A single stain glass lamp cast its cozy glow throughout the loft. A tri-color rainbow spread across the translucent shade, with sunset orange and gold lighting the background and a simulated tree trunk holding the bulb. The lamp had been rescued from storage for the sole purpose of illuminating this space between house and roof that TJ had come to call "the loft".

Partially insulated but not heated, the area was chilly on a December afternoon. But the beanbag chair he shared with Tessa held warmth well, and the cool air gave them an excuse to cuddle together under an old patchwork quilt. Similarly liberated from storage was the ancient boombox within Tessa's reach on the other side of the beanbag, and today it filled the air with the ubiquitous music of the season.

Some of the time, anyway. Tessa insisted on station surfing whenever a commercial came on, and she settled on country stations as often as she chose pop radio. While the latter was playing the songs he had heard all his life, the former had a distinctly bizarre sense of holiday spirit. TJ had listened to "Rusty Chevrolet", "Santa Got A Semi", and "Leroy The Red-Necked Reindeer" before he demanded that she change the station back to something more conventional.

She had, but she had chided him for having no sense of humor and before long they were back to country again. This time she had tuned into a less outrageous song, and he said nothing as Tessa tucked her arm under the quilt and rested her head on his shoulder again. Did it matter, after all, what they listened to right now?

It was Christmas Eve, and no matter the festivities around them, TJ couldn't help feeling a little melancholy. They would be leaving in a few hours, heading north to spend the night with their families in Sanborn. While he was looking forward to seeing his parents and his sister, and he was delighted that Tessa's family had allowed her to ride up with him and his uncle, he had mixed feelings about leaving Angel Grove during the holidays.

For one thing, any evil with the smallest amount of intelligence knew that a time of celebration was the best time to attack. Christmas in Angel Grove did have a history of trouble, including one memorable occasion last year when he had had to teleport back to help deal with menacingly bewitched reindeer.

Aside from that, though, there was the team itself. Why did he feel so much more isolated from it this year? Why did it feel like him and them instead of "us"? And why did he feel like he was only driving the wedge deeper by going home now?

He had gone home for Christmas last year, too. But last year the party at the Youth Center had spilled over into the morning of Christmas Eve, and the whole team had relocated to Ashley's house. They had slept and played games and watched TV in their pajamas until noon, and when he finally left it was with the warm camaraderie of friendship following him.

This year he and Tessa had helped Adelle decorate for the annual party, and they had attended together. Ashley had come too, though neither Andros nor Zhane put in an appearance. Cassie hadn't shown either, and Carlos had been distracted and moody all evening. He had left early, claiming fatigue. Ashley had left, somewhat apologetically, soon afterwards.

Not that he hadn't had a good time anyway; between Tessa, Karen, and Justin, he had been introduced to almost everyone who walked through the doors of the Surf Spot. But when he dropped Tessa off at Karen's house for the night and returned home to find his uncle still out, he had been struck by the difference between this year and last. They were growing apart--the five formerly inseparable teammates were no longer each other's only friends. He knew that shouldn't sadden him, but, on some level, it did nonetheless.

*Another year has come and gone,* he thought, quoting an old calendar poem he had memorized once. It had been one of those junior high homework assignments that never quite faded the way it was supposed to. *Another year has flown...*

It occurred to him to wonder where they would be next year at Christmas. They would graduate in June, but after that what would keep any of them in Angel Grove? On closer reflection, he decided rather sullenly, he wasn't sure he liked this "growing up" business at all.

"Now Christmas seems to come so fast," the tinny radio sang, an irritating counterpoint to his thoughts. "More than once a year... childhood never seems to last, and grownup ways appear..."

He sighed, resigned to the universe's sense of humor by now. "If I could turn the tide of time," the radio continued, "I'd do it sure enough--"

"Hey," Tessa interrupted quietly. "Whatcha thinking?"

"Just moping," he said, staring idly into the distance. "Don't mind me."

She craned her neck to look up at him without lifting her head. "Since when are you Scrooge?" she teased gently. "It's Christmas, remember?"

"That's the problem," he admitted. "It's Christmas, but... where is everyone, you know?"

She didn't answer for a moment. Finally, she said, "I get the feeling you don't mean everyone in Sanborn."

He hesitated. "No," he said slowly. "Maybe I should, though." Tessa was a constant reminder that he wasn't quite like everyone else. Sometimes he was glad of it, and sometimes... "I mean, they're my family, right?"

"You can't choose your family," she reminded him. "If you could, I think the Rangers would be yours. There's nothing wrong with missing them."

He squeezed her shoulder, grateful to her for understanding. "It's funny," he mused. "But since the Alliance of Evil fell apart, I feel like we see each other less instead of more."

"You have time for other things now," Tessa said softly. "Time to get a life, as Karen would say."

He chuckled. "Yeah," he agreed, reaching for her hand. "I guess I'm just realizing how much being Rangers holds us together. Most of us wouldn't have even met if it weren't for the team, and now that the team isn't everything anymore, we're starting to go our own ways again."

