a Ranger, and Andrea must have heard. Either that, or the monster had done so. In either case, it was a breach of the code that prevented Rangers from revealing their identities. Cassie didn't know how much leeway was given for accidental discovery, and she had a bad feeling that she was about to find out.
"Cassie? Are you there? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
Andrea gave an audible sigh of relief. "I just wanted to know... well, what can I do about it? I guess not tell anybody. But I guess you guys have a super-secret mindwiping machine or something like that. I don't mind... some things most humans are not meant to know."
"Not really," Cassie admitted.
Andrea swore, very mildly, but it surprised Cassie nonetheless. "Figures. I'm the last person who wants to be holding onto a life-endangering secret, and I am sitting on one of the biggest news stories of all time. Cassie, I know you trust me and all, but I really didn't want to know this. Really, really."
"I believe you," Cassie said quietly, hoping to calm the girl down.
Taking a deep breath, Andrea spoke a little bit more slowly. "Have I gotten you in trouble?"
"I don't know," Cassie told her, knowing that she'd have to talk to Dimitria first. "This has never happened before."
"Let me know... I think I have enough saved for a train ticket down there, or I can go on the bus, even though mom doesn't dare go near the bus station with all the winos there."
And Andrea probably would, Cassie reflected. Andrea could be assertive about half the time, but she wasn't a leader. But she'd go a hundred miles for a friend... or, in her case, the four hundred or so it would take to get from up north to down where Cassie lived. "It isn't necessary, Andrea, but thanks."
Cassie could hear the relief in Andrea's voice as she answered. She apparently wasn't as big on going south as she'd offered. "You're sure."
"I can sort things out myself, Andrea. But thanks."
She could almost see Andrea nodding. "Let me know what happens, okay?"
"I will."
* * *
With that promise made, Cassie found herself fidgeting. How had the team dealt with this sort of thing before? Had they ever dealt with it before? Reaching a moment of decision, she reached for the phone. But she didn't call TJ, Justin, or anybody else on her team. She would reach back to the past.
"... Racing. How may I direct your call?"
"Tommy Oliver, please."
"Just one moment."
She unwound the cord as she waited, knowing that if anyone knew, Tommy knew. Tommy and the others had given them a little bit of the history that surrounded them as Power Rangers, what the others had done and where they had been. And Tommy, having come on early in the team, had been there longer than pretty much anyone still on Earth. Surely someone had come close to breaking their vows.
"Tommy here," said the warm voice of TJ's predecessor.
"Hi, Tommy," she said. "Got a question for you. Has anyone broken the rules?"
A silence on the other end indicated that Tommy understood exactly what she was asking him. She waited, fingers curling and uncurling the phone cord, reminding herself to wait for the reply. "Nobody's been kicked off, if that's what you mean."
"Close?"
"Justin, once," Tommy said, but she doubted he'd elaborate. Since Justin was still on the team, she assumed whatever transgression had been a minor one.
"Thanks, Tommy," she said.
"Anytime. Are you in trouble?" he asked, giving her an echo of TJ's concern.
"I don't know yet," she responded, same as she had when Andrea had asked.
"Take care of yourself."
She nodded. "I will."
* * *
Cassie found herself delaying even as she prepared to go to the Power Chamber and confess her problem to Dimitria. She'd been over the rules, they all had, but nobody had said what the consequences were. If she was lucky, she probably would escape with her memories intact, probably.
Taking a walk, she found that her feet were taking her in the distinct direction of TJ's place. "Figures," she muttered, knowing that she'd rather deal with a human over a human-appearing alien anyday. But it wasn't TJ who'd have the final say. He had no more experience being a Ranger than she did.
Giving up, she knocked on his door, knowing that he'd be home. It was spring break, after all, and he'd promised to help his aunt and uncle with things.
It was TJ who opened the door, much to her relief. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"She knows," Cassie said, looking up at the shocked expression on his face.
"Come inside," TJ said, leaning on the door until she could slip through. He closed the door behind her. "I'm alone, for the moment. What happened?"
The voice was mostly TJ's 'concerned friend' one, though there were little hints of 'concerned leader' there as well. Cassie looked over at him. "That friend of mine, Andrea, finally told me what was wrong. I guess... I forgot to turn my cellphone off, and she heard the whole thing."
He was quiet for a moment, and then asked, "Have you told Dimitria?"
Giving him a quiet smile, she answered, "I will as soon as I can understand it myself. I just can't believe I was so stupid. And I can't even remember it!"
