The Reluctant Ranger Chapter 30 - Food Drive

Note: This chapter was drafted after the initial edit pass that most of these chapters were based on and might be inconsistent with some details, fair warning.

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“Hayes, Evans, hang back for a moment.” 

Nicole paused, the commanding voice of the Fire Chief catching her off guard.  With Carlos back in New York to help in the aftermath of the latest Sylan attack on his home turf, she no longer had him to act as a reasonable buffer between herself and the local elements.  Thankfully she wasn’t alone, Grace had volunteered each and every day with her, and was doing all the training right alongside her. 

Moreso, she was concerned about some of the footage that had come out from her recent near death experience and how many people might recognize her.

Then again, most of the department had to at least suspect that she and Grace were Rangers.  More than one of her fellow firefighters would watch them when they thought they wouldn’t be caught, but at the same time they were a pair of unusually fit girls that could keep up with the best of the boys. 

Another likely factor was that her absence overlapped with the recent battle, and she had never once gone on a call despite being at the station for at least one of them.  Rangers had gone in their places.  A thinly veiled fiction at best, but none of her coworkers had leaked her identity, so she wasn’t about to do anything to shatter the illusion. 

Nicole might have stood at attention, but she was still winded from her drills and more than a little sore besides.  Still not an excuse to be rude, however.  “How can we help you, Chief Grayson?” 

Rather than the confidence that Nicole expected, Grayson rubbed the back of his head almost apologetically.  “I know you’re still not up to par, but there’s this charity thing coming up that I think you’d be a good fit for.  Interested?” 

“That depends,” Grace cut in a bit forcefully.  “What will this event entail?” 

Chief Grayson sighed.  “It’s a food drive for the victims of the recent Sylan attacks.  The mayor is asking for various fire and police districts to volunteer some people and you two were the first that came to mind.” 

Which meant he definitely knew what they did in their off hours.  Better to get the implicit question out of the way before assumptions took over.  “Would we be expected to appear in uniform?” 

Of all the reactions Nicole expected, laughter wasn’t it.  “Oh no, nothing of the sort.  Just wear your usual department tees and some comfortable pants.  The biggest headache you’ll be dealing with a few rich assholes looking for some photo-ops.” 

Grace crossed her arms with a scowl.  “That’s still quite the headache.” 

The chief let out a raucous belly laugh.  “Well, you’re not wrong.  Just look on the bright side.  The two of you are basically fire proof.”  He punctuated that pun with an obnoxious wink.  “Even if you were to tell the Mayor and his biggest donors to fuck off, there’s no way in hell I’m firing you two.  You’ve saved too many lives for me to even consider it.” 

Well, that was…  Something. 

“Don’t write a check you can’t cash, chief,” Grace said with a chuckle.  “Still, nice to hear you have that much faith in us.” 

The chief waved off the comment.  “I’ve seen you both in action, it’s hard not to.  You’re two extraordinary women with hearts in the right place.  Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.” 

Nicole wrapped an arm around her girlfriend, pulling her close.  The hitch in her voice had been slight, but Nicole wasn’t about to take any chances when it came to one of the main pillars of her life.  Sure, she might be able to count several pillars of support holding her life together now, but it was Grace that held that central position.

Was that healthy?  Probably not, but as with most things in Nicole’s life, it was a work in progress.  She had reasons to seek out the coming dawn, and no matter what they might be, they were worth it if they saw her through.

“I won’t let her forget it,” Nicole said, glancing at her girlfriend from the corner of her eyes.  Then she feathered a chaste kiss upon Grace’s cheek.  “Not now, or ever.” 

With cheeks now dusted with crimson, Grace pushed a snickering Nicole away, but couldn’t hide her soft smile fast enough.  Yeah, they were doing all right, all things considered.  

“Ha!  You two are adorable, you know that?” Grayson said with a hearty guffaw.  He slapped Grace across her back, getting a soft grunt from her girlfriend in the process before he leaned in and dropped his voice in a conspiratorial whisper.  “Also, if you feel like having your colorful friends drop by, just ask and I’ll make sure nobody catches the ol switcharoo.” 

Nicole avoided sucking in a sudden breath, but it was a near thing.  Poker was hardly Nicole’s game of choice, as she could not bluff for shit.  Grace was a bit better, having kept her sexuality secret from her southern gospel parents for years, but the sudden tension in her shoulders was impossible to miss. 

