Rating: PG-13, for some mature discussions.

Author's notes: Well, I guess... that I'm not done writing Taylor/Eric yet. This is a followup to "Inside Out" and will probably be making little sense unless you've read that first.

Blushing Bride
By Selma McCrory
Copyright 2002

"So, when are you going to propose to her?" Wes asked, leaning against the van in an irritating way. At least it seemed irritating for Eric.

"Not unless I really want my head handed to me on a platter," Eric said, irritated. It had only been a day or so since he and Taylor had announced her pregnancy to the Wild Force team, and to Wes, and Eric wished the two of them had gotten away without telling anyone. But, it would be obvious when Taylor started showing, and Wes would have been hurt if Eric hadn't told him the news. So, for team harmony, everybody knew now.

"Oh?" Wes asked, continuing to lean. "I thought you'd have done it already."

"Look... Taylor is her own woman. If she wants to get married, she'll let me know."

His teammate's grin vanished. "Maybe. Maybe not. You realize how long it took Jen and I to admit we were in love? The entire *team* knew before we did."

Eric could see the pain in Wes' face at the mention of his thirty-first century girlfriend. While Jen had wanted to come back to their time, it took official business for any of the rest of the team to come back to them. So Wes had to be satisfied with the occasional business discussion with Jen. "Yeah, well, Taylor's not Jen. She's pretty clear about things, and right now I'm not sure she wants me in her life."

Wes continued to look thoughtful. "Neither did Jen," he said simply.

Giving a sharp nod, Eric remembered how Wes had told him about how he'd not known about Jen until it was too late, where it had been obvious to the entire team. It had been obvious to Eric, too, even though he'd ignored it. Ranger team dynamics, back then, were not his concern.

"Maybe... you should ask Taylor," Wes said, clearly wanting to head off a repeat of his relationship with Jen off at the pass.

Eric grunted and nodded. *Like that's gonna happen. I'm not Wes, Taylor's not Jen, and we're not in love with each other.*

"Anyway...."

"Yeah," Eric grunted. "I get the picture."

Wes, clearly picking up at that point that Eric did *not* want to talk about it, thankfully shut up.

* * *

Taylor still hadn't gotten used to her bird escort. She wasn't sure if the avians were meant to spy on her or protect her, and she wasn't sure she cared. She couldn't communicate clearly with her Zord to find out, and she wasn't big on going through Cole, who could understand it. Cole had his own agendas, clueless though he often seemed about things, and she wasn't sure she wanted to negotiate through another culture's mindset to deal with the mindset of a big sentient metal eagle.

She was supposed to pick up Alyssa from class; to humor her teammate, the two of them were going to go shopping. Again. And Alyssa had that gleam in her eye that meant that it wasn't because of her love to shop. Taylor had groaned. *And this is why I didn't want to tell my teammates about my pregnancy,* she thought. *I *knew* this would happen.*

Pausing, she thought some more. *I wonder if Alyssa would mind if we cancelled our shopping trip?* No, that wouldn't work; the White Ranger would just get all concerned, which meant she'd tell Cole, and Taylor would be pulled aside for a little chat. She hated Cole's little chats, with his puppy-dog eyes and his earnest admonitions.

So, she was stuck going shopping, and sending her teammate home as soon as was feasible. Or sooner, if she could manage it.

* * *

Taylor was sure she'd had better ideas in her life. Alyssa, once Taylor had brought her to the mall, had immediately insisted on dragging her friend into the maternity wear department of the two department stores. And, if Taylor remembered right, there was also a maternity store somewhere in Turtle Cove mall. She quietly groaned, eliciting a concerned look from Alyssa. "You okay, Taylor?" she asked.

"Fine," Taylor answered.

"You sure?"

"Very sure," Taylor snapped. At the look at her friend's face, she immediately regretted her tone. "I'm just not into shopping today."

Alyssa nodded. "Okay." She perked up a bit. "Hey, let's go to the ice cream shop."