TJ walked past her and for a moment she wondered if she'd upset him so much that he couldn't talk to her. "Come on. Sit down for a minute."
So she obeyed, not as a member of his team but as someone who was relieved that he wasn't going to throw her out. Or yell at her. But again, that wasn't TJ. He never yelled, at least not at people. TJ was one of the gentlest guys she knew.
"How'd she react?" TJ asked.
Cassie rested her arm on the couch, resting her head on her palm. "She was scared. Andrea was a great help, but she always worried about blurting out secrets. She never did, but she was always terrified of that. I think what she wants right now is me to come over and erase her memory of what she heard."
"I think you should go to Dimitria. Tell her what happened."
Cassie nodded. "I guess I should go about finding a successor too."
TJ shook his head. "Don't do it until she says so. I know what Tommy and the others said, about not revealing our identities, but maybe there's something special in there about what happened."
"Thanks, TJ," Cassie said warmly, relaxing a little. But just a little.
"Want me to go with you?" TJ offered. "I'll be there, no matter what Dimitria says."
She sat there, just looking at him, before opening her mouth. "Yeah, I guess you should."
* * *
The two of them appeared in the Power Chamber, and Cassie found herself uncharacteristically nervous. Some of Andrea was rubbing off on her, she supposed, and she rubbed her arms. Another of Andrea's nervous habits.
"TJ, Cassie, what brings you here?" Dimitria asked, looking out from the tube where she tended to exist. Tommy had explained to the team that Zordon, the being present at the time when they had accepted their new powers, had used that as his only window to the world.
Cassie stepped forward, knowing TJ was standing right behind her. "Dimitria, I've broken one of the rules."
Getting that out had been both easier and harder than she'd thought. Despite her self-confidence, she'd never done something this bad before. The thought of losing her powers, losing the chance to do what she'd done, scared her more than she thought possible. She'd had the chance to make a difference, without drawing any attention to herself, and she'd blown the chance. Oh, she knew that the others wouldn't blame her, but it still wasn't something that she'd liked to admit.
"What has happened?" Dimitria asked gently.
So, taking a deep breath, Cassie explained. "When I was attacking that monster, I guess I had my cellphone on and was talking to this girl I knew, before I moved here. And apparently I forgot to turn my cellphone off. She heard the whole thing."
Dimitria was silent, and Cassie watched as the being floated in the tube, eyes unreadable as she contemplated Cassie's fate.
"Do you trust your friend? Has she betrayed you before?"
"Never. She's always so afraid she will, but she never has."
"Then perhaps she will not. She is your friend, Cassie, and friends rarely betray one another. If she is loyal, then she will not."
"So... I don't need to go look for a successor?"
"Cassie, you are strong of will and of heart. These are the qualities which brought you here to be a Ranger. You may decide if you want to remain one or not, but I will not force you to leave for a mistake. There are rules, yes, but there is also room in the universe for accidents. Perhaps if you talk to your friend?"
Cassie fumbled the cellphone out of her bag and punched in her friend's number. "Andrea?" she asked, when the other had come on the line.
"Cassie? What's up?"
"It's okay, Andrea. You didn't put me in trouble."
"I didn't?" Andrea asked, sounding relived. "I mean, that's great! But... are you sure?"
"I'm sure. Don't worry about it."
"Try not to, but you know me. But if you say so, I'll remember that."
"Bye, Andrea."
"Cassie. CYL."
Cassie very carefully turned off her cell phone, slipping it back into its holder in relief and looking back up at Dimitria. The being floated placidly in the tube, waiting for her decision.
But Dimitria, ever patient, didn't say a word.
* * *
Cassie hit a pirahnatron with great ferocity. Dimitria hadn't said a word about her dilemma since she'd left, but then again, she still hadn't recalled the powers from her either.
With the resumption of Divatox's attacks, Cassie was actually glad to be back in the middle of things. Back to feeling like she was making a difference in the world. Maybe the incident with the cellphone had left a black mark on her record as a Ranger, but at the moment, she really didn't care.
Finally the attack was over and she and her fellow Rangers demorphed, all looking a bit winded. Nobody seemed to be injured, but they were all tired. Divatox's attack had taken away time when they should have been enjoying themselves.
And, all tired, the five of them started drifting away from each other. Carlos and Ashley had a project to do for school, and it also left them time to let the romance blossom between them. Justin had excused himself, citing quality time with his dad. Finally, it was only herself and TJ left.
"How are you doing?" TJ asked.
Cassie shrugged. "I think I'm going to ditch the stupid cellphone," she said. "I just wish I knew what I had said."