"Oh, that's not true," she scolded. "Don't be maudlin, TJ. You all go to the same school, and you're never more than two seconds away from each other thanks to these." She pulled their clasped hands out from under the quilt so that his morpher was visible.

He smiled at her indignation, but he wasn't deterred. "That's not what I mean, though. Even when we are together, we're not really. You saw Carlos last night--sometimes I'm not sure he even knows what day it is when Aura's not around. And Ashley's been counting down to graduation almost since school started... Did you know we only have a hundred and four days left?"

She giggled. "My roommate started counting the weeks back in September, if that's any comfort."

"At least your roommate made it through the semester," he countered. "Sometimes I'm not sure Cassie's going to make it to January, let alone June."

Tessa frowned in surprise. "She's not going to college?"

He snorted. "She's already threatened to drop out of high school twice, and it's only December. If she graduates at all it'll be a miracle."

She was quiet for a moment. "What would she do?" she asked at last.

TJ shrugged a little. "I haven't the faintest idea, but I suppose it would involve riding off into the sunset with Saryn somewhere."

"Not very practical," she said, a smile in her voice.

"But appealing," he said wryly. "And Saryn only encourages her."

"No." Tessa sounded startled. "He wouldn't, would he? He doesn't seem like the type."

"Oh, he doesn't mean to." He considered for a moment. "Actually, he may be the only thing keeping her in school, because you know all he'd have to do is say the word and she'd go. But he doesn't help, either. He's on Eltare most of the time, and when he's here it seems like all he does is say hello, pick Cassie up, and whisk her away on some romantic getaway. It's no wonder she doesn't want to be in school."

"Missing parent syndrome," Tessa murmured.

He raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"You know, when parents get divorced. The one who leaves is always the hero, because they're only around to do fun things on the weekend. They never have to deal with day-to-day life."

"Are you saying their relationship works because they're never together?" TJ couldn't help but be amused by the thought that, after everything Cassie and her Phantom had been through, they wouldn't be able to handle grocery shopping and car payments.

She breathed out in amusement, obviously getting a similar mental picture. "No, of course not. I've never seen anyone as devoted as they are. That's just what your description reminded me of."

They were quiet for a little while, listening to a surprisingly normal rendition of "Winter Wonderland" on Tessa's latest country station. Then, suddenly, she asked, "What about Ashley and Carlos?"

"What about them?" he asked, though he had a pretty good idea what she meant. The beanbag shifted underneath him as he tried to get a little more comfortable.

"Do they want to ride off into the sunset too?" She didn't try to move, knowing by now that two people trying to reshape a beanbag chair never worked as well as one.

"No," he said, hugging her a little closer as he resettled himself. "And Carlos is talking about going to AGU. But Ashley already applied to at least three places for early notification, and only one of them's even in-state."

"Horror," Tessa teased gently. "Imagine her wanting to leave home!"

He smiled a little at that. "Angel Grove's only a couple of hours from Sanborn. It's not the same thing."

"It never is when it's you," she reminded him. "What does Andros think?"

He shrugged. "Who knows? I'm not sure Andros really gets the whole college thing. As far as he's concerned, it's just four more years of high school."

"It's not," she murmured. "I don't think she's going to want to teleport back to the Megaship every afternoon."

"I know," he said, a little frustrated. "But I don't know how much she's tried to explain it to him. She keeps saying it's her decision, and that she's going to get out of high school before she worries about college."

Tessa didn't answer, and he tried to relax a little. It *was* Ashley's decision, and it was her issue to work out with Andros. He wasn't involved, and he wouldn't have any advice to give even if he were. What did he know about offplanet relationships?

He actually chuckled as a thought occurred to him. "You know, it wasn't when we became Rangers that things got complicated," he remarked. "It was when we went into space. Whose brilliant idea was that, anyway?"

She giggled. "Yours!"

"That'll teach me to speak before I think," he said, grinning. "'Guys, let's go into space! Let's go chase Zordon halfway across the universe!' Great idea, TJ; just great."

"Maybe if you just hadn't said, 'Let's get involved with the first aliens we meet,'" she suggested impishly.

"I didn't!" he declared. "They did that on their own!"

There was a smile in her voice as she nestled her head closer to his chest. "Then what are you worried about? They got this far; they'll work it out."

And what if they did, he wondered. What would he do then? What if Ashley went off to school in New England and Andros went with her? What if Carlos decided he'd rather work on Aquitian zords than study athletic training at AGU? What if Cassie left with Saryn one of these days and just didn't come back?

"Do you really think they won't make it?" Tessa asked when he didn't reply. She sounded more serious than she had a moment before.

"No..." He sighed, knowing he could never tell anyone else this. "I think they'll make it. And I guess that sort of scares me. I mean... what am I going to do without them?"