Taylor had to grin at that. Ice cream was one of her secret guilty pleasures, and Alyssa knew it. She gave her friend a nod, and off they went.

* * *

"So, you and Eric get anywhere?" Alyssa wanted to know. Taylor inwardly sighed; once again the team's favorite topic of talk had come up, exacerbated by the announcement of Taylor's pregnancy.

"Eric is... I'm not going to tie him down," Taylor said. "Yeah, I know he wants to be a father, but I don't want to be stuck with him for the rest of my life."

Alyssa smiled. "But you make a cute couple."

Taylor could see the non-shallow look in her teammate's eyes, and knew the comment wasn't as depthless as it appeared. "No, that's Shayla and Merrick."

Grinning, Alyssa replied. "Well, they do, too."

Trying not to sigh, Taylor said, "And much more interesting."

Alyssa just grinned wider. "Actually... it's just that we've all been rooting for you. Me and Danny, at least, and I know Max and Cole are, too."

Shrugging, Taylor answered. "I know it looks like we get along okay, but really... he's not attracted to me and I'm not attracted to him."

"Really?" Alyssa asked, a look playing in her eyes that meant that she didn't believe Taylor.

"Really," Taylor said. "We haven't talked since the announcement." But her friend's look didn't change.

As Alyssa was opening her mouth to speak, Taylor's growl phone rang.

"Yes?" Taylor snapped.

"Taylor," Eric's gruff voice came over the phone. "Want to have lunch? My place."

"I'll be there," she acknowledged. She closed her phone, catching Alyssa's look. "No, that wasn't Eric."

Alyssa just smiled. *Definite credibility problem there,* Taylor thought.

"Gotta go," she said. "I have a friend waiting." Leaving Alyssa behind, she headed for her car... and Silver Hills.

* * *

Eric's place wasn't precisely a welcome sight, but it did have the ever-elusive quality that meant that nobody would be bothering her about her love life, except maybe Eric, and she thought he was smarter than that. At least she hoped he was; the last thing she needed for him was to go into his prospective father routine, which was *not* what she needed right after Alyssa admitting that the relationship between herself and Eric was the team's prime entertainment at the moment.

His car was in the driveway, which meant that he was home... there and cooking lunch, probably. Despite the ice cream, Taylor's stomach began to growl. Irritant or not, Eric could cook and she never turned him down when he was cooking lunch. Or dinner. Or breakfast. Or any other meal. She wasn't stupid, either.

She knocked on the door, and was greeted with a reply. "Taylor? Door's unlocked." She opened the screen and then the door, closing them behind her to walk through the living room. Slipping her way into the kitchen, she saw Eric give her a brief glance and nod her towards the table. She sat down.

"You know, I could have been anybody."

"Most people know better than to drop in on me unannounced." It wasn't a brag; it was a statement of fact from the head of the Silver Guardians. "'Sides, I recognized your car coming in."

Taylor gave that statement a sharp nod. She'd first met Eric while driving her then-new car into Turtle Cove from Silver Hills, and since they'd started spending time together, he'd probably figured out the difference between her car and anyone else's. "Right."

Eric dropped the food onto two plates, putting one in front of Taylor then putting another one down for himself. Another run produced the silverware, the third their drinks. "So, your teammates making life unpleasant for you yet?" he asked casually.

She snorted. "Just the normal stuff. Alyssa says we make a cute couple."

He gave a nod. "Sounds like Alyssa to me."

"Of course, I think she meant something more than that. For some reason, she thinks we should pair up. Like we aren't stuck together anyway."

Taylor's comment was meant to be casual, but she could see the look in Eric's eyes. "Wes tried to give me hints too." He looked at her thoughtfully. "I told him we weren't in love."

"You're right. We aren't." Taylor felt confident of that fact. "Won't stop Alyssa and the others from being a pain about it."

"No, it won't," Eric acknowledged. "I'm not gonna let them phase me. You're pregnant, I'm partly responsible. Doesn't mean we're a couple."

"No," Taylor said. "I'm still the same person I was before I was pregnant; so are you."