TJ nodded. "Amnesia's supposed to be like that," TJ told her. "I'm just glad you're not beating yourself up over it."
"If Dimitria's not going to force me out over it, I'm not going to," she responded. "I mean, I made a mistake. Part of me's always going to regret it. I just wish I hadn't answered the phone... or called her. I don't remember which. It just happened."
"But you wish you did," he offered.
She shook her head. "Maybe it's better that I don't. I won't analyze what happened that way. Life will go on."
TJ nodded again. "Yeah, it will. Treat you to lunch?"
-end
Disclaimers: Everybody except maybe Cassie's old friends and the MotD belong to Saban (or whoever owns PR now).
Author's Notes: I decided to take a break and write this fic that was posed to me. Based loosely on a real incident (aka why cellphones and I don't mix... long story). As you can probably guess, this is not a Jen/Wes fic. Set early second season Turbo.
Everyone Makes Mistakes
by Estirose
copyright 2002
Her cellphone rang.
Cassie snatched it up, breathless. "Hey, girl," came from the other end of the line. A smile lighted up her face as she recognized the voice. Andrea had been one of her closest friends at school, at least until Cassie had decided to come down to Stone Canyon, in the hopes of catching a music producer's eye.
She hadn't yet, of course. Yes, she had wanted a career in music, but she'd been handed something more important. Something far more important than her original goals and aims.
Cassie Chan, total newcomer to the area, had followed her heart and ended up being chosen to be a Ranger by Katherine, her now-retired predecessor. She'd been on the team only a few weeks and she had to admit that she wouldn't have missed it for the world.
Which, of course, didn't mean that she didn't miss her friends back home, nor that Rangering had its own tough spots, but some things were a small price to pay.
"Hey, Andrea. What's happening?" she asked enthusiastically. Andrea didn't share her taste in music, of course, but her friend had provided her plenty of piano support on the pianos hidden in the back hallways of the fine arts building.
"Not much. Ms. Richardson just said she missed you; thought you might want to hear that."
Ms. Richardson had been one of Cassie's English teachers, as well as being the school's drama coach. Cassie arched her eyebrows in surprise. "She did?"
"Don't act so surprised," Andrea said. "I mean, you did great. Just because she didn't say anything didn't mean she didn't like you. I keep telling you that."
Cassie grinned again, taking a sip of her soda. For once, all was quiet, with nary a Divatox monster to be found to disrupt her day. It was safe to discuss her past with one of her better friends instead of being tense and waiting for a monster alert. "I'll take that as a complement."
"You'd better," Andrea replied. "Anyway, we're doing 'Oliver!' this year. I got a bit part again. Old Sally, or somebody like that, and so I get to be in this tavern scene and then I get to talk about lockets, but that's it. You didn't miss much. Aaron's up to his usual havoc, Mr. Card's got us all doing diagrams again. The same old same old."
She could just about hear the rolling of Andrea's eyes as she related the last tidbits of what had been their mutual life at LB High. High school was a pretty staid place, and she wasn't about to admit that she missed things from there sometimes, and how lonely Angel Grove High was even with her teammates present.
Screaming came from her left and she instinctively turned towards the source, all thoughts of pleasant days at her old high school disappearing as half a dozen people fled down the street. The source of their vexation was immediately apparent as one of Divatox's uglier creations became visible. "Andrea, talk to you later," she said, quickly hitting the 'end transmission' without looking as she pocketed the cellphone, moving to intercept the monster before it could harm anyone. Protect the civilians, that was what a Ranger did.
"Stop right there!" she yelled at it, knowing that it probably wouldn't stop but hoping to gain as much of its attention as was possible. She had to get it to focus in on her instead of the fleeing people.
"Ah, Pink Ranger," the monster replied, in what was a somewhat pleasant contrast to its ugly appearance. The discrepancy made her stare, almost forgetting who she was and what she was there for. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Perrizmo, and I will eradicate your memory from the face of this planet."
"You and what army?" she asked, seeing no pirahnatrons around to annoy her or cause a distraction.
"Ah, but the powers of the mind are so much more satisfactory than the use of brute force," he said. "It is unfortunate, though, that my employer prefers more of a direct approach."
With that, he shot out a beam of bright light, and Cassie remembered no more.
* * *
Cassie woke up in the command center, blinking and wondering why she was there. No monsters had attacked to her knowledge, yet apparently her teammates were there. TJ walked over to her, gently pushing her back down onto the table. "Lie down."