"The same thing you did before," she offered, not bothering to mention their morphers this time. "Go on. Whether you're a Ranger or not, that's what graduating is about. You have to go your own way, and sometimes that means leaving friends. It doesn't mean you have to give them up. It just means that... things might be a little different now."

"You can't go home again?" he suggested wryly.

"No," she countered. "You can't go back, TJ. But you can always go home."

He smiled at the conviction in her voice. She would know, he supposed. She was his "next year", after all. He reached up to touch the clip he had given her last night, now firmly fastened in her hair. "Nice barrette, Tess."

She laughed, hearing his unvoiced agreement in the idle statement. "Nice toy, TJ," she echoed, pointing at the Lightcast sitting on the floor by the lamp. Or, as he had decided to refer to it, his fiber optic chia pet.

"Thanks," he said proudly. The delicate fiber optic threads waved gently when he nudged it with his finger, and the ends twinkled each time the angle was just right. "My favorite person in the whole world gave it to me."

"She must be pretty special," she teased.

"Oh, she is," he agreed. He remembered her words the night before when he had pulled it out of its wrapping paper, and suddenly his eyes widened. "Hey! You were talking about me last night, weren't you!"

"When?" she asked, but her tone was amused.

"When you said my fiber optic chia pet was like the stars," he told her, and she giggled at his description. "You said sometimes you can't see their light unless you look at them a certain way--"

"But it's always there," she finished with an audible grin. "You just got that now, huh? Good job, TJ."

"My own fault for having an obscure girlfriend," he muttered, and she slapped his arm.

"Who are you calling obscure?" she demanded.

The rest of her retort--and he was sure she had more--was interrupted by a knock from the hallway below. "Io, lovebirds!" Max shouted up to them. "I need my suitcase!"

Tessa giggled. "Come get it!" she called back. "It's safe!"

"That's what you think," TJ whispered, too quietly for Max to overhear. She squeaked as he gave her ear a playful nip, and she slapped his arm again.

"Behave," Tessa hissed, just as Max stuck his head warily over the top of the ladder.

"Hi Uncle Max," TJ greeted him innocently. "Did you have a good time last night?"

"Why, yes..." He clambered up the rest of the way, eyeing the Lightcast. "And what, precisely, is that?"

"A fiber optic chia pet," TJ replied helpfully, and Tessa burst into giggles again.

"It's a Lightcast," she managed, and Max raised an eyebrow. "It's just colored bulbs and fiber optics," she added. "So you can only see the light when you're looking straight through one of the threads."

"Or it's space," TJ put in, and she smiled.

"Or it's space," she agreed. "Not that TJ would know."

"Hey!" he exclaimed, but suddenly she shushed him and reached for the radio. "What--"

He broke off as he recognized the caller talking to the DJ. "It's not a Christmas song," the caller was saying. "But since everyone sort of tries to figure out where they're going at the end of the year, I was wondering if you could play 'Destination Unknown'."

"I think we could do that," the DJ drawled. "You want to send that out to someone?"

There was a pause, and then Cassie's voice replied, "Could you send it out to the team? They'll know who it is."

"Can do," the DJ said easily. "Like you said, though, that's not a Christmas song, and we're trying to get in the spirit around here. Care to make a second request?"

"Can I?" Cassie sounded delighted. "Have you played 'Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer' yet?"

TJ snickered, and he heard the DJ chuckle. "Nope, but I think we should. Thanks for calling in, Cassie from Angel Grove."

"Thank you," Cassie answered. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas to you too, honey."

"I guess Cassie's back," TJ said in an aside to Tessa. "Nice of her to let us know."

"She just did," Tessa said softly. "Listen to the song."

"Do you know how many times I've heard that reindeer song this year?" Max was complaining as he rooted around for his suitcase in another part of the loft. "Couldn't she have picked 'Jingle Bell Rock' or something?"

"I've heard *that* a million times this year," TJ informed him. "Now be quiet."

The song Cassie had requested was one he'd never heard before, but for something Cassie liked it was typically fast and upbeat. And, he noted with amusement, it was love at first sight. But he smiled at the chorus, and after a moment he realized that even Max had stopped his search to listen.

TJ shook his head. *How does she know?* he wondered silently.

He caught Tessa's eye as the song came to an end and whispered, "Let's go try and find everyone to say Merry Christmas again before we leave."

A smile spread across her face, and she nodded. He pulled the quilt away and she scrambled out of his arms, taking the quilt from him as he struggled to get out of the suddenly squishy beanbag chair. "We're going to go up to the Megaship for a little while," he said, managing to push himself up. "Don't get into too much trouble, Uncle Max."

Tessa dropped the quilt back on the beanbag just as "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" replaced the closing chords of "Destination Unknown". Smiling, she turned the radio off.

"Thank you," Max said fervently, looking over his shoulder to wave at them. "I'll try to be packed by the time you get back."

"We won't hurry," TJ said with a grin. Tessa laughed, and he saw Max give the two of them a mock-scowl as they disappeared into the sapphire teleportation stream.