It was no wonder their identities were so damn flimsy. 

***

A heavy thump sounded behind the reluctant Ranger followed by a groaning stretch that was accompanied with a series of cracks and pops more akin to a mess of bubble wrap being destroyed by an enthusiastic toddler.  Nicole regarded her girlfriend with a bemused eye, hiding her mirth as best she could. 

Which was piss poor if the responding pout was anything to go by.  Well, she could at the very least extend a peace offering in the form of ice cold fluids.

With a huff, Grace joined her at the counter, accepting the offered bottle of water gratefully.  “You’re lucky you’re on light duty.” 

Nicole couldn’t help but turn, leaning back against the counter with an amused smile.  “It probably wouldn’t be so bad if you weren’t constantly showing up the rest of the boys.” 

“A girl’s gotta show her stuff,” Grace said with a huff, then flexed her arm.  Nicole couldn’t help but stare at the coiled muscle rippling across the limb, her mouth going dry to the point she involuntarily licked her lips.  “And that’s the other reason I’m doing it.” 

Blinking, Nicole realized she had been set up and spun quickly, resuming her work on sorting the invoices for the donations.  Thankfully the food drive was only accepting cash donations, not mass amounts of expired goods that she’d seen donated the last time her school did something even remotely like this.

Seriously, where did elementary kids find enough expired cans of red beans to fill a  pallet full of the things?  That had to be someone’s idea of a joke, or they had a relative that worked in a grocery store.  If the prize list hadn’t excluded expired goods as contributes, they would have won handily.

Rumor was that the beans were instead used for lunch later that week to pad out the chili, but nobody ever proven there was a shred of truth to the whispers.  Hell, the lunch crew themselves probably spread it for their own amusement, their own urban legend that somehow made it onto the evening news. 

“I’ll admit, this isn’t what I expected when we volunteered,” Nicole said, trying to put the image of toned muscles flexing with a glistening sheen out of her mind.  “At least the rich snobs are keeping away from the volunteers.” 

Grace walked over, and leaned against the counter as she looked across the way.  “I still can’t believe you talked the others into showing up in uniform.” 

Nicole turned, letting herself lean against Grace a bit as she regarded the rest of her team.  Jeff, Devon, and Kayla were surrounded by the majority of the rich and IMPORTANT people in attendance, which was a welcome reprieve.  There were a couple of kids in attendance as well, all of them having lost a parent or sibling at the Renfaire or during the recent battle that tore apart half of Maple Grove.  

“I’m not looking forward to the stage event,” Nicole muttered.  Granted, she wasn’t sold on the plan, but for now it was working as intended. 

Grace grimaced.  “Me either.  Like, I get why we need to do it, but I don’t fight aliens for the fame and adulation of the masses.”

No, they fought them because humanity was doomed if they didn’t, and still pretty screwed even if they did.  It was a bandaid solution, but it was also the best they could come up with until they knew more about why the Sylan were attacking.  Sinclair’s theories were only just that, and it wasn’t like Maraline was opening up about the grand ambitions of the Sylan armada currently sitting in orbit of the planet. 

Would asking nicely actually get answers out of the woman?  Nicole wasn’t certain, but until they met in person again, she wouldn’t know.  It wasn’t worth dwelling on, and Nicole knew she needed to accept that.

So instead Nicole pushed off the counter and rounded on her girlfriend who was still leaning against it.  It wasn’t often that Nicole took the lead like that, but sometimes it was nice to shake things up.  Grace’s pupils dilated in momentary surprise, then she smiled up at Nicole.  Grace was a few inches taller than her, which made the shift in their dynamic all the more electrifying. 

“Hey,” Nicole said, her nose brushing gently against Grace’s. 

Grace pushed forward slightly, their lips brushing gently in a chaste kiss.  “Hey yourself.” 

The moment was precious and perfect, which was why she jumped in surprise when something heavy dropped to the counter right beside them.  Nicole spun with her harshest glare, only to be met with the shit-eating grin of the Chief. 

“Sorry, did I interrupt something?” he asked completely unapologetically.  

Nicole huffed, pulling away from her girlfriend but not before sending her a look that hopefully conveyed a sense of ‘we will continue this later’ before finally glaring at her clam-jammer of a boss.  His grin was unrepentant and the harshness of her gaze rolled off him like water. 