"What happened?" she asked, lying back down. Spots stopped dancing in front of her eyes, and she felt a little better once she kept her head down.
"Divatox's monster hit you pretty hard," TJ offered. "Alpha says you'll be okay, but you need to rest a while."
"Monster? What monster?" Cassie asked, raising her head and then deciding that it wasn't the wisest thing to do. She plopped it back down.
TJ looked pained. "You don't remember?" he asked. She shook her head.
"It looks like she was hit by some kind of ray," the youngest member of Cassie's team, Justin, replied.
"But none of us were," TJ said to him, and when he turned she could just about see Justin.
"Maybe it's some kind of effect that Perrizmo could only use every few minutes. After all, we defeated him pretty easily," Ashley offered from somewhere farther away.
"In any case, she needs to rest," TJ said to the others, facing away from her. He'd said it in his best Leader Voice, though with TJ, it was always more of a suggestion than a command.
"I'll take her home," Ashley offered. "She's been checked so I don't think her family will worry."
TJ nodded. "Cassie? Do you feel up to it?"
Cassie lifted herself off the table, knowing that she'd prefer her own bed to the hard surface of the diagnostic table. The spots lingered in front of her eyes, though, and she had to admit that she'd be glad to get off her feet once she got to where she could relax.
* * *
The phone rang, and Cassie levered herself out of bed to answer it. Her cellphone, once she had found it, had proved to have run out of charge, mostly due to her leaving it on. She wondered how long she'd been out really, since the monster of the day had somehow caused her to lose some of her memories.
"Cassie? Hello?"
It was Andrea, and she sounded anxious. Cassie's forehead wrinkled as she tried to think of what would cause her friend to sound so upset. "What's up, Andrea?"
"I gotta tell you something... but your cell was off, I tried calling you and I couldn't get you. Is anyone else home?"
Cassie shook her head. "I don't know. I just woke up. What's wrong, Andrea?" she asked, knowing that Andrea was on the verge of babbling things over and over. Cassie had seen her in that state once or twice before and she didn't particularly want to hear it again.
"It's... Cassie. I know. I know about you. Uh, call me back when you're sure you're alone, okay?"
With that, the phone clicked and went to a dialtone.
* * *
"Cassie, what's wrong?" TJ asked. The current leader of the Power Rangers looked concerned, but then again, TJ tended to be concerned a lot. He had taken Tommy's role and run with it. Cassie made a face, not certain she wanted to tell her friend and team leader, but finally gave up, not wanting to have TJ stare at her in concern. That was more than she could really handle.
"I got a call from a friend earlier," she said. "She said she tried to call me, wanted to make sure I was alone, and when I said I wasn't sure, she hung up on me!"
TJ leaned forward, instantly assuming what she considered "confidential friend" mode, though he also used that posture and tone when they were about to discuss Ranger matters. But it wasn't Ranger matters that had her worried. it was the matter of one odd phone call from one slightly odd friend in her former high school. There was no way that Andrea could know about Cassie being a Ranger, and Cassie meant to keep it that way. "Maybe you should call her again."
"I don't know, TJ. Andrea usually gets over these things in a day or two. I've just never have her panic over the line with me."
"Still," TJ said, in what was the verge of becoming his Leader voice, "I think you should. Just to clear things up."
In the end, Cassie couldn't argue.
* * *
"Andrea," Cassie said, sitting in her bedroom. "I'm alone. What's up?"
Her friend sounded slightly out-of-breath, to the verge of hyperventilating. "Uh... I guess I'll say this... you forgot to hang up your cell. When that monster attacked. And... I guess you can guess what I heard."
"Cell phone conversation?" Cassie asked, wondering what her friend was talking about.
"Uh, yeah. You guys had a monster attack yesterday, remember?"
Oh, gods. The monster. Cassie felt an urge to smack herself. She must have been talking to Andrea just before the monster attacked, and she'd apparently not hit the disconnect button hard enough.
Which meant that she'd said something that had revealed her identity as a Ranger, and Andrea must have heard. Either that, or the monster had done so. In either case, it was a breach of the code that prevented Rangers from revealing their identities. Cassie didn't know how much leeway was given for accidental discovery, and she had a bad feeling that she was about to find out.
"Cassie? Are you there? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
Andrea gave an audible sigh of relief. "I just wanted to know... well, what can I do about it? I guess not tell anybody. But I guess you guys have a super-secret mindwiping machine or something like that. I don't mind... some things most humans are not meant to know."
"Not really," Cassie admitted.
