Inside Out, part 3

[estirose]

Taylor arrived at Eric's place for dinner. Not because she particularly wanted to, but because she said she would. Because he and Cole would never let up until she made her choice.

As Eric stirred up the sauce for dinner, she watched him. She tried to imagine being here night after night. *Stop that,* she ordered herself. *You made a choice to exclude him from the child's life... if you decide to have it.* Eric wasn't bad-looking but she didn't want any child of hers to inherit his attitude.

Um, Taylor? Pot. Kettle. Black.

"So," Eric said as he applied the sauce to the pasta, "You make a choice today?"

"No," she admitted. "I talked to Shayla though."

Eric brought her plate and his own to the table, sitting down opposite her. "Oh?"

"She overheard Cole talking." She twirled her fork in the sauce-covered pasta.

"Yeah?"

Taylor told him what Shayla had told her earlier that day. "So... it's been done before."

"Yeah." Eric seemed fascinated by his own dinner. "Sounds like this Kyna had a lot of support."

"Yeah." Taylor took a bite. One of the things she liked about hanging out with Eric meant that she got to eat his cooking. He was almost as good in the kitchen as he was a sparring partner. And a bed partner.

"And you? I haven't yet met a Ranger team that wasn't... clingy."

That's one way of putting it....

Taylor smiled at that. "You should see what we've been doing to make Merrick a part of the team."

"Yeah, Wes and Jen tried to do the same thing." His tone held wry amusement.

"Seems to have worked," Taylor observed.

Eric snorted. "It did." He looked over at her. "So... you think you wanna go through this?"

Taylor considered. "Yeah, actually, I do." As soon as the words came out of her mouth, she knew that the pieces had fallen into place.

This is the turning point here... Taylor's decided what to do, she just has to tie up a few things.

"Good," he answered in satisfaction.

"Good?" she echoed.

"I was kinda hoping you'd say that."

"You were?" Taylor asked, mystified.

"I was thinking it through too... and if I'm gonna be a father, it might as well be with you."

"You know that you don't have to have anything to do with this child," Taylor said, starting her campaign to sever Eric's connection to their child.

*thud* Taylor, I thought you'd accepted him in your life!

Eric snorted. "And live my life knowing that I turned my back on my responsibility? No way."

Thankfully, Eric knows better than to take the bait.

"I'm the one that's pregnant."

"Yeah, well, I'm the one that made you pregnant," he retorted. "So you'll excuse me if I want to do something to help fix things."

"I'm not a thing to fix - I'm a Ranger with a small problem."

Small problem, she says....

Eric shrugged. "I didn't say you were. All I'm saying is let me have *some* responsibility for what I did."

"Fine. You're half responsible." She smiled at him beatifically.

Eric's mouth quirked up in a half-smile. "Yeah, I am." He paused. "So I wanna say about what happens here."

"Fine," Taylor said. "You can visit it in the hospital when it's born."

Taylor, stop doing that or I'll have to thud you.

"I was thinking a little more than that."

"Like *what*?" Taylor asked.

"You're gonna need backup," Eric said, leaning forward. "I can provide that."

"I have my teammates," Taylor protested, realizing she'd just voiced the need to tell them.

"Yeah, you have your teammates." Eric said. "But you've got me too."

"Eric, you feel responsible. That's fine. But I'm not going to have you put your life on hold for a stupid error."

He smiled at that. "We used protection. It's not a stupid error."

"Still," she protested.

"Look, Taylor," Eric said. "I want my kid to have a father. I don't wanna be a check and a few birthday presents. Believe me, I've been there before. It's how I grew up. So you'll excuse me if I want to be a part of this."

A lot of Rach's influence shows up in this story. Eric insisting on being part of the pregnancy is due in large part to her, even though my Eric's backstory isn't *her* Eric's backstory.

Taylor resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "I didn't ask you to!"

"I know," Eric said. "But you're gonna need all the help you can get, Taylor. And since you seem to be playing the part of Kyna, then it's my right to play Egan."

