Chapter Text
Taylor leaned her head back, annoyed at herself for letting herself get pulled over. The officer came over to her driver's window and leaned down.
“Do you have any idea how fast you were going, ma’am?” He asked. There was a sharp burning on her wrist but she tried to ignore it, not wanting to think about what it could mean.
“I’m sorry officer, I just-,” he cut her off.
“License, please.” As he checked her license, Taylor rubbed her wrist, trying to get the burning sensation to subside. She didn’t believe in that whole “soulmate” thing, that was more for Alyssa but at this point, it was eating at the back of her mind.
“Ma’am?” The officer held out her wallet back to her.
“Oh, thank you…” After he went back to his truck, she drove off. Only then did the burning die down. She didn’t want to see it, not wanting to see if the officer that pulled her over was really her soulmate.
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“So, did you give her a ticket?” Wes asked Eric once he got back inside.
“Yep. Could just sense she was trouble.” his partner answered.
“Would it hurt to ask if she was your soulmate?” Eric just glared at him, which cause Wes to laugh hard. “I’m teasing.” However, Eric couldn’t deny the burning that appeared right after the girl tried to plead her case. It made him a bit worried. Much like Taylor, he didn’t believe in soulmates so much, even after seeing Wes’s tattoo of the first thing Jen said to him, but he always thought it was interesting.
“Please, for all I know you could have gotten it after the fact and tried to play it up.” Wes rolled his eyes playfully and put back on his glasses as Eric drove them back.
“You think I would go to those lengths to prove a point? You’re ridiculous man.”
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“Alyssa!” Taylor called out when she got back to the Animarium, replaying the moment over and over in her mind. “I need to talk to you about something!”
“What’s up?” the white tiger ranger asked, appearing behind her. Taylor took off her jacket and held up her wrist. She hadn’t looked at it at all during the drive back. But by the now excited look on her friend’s face, it looked like she had run into her soulmate.
“Guess how I got it?”
“I’m going to assume it has to do with what made you get off the phone?”
“I got pulled over.” Alyssa grimaced but her excited look came back and she wrapped her arms around her friend’s shoulders.
“You have got to tell me all you know about him!”
“I don’t know anything about him, Lys. I met him just this morning and we’ll never meet again!”
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“You’re the one who gave me a ticket this morning! We just helped you, the least you could do is say thanks!” Alyssa shot a look at the yellow ranger, who just glared at her. Eric didn’t say anything, but the two started to get closer to each other, to the point that Cole and Wes were worried that they would fight.
“Hey, come on, Taylor. We’re all rangers here, right?” Danny pleaded with her, hoping to make her back off. In a pinch, he could pick her up and physically take her away from the fight, but that was a last resort since the last time he did that he was thrown into the seeing pool.
“Alright, alright…but next time leave fighting the mutants to the big boys,” Eric said condescendingly.
“Excuse me?” Taylor snapped, almost going toe-to-toe with him again. At this point, Danny did pick her up and take her over to Max and Alyssa, who just gave her friend a knowing smile.
“You shut up.”
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At the picnic after the defeat of, what were they, MutOrgs? Eric came to find Taylor sitting and reading something.
“Looks interesting.”
“It’s fine,” she said, trying to hide the smile off her face.
“Just fine?” He asked, moving to be behind her.
“It’s fine,” Taylor repeated, then shrieking a bit when Eric tickled her sides and stole the book. When she chased him, she was able to tackle him and they both fell. Eric was wearing a tee shirt and she noticed the tattoo on his wrist.
“Uh… what's that?”
“So, I…look, this appeared after I pulled you over. I don’t know what it means, and frankly, i don’t know if I want to find out,” Eric said truthfully. Taylor didn’t know how to respond but just pulled her sleeve up to reveal her tattoo.
“So, what does this mean for us?” She asked. “Do we get together or…”
“I mean…” Eric rubbed his neck nervously. He honestly didn’t think he would ever see Taylor again and certainly didn’t mean it like this. “I honestly don’t know. I don’t want to do anything rushed because nothing is for certain but also…” But also this might be his only chance to not be alone. Trip once told him that he was a good guy, but that he was lonely and he wasn’t one to argue with the telepath. So would this be his only chance to combat that? It was also up to Taylor. Whatever call she made, he would go with.
“I think it’s too early to make any rash decisions. We should talk and maybe get to know each other more before deciding,” Taylor responded after a minute of her thinking.
“That might be a good idea.” Eric got up and held out his hand to help her up. “You know, the others already found theirs. But for whatever reason, I never believed in it. Always thought it was just fairytale junk.”
“I did as well.” That wasn’t entirely true. Taylor had believed she had found her soulmate when she was a teenager, to the point of gaslighting herself into thinking that the tattoo was there, just somewhere where she couldn’t see it. But that ended so badly that she gave up on the idea of soulmates altogether, to the point of snapping at Danny and Alyssa when they tried to talk about it. “But, now it’s here and we can decide where we want to go from here.”
“Taylor! Eric! Where are you!” Trip called out.
“Coming!” Eric replied. Taylor lingered behind for a second before following. She was going to need some advice
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“So, I noticed you two were hanging together,” Alyssa pointed out.
“Don’t get your hopes up. We were just talking about the marks,” Taylor said.
“So, are you dating him?”
“No.” Alyssa’s face fell for a moment. “Don’t look at me like that. We decided it was too early to rush into anything. So we’re going to talk and see where to go from there. What about you and Cole?” Alyssa’s mark appeared just after they kidnapped Cole to recruit him. He, very stupidly in Taylor’s opinion, showed it off the moment he could; causing Alyssa to turn a very bright and noticeable shade of red. Alyssa wasn’t sure how to bring it up, but Danny was all over it, explaining the concept of soulmates and how while he and Max hadn’t had theirs yet, they were sure to appear soon. Alyssa just rubbed her wrist anxiously, which is how Taylor noticed it.
“Not yet. I mean, he barely understands the concept. What if he rejects me?”
“Then you’ll find someone else. Soulmate doesn’t mean you have to be with them. That just means the universe decided you would be cute together.” Taylor shrugged, looking at her phone. Eric hadn’t texted her back. Maybe he was still driving.
“I know, but still.”
“You’ll be fine, Lys.
“I can’t handle rejection like you can, Tay. It hurts on a deeper level. I’m just scared to feel that pain again,” Alyssa confessed. Taylor just hugged her friend, who hugged her back tightly.
“We got this. And soulmates or not, we’re always going to stick together. Got it?” Alyssa nodded. “Alright. Let’s get going. We still have Orgs to fight.”