Andrea swore, very mildly, but it surprised Cassie nonetheless. "Figures. I'm the last person who wants to be holding onto a life-endangering secret, and I am sitting on one of the biggest news stories of all time. Cassie, I know you trust me and all, but I really didn't want to know this. Really, really."
"I believe you," Cassie said quietly, hoping to calm the girl down.
Taking a deep breath, Andrea spoke a little bit more slowly. "Have I gotten you in trouble?"
"I don't know," Cassie told her, knowing that she'd have to talk to Dimitria first. "This has never happened before."
"Let me know... I think I have enough saved for a train ticket down there, or I can go on the bus, even though mom doesn't dare go near the bus station with all the winos there."
And Andrea probably would, Cassie reflected. Andrea could be assertive about half the time, but she wasn't a leader. But she'd go a hundred miles for a friend... or, in her case, the four hundred or so it would take to get from up north to down where Cassie lived. "It isn't necessary, Andrea, but thanks."
Cassie could hear the relief in Andrea's voice as she answered. She apparently wasn't as big on going south as she'd offered. "You're sure."
"I can sort things out myself, Andrea. But thanks."
She could almost see Andrea nodding. "Let me know what happens, okay?"
"I will."
* * *
With that promise made, Cassie found herself fidgeting. How had the team dealt with this sort of thing before? Had they ever dealt with it before? Reaching a moment of decision, she reached for the phone. But she didn't call TJ, Justin, or anybody else on her team. She would reach back to the past.
"... Racing. How may I direct your call?"
"Tommy Oliver, please."
"Just one moment."
She unwound the cord as she waited, knowing that if anyone knew, Tommy knew. Tommy and the others had given them a little bit of the history that surrounded them as Power Rangers, what the others had done and where they had been. And Tommy, having come on early in the team, had been there longer than pretty much anyone still on Earth. Surely someone had come close to breaking their vows.
"Tommy here," said the warm voice of TJ's predecessor.
"Hi, Tommy," she said. "Got a question for you. Has anyone broken the rules?"
A silence on the other end indicated that Tommy understood exactly what she was asking him. She waited, fingers curling and uncurling the phone cord, reminding herself to wait for the reply. "Nobody's been kicked off, if that's what you mean."
"Close?"
"Justin, once," Tommy said, but she doubted he'd elaborate. Since Justin was still on the team, she assumed whatever transgression had been a minor one.
"Thanks, Tommy," she said.
"Anytime. Are you in trouble?" he asked, giving her an echo of TJ's concern.
"I don't know yet," she responded, same as she had when Andrea had asked.
"Take care of yourself."
She nodded. "I will."
* * *
Cassie found herself delaying even as she prepared to go to the Power Chamber and confess her problem to Dimitria. She'd been over the rules, they all had, but nobody had said what the consequences were. If she was lucky, she probably would escape with her memories intact, probably.
Taking a walk, she found that her feet were taking her in the distinct direction of TJ's place. "Figures," she muttered, knowing that she'd rather deal with a human over a human-appearing alien anyday. But it wasn't TJ who'd have the final say. He had no more experience being a Ranger than she did.
Giving up, she knocked on his door, knowing that he'd be home. It was spring break, after all, and he'd promised to help his aunt and uncle with things.
It was TJ who opened the door, much to her relief. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"She knows," Cassie said, looking up at the shocked expression on his face.
"Come inside," TJ said, leaning on the door until she could slip through. He closed the door behind her. "I'm alone, for the moment. What happened?"
The voice was mostly TJ's 'concerned friend' one, though there were little hints of 'concerned leader' there as well. Cassie looked over at him. "That friend of mine, Andrea, finally told me what was wrong. I guess... I forgot to turn my cellphone off, and she heard the whole thing."
He was quiet for a moment, and then asked, "Have you told Dimitria?"
Giving him a quiet smile, she answered, "I will as soon as I can understand it myself. I just can't believe I was so stupid. And I can't even remember it!"
TJ walked past her and for a moment she wondered if she'd upset him so much that he couldn't talk to her. "Come on. Sit down for a minute."
So she obeyed, not as a member of his team but as someone who was relieved that he wasn't going to throw her out. Or yell at her. But again, that wasn't TJ. He never yelled, at least not at people. TJ was one of the gentlest guys she knew.
"How'd she react?" TJ asked.
Cassie rested her arm on the couch, resting her head on her palm. "She was scared. Andrea was a great help, but she always worried about blurting out secrets. She never did, but she was always terrified of that. I think what she wants right now is me to come over and erase her memory of what she heard."