"Except for this pregnancy."

Taylor glanced over at Eric, who was working on his pasta. "We'll just have to spend as little time as possible together." As she said that, she felt a sudden stab of loneliness; she was giving up Eric's sparring sessions and meals, just because her teammates saw something that was never there. *I'm going to miss lunches like these,* she realized.

"Don't know if that'll work," Eric said. "'Sides, you're going to need all the support you can get."

"I told you I'm not going to tie you down to me because of this baby," Taylor responded.

"Maybe I want to be tied down," Eric said so sharply that she just looked at him a second, gaping.

"You *what*?" Taylor said, when she recovered her voice.

"I guess I never told you about Alice," Eric said, and she looked at him in confusion.

"Who?"

"Little girl, lived right by me before I moved," Eric said. "Nicest little girl I've ever met. Started making me realize I was responsible for not only my Guardians, but my teammates and the people around me. She did more to make me realize that than any of the rest of my team had done before or after. Yeah, I gradually realized that I had a team to look out for me... but it took until Alice to realize that."

"Oh," Taylor said.

"Wes told me that when he joined the Time Force team, it was like he had a purpose in life. A reason to be on this Earth." Eric seemed to meditate on his pasta for a moment, and then added, "I think, when I found out you were pregnant with my child, that crystallized for me as well. Here we are, having a good time, and poof, I'm confronted the fact that I helped create a new life. I've been thinking long and hard on that one, and I thought about how I've been looking for an anchor."

"Our baby," Taylor added, though she knew it wasn't necessary.

Eric nodded. "Yeah. And when you told me about Kyna and Egan... I guess I want to show up Egan, for some reason."

Taylor laughed, without knowing why. "A man three thousand years dead?"

"Yep," Eric said, looking amused.

"Okay," she said. It seemed the only good response.

* * *

Feeling a little better, or at least a little less pressured, Taylor decided to make a stop at the Animarium. Mostly because she wanted the peace and quiet, not because she wanted particularly to deal with her teammates. She'd long discovered that if she didn't want to be found, all she had to do was disappear into the wilds. The only one any good at tracking her was Cole, and that was inevitable because he had the help of the eagle brigade. And her EagleZord.

Stepping onto the island high above the sky, Taylor stepped immediately into the jungle, preferring to thrash through the plant life rather than run across one of her team. She didn't want to hear either about her relationship or her baby at the moment, and if she didn't want to hear about it, she wasn't going to hear about it. *Why did I have to get pregnant?* she wondered, as she stepped around a particularly thick bush. *Why couldn't Alyssa have....* But she knew that if Alyssa had, she'd have gotten irritated at the other Ranger for allowing herself to get pregnant. Besides, Alyssa was too goody two shoes to ever make love to someone in the middle of a war.

*What does that make me, then?* Taylor thought. *I'm the one who got herself pregnant. I'm the one who slept with Eric!* But as she thought, she realized that she'd needed the release. And, as Eric had pointed out once or twice before, they had used protection. It had simply failed, for one reason or another. It wasn't her fault. *It merely is... my baby. And Eric's.*

*Would I have not done it, had I known this was going to happen?* she thought. *No. I can't be who I am and not done it.*

She made her way into her own small grotto. She could see her escort perch in the trees... but there wasn't much she could do about it, just like she couldn't do anything about being pregnant. *Except protect myself,* she thought. *Without forcing the others to do it. But how?*

Rangers protected each other. There was nothing that she could do to stop the others from protecting her, as they had done always before this... *thing*... happened to her. There was nothing she could say that would stop them from trying to be there for her. It was something they were trying to get Merrick to accept, and now she was having trouble accepting it.

*Face it, you didn't have this problem before you became pregnant. Before you had to worry about the other Rangers trying to protect you because you carried a new life.* She sat down, leaning against the craggy wall. *A Ranger needs a team. They don't live long without one.*

Taylor groaned. *It's gonna be a long five months!*

* * *

Finally, she realized she had to go back, to be with said teammates. Back to Cole's puppy-dog eyes, Alyssa's concerned look, Max's teasing, Danny's earnestness. Princess Shayla's quiet prodding. At least Merrick stayed away from everyone and wouldn't trouble her.