Taylor silently wondered if she could spend the rest of her pregnancy on the Animarium. "Hey, if you want to live in the past," she said, in what she hoped was a taunting tone.

"I'm not living in the past. I'm thinking about the future," Eric said. He reached his hand over to cover hers awkwardly. "Our child's future."

*wince* Way too saccharine for Eric here.

Wincing inwardly, Taylor responded, "Assuming we have a future."

"Well, I think that would be your job," Eric said. "'Sides, you have a whole bunch of people, human or otherwise, ready to protect you."

Taylor nodded at that, but inwardly she still wished that she'd found out before Cole did. If he hadn't, had she had a chance to do what she wanted without discussion... well, she still didn't know how she'd react, but at least she wouldn't have Eric's bad childhood being a factor in who raised the child. At least he hadn't asked her to marry him. Eric might be stupid and stubborn sometimes, and chauvinistic, but she'd seen how he reacted the past few days. Considerate, careful... someone who'd step back if she told him to step back and might not even resent it. "Yeah, I do."

"Speaking of which... I guess you should tell them, huh."

"Yeah, I guess I should," Taylor said, not looking forward to the conversation. She looked over at Eric. "And you'd better tell Wes, I guess."

"Yeah, I guess I should do that." He looked about as reluctant as she felt, and she was suddenly relieved that he was as reluctant as she was. It made things a little better. Not a whole lot better, but a bit better. And that was exactly what she needed.

"And after that... we can work things out. Maybe figure out how Kyna and Egan managed this thing."

"Maybe," Taylor said.

"In the meantime... I guess...."

But whatever he was going to say he never did, just looked at her wistfully. "I guess I should go. Tomorrow's going to be a big day."

"Yeah."

* * *

Taylor just lay on the bed. She had thought about going back to the Animarium, but she didn't want to go back up there. At least... at least until it was time to make the big announcement.

Her growl phone trilled, and she picked it up. There was either an Org attack going on, or Eric was calling her. "Taylor," she answered.

"Taylor. Got a moment?" Eric asked.

"One or two. What's up?" *And let's not say we have to postpone, please.*

Taylor is chanelling me. She's way too polite in her thoughts.

"I invited Wes to lunch, at the Animarium. Your friends going to be all there?"

"As far as I know, except Merrick." But that didn't matter; Merrick kept to himself and he knew she was pregnant. When he was ready to be a team member he'd tell them. She privately doubted Merrick would ever be one of them.

She could almost see Eric nod. "Okay. I'll see you then?"

"Yeah. I'll see you at our usual place and take you up." Eric and Wes wouldn't get up to the Animarium otherwise.

"Right." With that, the line clicked off. No matter. He would be there with Wes, come hell or high water. She doubted that either of them could stand postponing the announcement. They would be nervous wrecks if any delay came up.

* * *

But their meeting went off without a hitch. Eric was there with a bemused Wes, both in full uniform. Whatever Eric had said to get him there she didn't know, but was sure Eric would tell her... maybe later. It wasn't like their secret was going to be a secret much longer.

"Ready?" she asked. The two Rangers nodded, and Taylor got them up to the Animarium.

They walked out into the main meeting area, and four surprised teammates looked up in the middle of lunch preparations. Danny looked like he'd just finished his time at his newest part-time job, Max looked like he had enough energy to light a stadium, Alyssa's backpack was tucked neatly away, and Cole gave her such a smile that she knew that he'd been worrying about her and Eric.

"Eric! Wes! Good to see you!" Cole explained. "What brings you here?"

*thud* Exclaimed, not explained. Duh.

"You could say... we have to discuss something that'll affect both teams," Eric said, catching Taylor by surprise as he caught her hand in his.

Ooh! They're an Official Couple now!

Cole's eyes sparkled as he saw the gesture. He nodded. "Come, have lunch with us," he said, motioning to where Max was trying to take his turn cooking. Trying, of course, being the operative word.