“Nothing that you haven’t watched a hundred times online,” Nicole snipped. 

It was a bit unfair, but who hadn’t watched lesbian videos?  Well, straight girls and gay guys probably didn’t have those sort of numbers, but the point stood. 

“You got me there.” 

And point proven. 

“How long until the presentation?” Grace asked, and thank Sappho for her timely interruption and convenient changing of the subject.  “We’ll need to slip away ahead of time to make it less obvious.” 

The Chief just laughed.  “All you two need to do is start smooching again then scurry off hand in hand while giggling.  Nobody will even question if the two of you are the missing members of the colorful set.” 

That… 

Huh.  Would it really be that easy to hide their exit?  Glancing at her girlfriend, it was clear she was considering the idea.  Nicole shrugged, open to it if she was, and got a beaming smile in return.  Well, it looked like they had their exit strategy, now she just needed to get the nerve to actually deal with the politicians. 

***

Sure enough, most people watching them go right back to being all lovey had just rolled their eyes when they made to leave.  Those same people had immediately started to whisper excitedly when the Black and Red Rangers had arrived on the scene.  Unfortunately, all the rich snobs and politicians had also noticed their arrival as did the news crews.  That was why she timed their arrival so that they would already be on stage, as were the kids from earlier. 

So when Nicole’s team made room for her, it stopped most of the proceedings.  The Mayor was quick to capitalize on that, however. 

“Well if it isn’t the hero of the week,” the mayor exclaimed, his smile so fake that even a natural twenty couldn’t have saved it from a perception check.  

At least she didn’t have to smile back, what with the helmet that hid her face completely.  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mayor Burall.” 

It really wasn’t, he’d only won the election due to his extreme rants about defending against the Sylan, and then done nothing in the face of the attack that led to Nicole’s parents dying in the chaos as everyone fled in a panic.  Besides, Nicole understood now better than most that baseline humans could do little in the face of the invaders. 

He was half the reason Nicole struggled for money, what with how he cut off support for victims of the attacks.  If only she could go off on the bastard for it, but this was hardly the place.  She couldn’t voice those thoughts without risking the entire charity drive, something that Burall wouldn’t normally support if it was government sponsored.  Hell, he was probably funneling most of the money into a fake charity where one of his kids was making seven figures and only ten cents on the dollar went to help the actual victims.

So if she squeezed his hand just a bit too tightly, who was she to fault such a mistake?  He couldn’t quite hide his wince, but held that false smile though the handshake.  Humans were a bit squishy after all and Rangers often didn’t know their own strength in social settings like a charity event.  

“Quite,” he said, a bit strained before he shook Grace’s hand as well.  This time he actually whimpered.  Now Nicole wished they actually were off somewhere kissing passionately.  “Always a pleasure to host our hometown heroes.” 

“It’s the first time we’ve met,” Grace said. 

Oh, how she could just kiss her girlfriend for THAT opening and Nicole decided to hell with it with the perception and kicked off the plan a touch early.  “Second for me.” 

“Oh,” the mayor said, turning back to her and angling himself as to not block the news camera, “when was this?” 

Nicole’s grin inside her helmet was every bit as unpleasant as the bite in her words.  “Shortly after my parents died in the attack last year and you swore you would help the victims,” she said, then tapped her chin.  “Only that help never came, now did it?”

“Well,” the man said, now visibly sweating.  “I’m sure there is a reasonable explanation for such an oversight.”  

“Of course,” Nicole said cheerfully.  “Thankfully there won’t be a repeat of that with these most recent victims, now will there?

“No, most certainly not!” the mayor declared.  “I’ll see to it personally that the funds raised today aren’t misappropriated.” 

Well, if nothing else Nicole could use her newfound fame to ensure nobody else in her city was neglected by the system.  To punctuate that, she turned and left the Mayor’s side, walking over to where the most photogenic of the victims had been instructed to sit on the stage and took a knee right in front of them.

“Hey kids,” Nicole said, her voice soft.  “I know what you’re going through, and I want you to know that I won’t let them treat you like I was.  You won’t be forgotten or neglected.  That I can promise you.” 

Because Nicole refused to let another kid suffer like she did.