She made her way back to the gathering site, where they slept and carried on their lives high above the city of Turtle Cove below. Alyssa, thankfully, would be off taking some kind of test or lab or something. Danny had his job. Only Max, Cole, and Shayla would be there. Oh, and the eagles. But they came with her.

"Hello, Taylor," Shayla said. As Taylor looked around, she realized that Shayla was the only one there, and that Shayla herself had simply made her emergence.

"Hi," Taylor said. "Where's everyone?"

"I believe that Cole is communing with the Zords," Shayla said. "And Max has found a new friend to spend some time with."

"And I know where Danny and Alyssa are," Taylor said, before Shayla could tell her. Shayla merely smiled at that.

"Merrick, I believe, is playing pool."

Taylor nodded. With everybody gone, it was almost like old times – just herself and Shayla, before the others had come on board. Before she'd ever met Eric. Before everything in her life had changed.

Shayla sat down at the team's picnic table. "I believe they wanted to give you some space," Shayla said.

Taylor snorted. *More likely they knew I didn't want to deal with this right now!* she thought. "Good," Taylor said. "I'm still figuring it out myself."

"And they respect that," Shayla said. "They know this is hard for you. Even Max."

Despite herself, Taylor smiled at that. "I just don't want to be over-protected. Even with this happening, I'm not made of glass."

"They realize this," Shayla said. "I think you would be surprised if you talked to them."

Taylor snorted again. "I can't talk to them without hearing about Eric. We're not in love!"

Shaya smiled. "Sometimes the ones involved are the last ones to notice," she said.

"Not with us. We know we're not in love. Just thrown together because we had sex, and something happened because of it."

Shayla merely smiled again.

"It's not like it meant very much."

"Maybe because you didn't think it meant very much means that it meant more than you think," Shayla said simply.

Taylor shook her head, knowing that Shayla was just being Shayla, and Shayla was sometimes just too innocent for her own good. And romantic, but that was to be expected when you had a boyfriend who returned after three thousand years of stasis with a cursed mask stuck onto his face.

"Perhaps... you should wait for the others to come back, and you shall see that this will not be so bad."

Shrugging, Taylor said, "Why not? I've got nothing better to do the rest of this afternoon."

* * *

The team returned slowly. First Cole, to wherever he'd gone off to with the Zords, then Alyssa, back from her lab, then Max and finally Danny. Merrick was nowhere to be found, but that was to be expected. He never joined them, wasn’t part of the team. Not like her.

"Hi, Taylor," Danny greeted her as he plopped down on a rock, digging out some romance novel to read. It wasn't a subtle hint – it was more likely that he'd picked it up at a library booksale and just chose to read it. Alyssa hadn't said a word, just went to cook dinner, Cole had just started talking to one of her eagles, and Max was apparently lost in a good memory. Probably because he didn't want to deal with grumpy her.

"Dinner's served," Alyssa announced cheerfully. But then Alyssa was always cheerful. It was just part of her nature.

"So," Cole asked her, "You had time to think things over?"

She shook her head. "Not really."

"I know you don't want to be protected, but...."

"My suit'll protect me. And the baby." As the words came out, she knew it was true. For the moment.

"For the moment," Cole echoed her thoughts. "But later... the Wildzords remember."

She wished they didn't. She wished they hadn't. But they did, and they'd told Cole.

Danny looked worried. "What'll happen then?" he asked.

"Nothing'll happen," Taylor said. "Because then we'll have won." She stated it, not allowing her to think about what would happen if the war between the Orgs and the Rangers went on to the point in which she had to go on the Ranger equivalent of maternity leave.

"You sure about that?" Danny asked, obviously still worried.

"Very sure. Because I'm not going to be dragged out of this war."

