Disclaimer: Saban owns the Power Rangers. Go him! *grin* "For Your Love" is by Chris LeDoux from his album, Under This Old Hat. The song is rockin', boisterous, and boastful... and it's *so* Joel! A song from the *real* cowboy of country music for the Sky Cowboy of Power Rangers. *grin*
Timeline: immediately following the PRLSR ep, "Wheels Of Destruction".
Author's Note: Give a shout if you like Lightspeed Rescue! Okay, too loud. *grin* Thanks to TJ for giving this a read. Thanks to Starhawk for proofing. :) The coyote *is* Andros' wolffriend! *grin*

He had just returned from a test drive on his new Lightspeed Cycle. But the rush of adrenaline and excitement he felt had nothing to do with the super-fast cycle or the surge from the Power that one felt when morphed. Rather, it did in fact have entirely to do with the creator of both the cycle and the Power, the lovely Ms. Fairweather. It was quite simple really. Joel was in love, and Joel had never been one to be shy about displaying his emotions.

He walked through the hallways of the AquaBase with a huge smile on his face. Several people tried to stop him to talk, but he wasn't going to let himself be distracted as easily as he usually was. He was a man with a purpose, and he was going to see it through.

As he neared the quarters he shared with Chad and Carter, he caught himself humming the latest hit pop love song and stopped. It wasn't the type of music he normally listened to. He was the 'Sky Cowboy' after all, and he listened to country music. Not the 'my wife left me, my house burned down, and my dog ran away' country music that was usually heard on the radio. But the music of the rodeo, songs about living life on the edge and risking it all for love and for one last ride. And he agreed with the music, that love was worth what you gave up to have it. So that's what he was about to do.

He had always been willing to take the risks, to do what he had to, to get things done. And when solutions presented themselves, he never hesitated to act on them. That's what he was doing now.

Just an hour ago Ms. Fairweather had admitted to him that she liked him, but that Regulation 322.1 prevented her from acting on it. The regulation stated that no team member could date another. And if a silly regulation was all that stood in his way, well, he knew how to take care of that. And he was ready to do it, for her love.

Chad and Carter glanced up at him as he entered their quarters. But when they saw him get out his backpack and start tossing a few things in it, they exchanged curious looks before speaking up.

"Hey Joel," Carter started, "what are you up to?"

Joel flashed them a nonchalant smile as he put the last item, his framed picture of Ms. Fairweather, in the bag. "Nothing much. Just quitting."

"Say what?!" Chad and Carter exclaimed in unison, then both added their own questions.

"Are you serious?!"

"Why?!"

"You heard me. Yes. And Regulation 322.1, that's why," Joel answered all three questions with his usual touch of humor. Picking up his bag, he headed toward the door before stopping and snapping his fingers as if just then remembering something. "Oh," he removed his morpher and placed it in Carter's hand, "you'll get this back to the Captain for me, won't you? Thanks, you're a pal."

Carter stared in shock at the morpher in his hand for a moment before running after Joel. "Joel!" he yelled as he caught up with the departing ex-Ranger. "What's going on? What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," Joel said simply with a shrug. "I just finally know how to make things work." As he turned to go, he stopped to say, "It's been real, Carter. But I have to do what I have to do. I'll be seeing you. After all, I have to return the Lightspeed Cycle for the 'new guy' whenever you find my replacement." He grinned and added, "Not that I'll be easy to replace, but I'm sure you'll do your best." They had reached the lab that housed the Lightspeed Cycles by then, and with a jaunty wave Joel left the AquaBase, leaving behind one very stunned Red Ranger.

"Carter!" Chad shouted as he ran into the lab. Carter immediately noticed the regulation manual in Chad's hands. As soon as Joel had mentioned the regulation back in their quarters, Chad had grabbed the book and had been searching through it to find out what would make his friend quit something he obviously enjoyed very much. "There is no regulation 322.1. At least not one listed in the manual."

That was all Carter needed to hear. "C'mon, let's find the girls. Dana's been with Lightspeed for years. Maybe she's heard of this mysterious regulation." They had to get to the bottom of this.

Kelsey was bored; really bored. As she listened to Dana and Ms. Fairweather discussing various Lightspeed initiatives and other stuff she could care less about, she wished she had gone to see what the guys were doing that day before she had agreed to hang out with Dana. It wasn't long before the headphones that were perpetually around her neck found their way to her ears. Soon the AquaBase drifted away as she jammed to Meat Loaf and envisioned herself scaling her favorite mountain.

As Kelsey mentally reached the mountain's summit, she heard the pounding of feet over the blasting music of her headphones. She opened her eyes to see Carter and Chad running into the room; Chad carrying a book, Carter carrying... a morpher? But his was on his wrist, as Chad's was on his.

Dana and Ms. Fairweather's conversation had not stopped with the Red and Blue Rangers' arrival, so Kelsey interrupted it herself. Pulling the headphones back down to their place on her neck, she shouted, "Hey Carter, slow down! Where's the fire?"

He stopped and made a face at her. It was a private joke between them, but since he seemed so serious, she rephrased her question. "What's going on?"

"Oh, just Joel quitting. That's all," he responded.

"He did what?!" Kelsey exclaimed. They had Dana and Ms. Fairweather's full attention then.