"I think you should go to Dimitria. Tell her what happened."
Cassie nodded. "I guess I should go about finding a successor too."
TJ shook his head. "Don't do it until she says so. I know what Tommy and the others said, about not revealing our identities, but maybe there's something special in there about what happened."
"Thanks, TJ," Cassie said warmly, relaxing a little. But just a little.
"Want me to go with you?" TJ offered. "I'll be there, no matter what Dimitria says."
She sat there, just looking at him, before opening her mouth. "Yeah, I guess you should."
* * *
The two of them appeared in the Power Chamber, and Cassie found herself uncharacteristically nervous. Some of Andrea was rubbing off on her, she supposed, and she rubbed her arms. Another of Andrea's nervous habits.
"TJ, Cassie, what brings you here?" Dimitria asked, looking out from the tube where she tended to exist. Tommy had explained to the team that Zordon, the being present at the time when they had accepted their new powers, had used that as his only window to the world.
Cassie stepped forward, knowing TJ was standing right behind her. "Dimitria, I've broken one of the rules."
Getting that out had been both easier and harder than she'd thought. Despite her self-confidence, she'd never done something this bad before. The thought of losing her powers, losing the chance to do what she'd done, scared her more than she thought possible. She'd had the chance to make a difference, without drawing any attention to herself, and she'd blown the chance. Oh, she knew that the others wouldn't blame her, but it still wasn't something that she'd liked to admit.
"What has happened?" Dimitria asked gently.
So, taking a deep breath, Cassie explained. "When I was attacking that monster, I guess I had my cellphone on and was talking to this girl I knew, before I moved here. And apparently I forgot to turn my cellphone off. She heard the whole thing."
Dimitria was silent, and Cassie watched as the being floated in the tube, eyes unreadable as she contemplated Cassie's fate.
"Do you trust your friend? Has she betrayed you before?"
"Never. She's always so afraid she will, but she never has."
"Then perhaps she will not. She is your friend, Cassie, and friends rarely betray one another. If she is loyal, then she will not."
"So... I don't need to go look for a successor?"
"Cassie, you are strong of will and of heart. These are the qualities which brought you here to be a Ranger. You may decide if you want to remain one or not, but I will not force you to leave for a mistake. There are rules, yes, but there is also room in the universe for accidents. Perhaps if you talk to your friend?"
Cassie fumbled the cellphone out of her bag and punched in her friend's number. "Andrea?" she asked, when the other had come on the line.
"Cassie? What's up?"
"It's okay, Andrea. You didn't put me in trouble."
"I didn't?" Andrea asked, sounding relived. "I mean, that's great! But... are you sure?"
"I'm sure. Don't worry about it."
"Try not to, but you know me. But if you say so, I'll remember that."
"Bye, Andrea."
"Cassie. CYL."
Cassie very carefully turned off her cell phone, slipping it back into its holder in relief and looking back up at Dimitria. The being floated placidly in the tube, waiting for her decision.
But Dimitria, ever patient, didn't say a word.
* * *
Cassie hit a pirahnatron with great ferocity. Dimitria hadn't said a word about her dilemma since she'd left, but then again, she still hadn't recalled the powers from her either.
With the resumption of Divatox's attacks, Cassie was actually glad to be back in the middle of things. Back to feeling like she was making a difference in the world. Maybe the incident with the cellphone had left a black mark on her record as a Ranger, but at the moment, she really didn't care.
Finally the attack was over and she and her fellow Rangers demorphed, all looking a bit winded. Nobody seemed to be injured, but they were all tired. Divatox's attack had taken away time when they should have been enjoying themselves.
And, all tired, the five of them started drifting away from each other. Carlos and Ashley had a project to do for school, and it also left them time to let the romance blossom between them. Justin had excused himself, citing quality time with his dad. Finally, it was only herself and TJ left.
"How are you doing?" TJ asked.
Cassie shrugged. "I think I'm going to ditch the stupid cellphone," she said. "I just wish I knew what I had said."
TJ nodded. "Amnesia's supposed to be like that," TJ told her. "I'm just glad you're not beating yourself up over it."
"If Dimitria's not going to force me out over it, I'm not going to," she responded. "I mean, I made a mistake. Part of me's always going to regret it. I just wish I hadn't answered the phone... or called her. I don't remember which. It just happened."
"But you wish you did," he offered.
She shook her head. "Maybe it's better that I don't. I won't analyze what happened that way. Life will go on."
TJ nodded again. "Yeah, it will. Treat you to lunch?"
-end
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