Silence reigned for a moment after Taylor's statement. Taylor couldn't decide if it was because of her tone – which her teammates had heard before – or because of the audacity of a pregnant woman to not accept her fate. She hoped her teammates would know her better than that, would accept that she had a duty to do and it was because of her baby that she had to get this done and get it done *now*.

Of course, it wouldn't be easy, but Taylor wasn't one to give up, especially with her own family now at stake. Now that she was pregnant, this whole battle had been taken to a very personal level – the level of the child within her, which would hopefully be born in nine months in a world free of Orgs.

"So," Danny said at last, "What do we do?"

"Well, if Taylor wants to fight," Alyssa answered, "I say we just do our best. Just as we've always done, to protect her."

"But not like I'm fragile," Taylor interjected. She could see the looks in the others' eyes. "I used to be Air Force, guys. This is just one more adversity and I'm not going to let it stop me."

Maybe it was the look in her eyes, because as she stared at her teammates, she saw each of them give up, at least for the moment.

* * *

Of course, what Cole had said earlier still bothered her. The suit would protect the baby... up to a point. Shayla said that her predecessor in pregnancy had given up at five months, but she wasn't clear on whether or not her predecessor was a Ranger or had had less protection. She did know that her expanding abdomen would present a target for the Orgs and the Putrids, and she was sure that any one of the smarter Orgs knew what a pregnant human looked like. Plus, Ranger forms, though tough, were rather form-fitting.

Or were they? Would her figure show as her body expanded? Would the child be tucked away in some protected space as its mother fought for its future? This wasn't something that she'd ever think she had to think about. Obviously she was going to have to think about it, like it or not. Her teammates would protect her, but only she would know what she was going through... what she would feel and react as the hormones hit. They probably were even at this point.

Taylor leaned against the tree. *And I'm not even recognizing it,* she said. *And I don't think anyone would dare tell me, not at this point.* She'd cowed her teammates, at least for the second. She doubted permanently, for Danny and Max always bounced back, Alyssa would be back with her concern, and Cole with his pleading eyes. At least she didn't have to deal with Merrick; she doubted he cared, which for once was a comfort. She wanted him to be a part of the team, but not right that moment. Four teammates on her plate was quite enough, especially with Shayla, Eric, and Wes doing their own parts. At least Wes was limiting himself to Eric.

*So, what do I do to protect myself?* she thought. *Do I fight as I'm used to, or.... No, I have to fight, like it hasn't changed. When I gain weight, then I'll have to worry about it. I'm sure I'll be shrieking at the others soon enough for buying baby bottles, cribs, and maternity clothing!*

Her lips curled up in a half-smile. *And they'll do it too.* Rangers were intertwined in each others' lives; if it made them happier to go buy maternity stuff for it, then she'd probably have to put up with it. For the team. Always, for the team. She knew she'd be snappish for the next few months, but she'd have to learn to keep it toned down. She knew there was only so much that could be excused before it affected performance.

But still, being around them made her restless. She had just learned to tolerate Cole, it seemed, and Danny before that, and Alyssa before that. They'd gotten on her nerves as each of their zords had chosen her, just like Shayla and her zord had chosen her. She was the first of the Rangers linked to a zord, and somewhere along the way, it had gotten maternal. Or paternal. Or whatever.

As her zord passed, screeching, overhead, Taylor slid down the tree and tried to understand what had happened to her.

* * *

Eric slapped the meatballs onto the pan for cooking. He wasn't sure if Taylor would come or not, but he hoped she would. Not only because he felt like he could use the company of someone who wasn't making a comment about his love life, but out of some irrational urge to feed her and keep her healthy. Eric attributed most of that to the strange feeling of impending fatherhood, never mind that it was months away and Taylor wouldn't take kindly to being cared for. In some ways, Taylor reminded him of himself.

Of course, except for the fact that she'd been the first Ranger on the team whereas he'd been the sixth. She'd watched her team come into existence around her, while he had tried to avoid becoming part of a team that had formed without him. But he'd spotted the same loneliness, the same not-quite-fitting that Wes had told him more than once that he had radiated when he was still fighting against being part of the team.