Lunch was surprisingly edible, though even Max could, Taylor admitted, could boil spaghetti without killing it. If it was a bit bland, that was okay, too. She could live with bland. She'd hate to make her announcement with garlic breath. As Danny cleared up the plates for later cleaning, the rest of the team, and Wes, looked at her expectantly.

When Danny was back, Taylor looked at Eric. They hadn't precisely worked out the announcement, they only knew they had to. "Guys..." she said, having to take a breath as all attention focused on her. "I'm... I'm pregnant."

For several seconds, everybody at the table sat in stunned silence. "Congratulations," Alyssa said, breaking the paralysis to grab Taylor in a hug.

"But who's the father?" Danny asked. Taylor unwrapped herself to nod over at Eric.

"I am," Eric said, apparently trying to hide his nervousness... and failing. Wes' face split in a huge grin as he slapped his teammate on the shoulder, and Taylor freed herself from Alyssa to find herself being crushed by Danny.

"Congratulations," he breathed, before releasing her.

"So, when's the baby due?" Max asked.

"About nine months," Taylor said. "Haven't been pregnant *that* long."

I never established exactly when Taylor got pregnant, though I'm guessing it was the first night they were together.

Alyssa sat down, the first to return to seriousness. "But... won't being pregnant be dangerous?"

"Taylor is not the first to be pregnant," Princess Shayla said, appearing from nowhere. "With your help, and her Zord's, she will be relatively safe."

"Then, all we have to do is keep her safe," Cole said. "For as long as it takes."

"And my uniform will help, too," Taylor said. Several heads bobbed around her.

"And we can do things to keep her out of danger!" Danny exclaimed. "Yeah!"

As her teammates began to mutter plans to keep her safe, she saw Wes nudge Eric. "So, when're you going to marry her?" he asked.

"When she asks me to," Eric retorted. "Unless I want to be castrated."

Good idea, Eric!

"You know how Dad'll react to the co-head of the Silver Guardians getting someone pregnant out of marriage."

"Yeah?" Eric asked. "Well, hate to disappoint the boss. 'Sides, it's not like I got his niece pregnant or anything like that." He leaned over to say something quietly to Wes.

Even though Colleen's a totally different universe, I snuck in a reference to her, knowing that only Rach and Chris would get it.

"Think she'll go for it?" Wes said.

"Much as I like it, I want to be in one piece for the birth."

Wes nodded, and Taylor focused her attention on her teammates. They were ending their discussion, still all as bouncy as ever. Somehow, she knew everything was going to be all right.

* * *

Taylor met Eric for dinner that night. Her teammates had started throwing together an impromptu party for her and Eric, but she'd persuaded them, Max almost by force, to back off for the night. She didn't want to be with the team, not that night. The next day, things would start to be different, but that day... that day she wanted to be normal.

"So, what's the plan?" Eric asked.

"Well, first of all," Taylor said, "I'm going for one of those pregnancy test things before I go to the doctor. And then... then... we'll see how it goes."

Eric nodded. "Yeah."

"And then we'll beat the Orgs," Taylor said. "Before I become *too* pregnant." She didn't intend to be forced off the battlefield, not like Kyna was. She would see this fight to the end. No matter what the odds.

"Wouldn't have it any other way." Eric was smiling.

"Yeah."

"So... what'cha think we have our own... private celebration?"

She raised an eyebrow. "That sounds like a good idea."

He smiled, she smiled back, and that's exactly what they did.

Yes, they did exactly what I implied they did here. Just off-screen.

-end

Comments

[athersgeo.livejournal.com]

I seem to have gotten the blame for a lot of things, here... Still, I don't mind - tis a good story :)

Yep....

[estirose.livejournal.com]

You were just a good influence, Rach. :) And happened to be the person most around when I was writing it. :)

(Not to mention all that Colleen stuff I have to find, finish, and post two or three years later....)