Yep, she was lonely. Lonely in the middle of a sea of friendliness because nobody knew how to approach her. Heck, he didn't know how to approach her, but that was because Taylor was Taylor and she couldn't well be anybody else.

It made it very difficult to propose to her, as he wanted to do. But he had to admit that his desire to propose stemmed not out of love for her, but a sheer desire to not see his child born out of wedlock. And Taylor would resent that. He would probably hate himself too, even if he got her to agree. Which she wouldn't. He couldn't imagine Taylor doing anything after he proposed to her except tearing his balls off.

Let Wes snicker and make hints. He knew Taylor possibly better than her teammates and he knew how she'd react. He couldn't imagine Taylor married to anyone... and especially not him. Eventually, Taylor might let him be a father to this child... but on her own terms, and nobody else's. He had to let her make the first move. Whatever that may be.

He hoped it started with dinner.

* * *

Taylor had picked up the message from her answering machine. Dinner. At Eric's. Well, it beat dinner at the Animarium, cowing the others, plus even Alyssa couldn't cook as well as Eric. *Swedish meatballs, sauce, ligonberries, potatoes.* She supposed that it could be a good dinner, though Eric could make the meatballs from Ikea taste good.

So she found herself driving over to Silver Hills, to Eric's place, once again. For dinner. Maybe he'd even lend her his couch so she didn't have to join the others and listen to them talk.

Eric was relatively quiet, though, as he served up dinner. Sure, he'd gotten lazy and bought the meatballs ready-made, but the meatballs with the ligonberries tasted really good and it surprisingly lightened her mood. *But you like meatballs with ligonberry preserves, even before you got pregnant,* she reminded herself.

"You like it?" Eric asked.

"Yeah," Taylor responded.

"Good."

"Good?" Taylor asked. "You have some ulterior motive?" *Oh, no.* She could see it in his eyes.

"Well... just to get this out of the way, because I know what'll happen if I don't... will you marry me?"

Taylor broke out in laughter.

"I had to ask," Eric said defensively.

"I know," Taylor said, recovering. "I know. Princess Shayla was giving me hints. I guess Wes is too for you."

"Yeah, he is. Fortunately, I know he won't tell his dad that the co-commander of the Silver Guardians got someone pregnant. Or he'd better not. His father's a little sensitive about the image issues."

Taylor nodded. "So, are you serious about the marriage thing, or...." She let the words trail off, not sure of what he would say.

Eric seemed to debate what to say. She hoped he wouldn't, just to spare worrying about him. To know that he wanted to marry her... *marry* her, was a disturbing notion. But she had to admire his guts. Most guys were afraid of her, and with good reasons. Reasons she encouraged. But she liked Eric. Somewhat. Not enough to move in with him, but somewhat.

"I guess... that I am," he said, his expression enough to tell her that this was news to him as well. He studied her, as if not sure he should stay or be prepared to defend himself.

"Look, Eric. I *might* want you to be a part of our child's life. But you are not required to marry me! This is the twenty-first century, not the early twentieth!"

Something flashed across Eric's face. "I *know* that."

"I can raise this child by myself."

Eric snorted. "Didn't say you couldn't."

"So... why'd you say a stupid thing like that?" Taylor asked.

"Taylor, ever since... *this*... happened, I've had to ask myself how I got in this position. Thought long and hard. And... I guess this makes me sound stupid, but I guess you're the first woman I've met that... well, would actually think of tearing out my balls for asking you that question." "I should," Taylor said. "But... I'm feeling *nice* today. I won't."

Eric gave her a nod. "I'm not doing this out of a guilt trip, Taylor. If you don't want me in your life, then fine. But I would like to think I'm responsible."

Taylor snorted.

"In any case, now I can say I proposed to you."

"And that I said no," Taylor responded, crossing her arms.

"Was that a 'no'?" Eric asked. "I don't think you answered the question."

And, Taylor realized, she hadn't. She was usually straightforward about how she felt, and presumed others were likewise, even if sometimes people forgot to make themselves clear. It happened on her team sometimes. But she had avoided the question, and she knew why. It was because she couldn't be forthright on the answer. She couldn't be her usual sharp self.

"Unless you answered and I didn't hear it," Eric said, leaning forward.

"I said no," Taylor answered. "Look, I know you *think* you have feelings for me. But deep down inside, there's some macho desire that's making you act this way. It's daddy guilt."

"Daddy guilt?" Eric asked.

"Guilt for fathering this child," Taylor clarified, turning away.

"It can't be because I've never met anybody as challenging as you are?" Eric asked.

"No." She knew where Eric was heading and she refused to go there. "Go back to Wes, Eric, and tell him I turned you down. I'll tell my team. Then they'll stop making hints." *Or at least I hope so,* she thought.

"If you really want that," Eric said neutrally, and even Taylor could hear the disappointment in his tone. Pausing, she wondered, *Does he really love me?*

But she wasn't sure she wanted that answered.

* * *

Eric offered her his bed for the night, but she refused. She drove back to Turtle Cove, heading back to her own apartment and to her own sofa bed. She could hear her avian guardians talking to each other, but she realized she was missing the sounds of the rest of the animals in the Animarium.

*The Wildzords are tied to us. Tied to us, mind, body, and soul. It's just that Cole's the only one good at listening.* She moved a hand up to her abdomen. *I wonder if we're tied to the Animarium, in a way, just as our Zords are? That we're tied to the rhythm of nature.* Maybe her ties to the EagleZord and the Animarium had caused her protections to fail, trying to link her further to the place that she currently called home.

*But after the war's over, then what?* She tried to picture herself living on the Animarium for the rest of her life, raising a family... with Eric. Or maybe with Shayla and Merrick. She hadn't thrown Eric out of her life yet, but she knew she had to do it soon, for his sake and her own. Still, her imagination was running off regardless of her orders, throwing up pictures of two blond-haired kids running through the Animarium jungle, Merrick and Shayla close behind, smiling. Eric scooping their daughter up, still in Silver Guardian wear. *Great. Now my imagination's in on the act!* she thought, groaning. *Last thing I need is for my kid to turn into Cole!*

Closing her eyes, she tried to banish the image out of her mind.

* * *

The day shone bright, and Taylor could not help but be miserable. For the first time in her life, she wasn't sure what she had to do. Usually she had no problem. She saw what she had to do, and she did it.

All of that had gone topsy-turvy when she met Eric. The semi-retired Ranger had somehow enter her life... and thanks to their time together, seemed to want to be permanently tied to her. All thanks to her protection failing.

Deliberately failing, most likely. Maybe it was because the force that was the Animarium needed her to be pregnant, or something ridiculous like that. Or maybe it felt that she wasn't tied the way she should be. Her relationship with Eric had to be the perfect excuse to remind her of what she was battling for. As if she needed reminding.

Of course, she'd only slept with Eric because he understood. Understood the pressure of being a Ranger, understood what it was like to be disciplined, tough... and deposed as leader of the team. Eric had made his try, he'd told her one night, and she'd been the commander until Cole came along. She'd accepted Cole, but she still wondered what it would have been like had she been the leader. Had she been the one paired with the Lion.

It wasn't a sex thing. It was a destiny thing. The Lion had picked Cole out because... well, she was sure it had its reasons. Just like her Eagle had chosen her. The Lion could have chosen her, if it hadn't probably chosen Cole long before she even was on the Animarum. Cole had told her one night that he'd probably been tied to the Lion since he was a baby.

Her Growl Phone rang. "Yes?" she barked.

"Wondered if you wanted breakfast," Eric said, without pausing for a greeting.

"Sure," she said. "Let me get dressed."

"I'll expect you in half an hour," Eric said, and disconnected.

Taylor rapidly dressed.

* * *

Eric didn't say a word when she got in. Just opened the door, gestured towards the table, and went back to his cooking. Cooking seemed to be an obsession with him, not that she minded. Her own cooking skills might keep her alive, but she was grateful for prepackaged dinners, lunches, and breakfasts.

"Have you changed your mind?" Eric asked suddenly.

"No," she said, but her voice wasn't as steady as it should be. "Are you trying to turn into Lord Peter Wimsey?"

"Hm?" Eric asked, his attention not quite where it should be.

"Lord Peter Wimsey. Are you trying to turn into him?"

"I was never into detective novels."

Taylor snorted. *At least he isn't a total clod. He at least knows who I'm talking about.* "Why the question?"

"Wanted to see if you'd changed your mind."

"I haven't. Happy now?" Taylor asked.

Eric shrugged as he plopped an omelet in front of her. "Can't blame a guy for asking."

"Eric, get out of the daddy guilt thing."

He sat down in his own chair. "I'm pretty sure this isn't daddy guilt."

A shiver ran down Taylor's spine at that. "Then what is it?" she asked.

"You didn't seem too sure last night, and you're always so certain." He was watching her carefully. "Procrastination isn't like you."

"Pregnancy isn't like me."

Eric's mouth upturned briefly. "No, but you are now. Whatcha going to do about it?"

"Nothing, right now," Taylor said, "I'm eating."

"Besides that."

She dropped her fork and folded her hands. "Do you seriously see me in a white gown going down an aisle?" she demanded.

Eric shrugged.

"All right," she admitted grudgingly. "It's not as shocking as I'd like it to be." The admission didn't shock him as she'd hoped; he reacted precisely in the manner of one who isn't surprised by an outcome.

"Good."

"Good?" Taylor echoed.

"I know you don't want to be tied down, Taylor. Neither do I. And we wouldn't do that to one another. You wouldn't allow me to tie you down, and I hope to everything that I wouldn't do that for you. I'd have to be pretty stupid to presume to know how to run your life. Besides, you have your world and I have mine."

"Isn't that an argument for staying apart?" Taylor wondered.

Eric gave her a small grin. "With anybody else, yes."

"And why not for us?" Taylor asked.

"'Cause we know each other. We know what it's like to be Rangers. Nobody else is gonna understand us the way we do each other." Eric inspected his cooking. "Besides, we'll never get any peace until we do."

She considered that. "You have a point."

"You have four of them – teammates."

Taylor snorted at that. "I can control them."

"Yeah, that's what I thought about Wes. Proved me wrong. Face it, either we gotta break up forever, and I don't wanna do that, or we get together and shut them up. Sometimes you gotta do stupid things for the team."

"And this is really stupid," Taylor said, but she was beginning to see the attraction. Besides, two could say no better than one.

"Yeah, it is."

"Okay, then," Taylor said. "Just so that we can shut them up and go on with our lives – will you marry *me*, Eric Leland Myers?"

"Yeah, I'll marry you, Taylor Jessica Earhardt." He took a deep breath. "Are we done now?"

"Just about," Taylor said, knowing that he knew it, too.

* * *

"Okay, we're engaged now. Happy?" Taylor said by way of greeting to her teammates. She'd decided that facing them head-on was the best tactical decision she could make. It would certainly shut them up.

"Congratulations!" Alyssa said, bouncing up and down as if she was on a trampoline. The guys murmured responses, having been trained well-enough that they didn't attempt to slap her, though she'd have to go warn Eric to avoid the Animarium until the excitement died down a bit. And if they got any ideas... well, she'd keep them in line. It was good practice for her future child.

Eric, she knew, would be doing the same thing with Wes. At least she hoped so. She... well, she liked Wes, but she didn't want to have to train him to stay in line. Not like she'd have to do with hers again before her pregnancy was over. But she'd do it. Just in Time training did wonders for discipline.

She smiled, and let the congratulations flow over her like water. In the end, it would be her... and Eric.

Oddly enough, she was looking forward to it.

-end