"He handed me his morpher, said something about a regulation, took his Lightspeed Cycle, and left," Carter explained.

"Regulation 322.1...," Ms. Fairweather whispered, staring in shock at the morpher in Carter's hand.

"Yeah! That's it," Chad said, pointing at the regulation manual. "But it's not in here."

"That's because it's not a real regulation," Dana answered, shooting a sympathetic look at Ms. Fairweather.

Ms. Fairweather filled them in as she took the morpher from Carter. "I made it up. 'Regulation 322.1: no team member can date another.' I told him that I liked him, but that the regulation prevented us from acting on it." She sighed, "I thought I was doing the right thing, lying to spare his feelings. The silly boy... I didn't know he would do this."

"Wow, he quit for you," Kelsey uttered in awe. As Meat Loaf appropriately sang "I Would Do Anything For Love" in her headphones, she continued, "This isn't just any little crush or a flirtation. He really gave it all up because he thought then he could be with you."

"I see that now. I need to talk to him--," she had been about to add, 'and bring him back', when the morphers sounded the call to action. She blinked at the morpher in her hand and looked up at Carter questioningly.

He met her gaze before raising his wrist, "Carter here."

"Rangers," Captain Mitchell's voice came over the communication link. "Vypra and a monster are attacking downtown Mariner Bay."

"We're on it, Sir," Carter answered and severed the link. Turning to Ms. Fairweather he said, "We'll take the Lightspeed Cycles and take on the monster. You take the Rescue Rover and find Joel. We'll need his help."

"But where do I look?" she asked, realizing only then how little she knew about the Green Ranger. She had never given him a chance to get close, so she had never gotten to know him beyond the flirtatious overtures he continuously made.

"Try his hangar," Chad supplied as he and the other Rangers ran out the door. "He checks on his plane every chance he gets. The address is on the back of his 'Sky Cowboy' publicity photo."

Ms. Fairweather raced to her lab and on the wall found the forgotten picture Joel had given her early on in their 'relationship'. On the back was indeed the address of a local airstrip, and a listing of days and times when Joel performed his airshow, before he had become a Ranger that is. Picture and morpher in hand, she ran to the Rover and left the base.

She arrived at the airstrip without incident. It had been easier to find than she had originally thought it would be, what with the signs advertising Joel's show that the airstrip had posted along the road. She began to realize that maybe his extreme cockiness was all part of the show. Maybe he had learned to turn on the charm when he became a star, and had forgotten to ever turn it off.

As she pulled up to his hangar, she realized something else. That although she had built the Rescue Rover, she had never driven it, and driving it was an experience in itself. There appeared to be only one speed: 'Bat Outta Hell'; and only one way to stop: 'Whiplash-Inducing, Screeching Halt'. It was the sound of the tires squealing that brought Joel out of his musing over his plane's engines.

"Hey!" he shouted as he waved from his place atop a ladder. "What are you doing here? Not that I'm not happy to see you," he hastily amended. He rambled on as she jumped out of the Rover and ran over to him. "I was going to come calling on you later. To ask you out on our first 'official' date that is. But I wanted to make sure the ol' girl was ready to fly." He patted his stunt plane affectionately. "Say, let me introduce you," he turned from the plane to the scientist and only then did he see his morpher in her hands, only then did he pause. And it was then that she finally spoke.

"Why Joel? Why did you give this up?"

"For you," he said confused, as if she should understand. "If the only way we would ever have a chance to be together was if I wasn't a Ranger then...," and he shrugged helplessly, as if that explained it all.

"But I thought you liked being a Ranger!" she argued.

"Of course I do. But not as much as I like you," he smiled and jumped off the ladder to walk over to her. "And now that I know you feel the same-."

"Stop!" she interrupted him, shaking her head to remind herself of why she was there. The other Rangers needed him. "We don't have time to discuss this now. You have to take this back."

"No way," he declared, crossing his arms defiantly over his chest. "They can't make some silly rule that tells me who I can or can't date! Well, they can," he corrected himself, "but I won't be around to follow it. They can't stop us from dating-."

She tried repeatedly to get his attention, but without much luck. He was on roll and it didn't look like anything would stop him.

"Joel!" she shouted. This couldn't go on any further. She hadn't wanted to hurt him, but she knew she should have thought of that before she had lied to him.

"What is it?" he asked when he finally stopped, his curiosity building at her insistent tone.

"The others need your help." He started to interrupt her, but she held up her hand to stop him. "Before you say that you're not a Ranger anymore, you should know that you shouldn't have quit. There wasn't a need."

He stared at her, not understanding. There seemed no way for her to tell him other than the cold, hard truth. "I lied. There is no regulation 322.1." When he didn't speak she continued on in a rush. "I thought I was doing the right thing; a little white lie. I didn't know it would turn into all of this. I never imagined you'd quit." She sighed, "I didn't want you to get hurt."

"What you wanted was me off your back," he muttered quite clearly.

During her speech he had lowered his head, the brim of his ever-present cowboy hat hiding his face from her. But it did not stop her from hearing the accusation, or the hurt in his voice. "Joel..."

"No, save it," he said. "I know I have trouble taking a hint, but bash me over the head enough times and I'll get it. You want me to leave you alone, then fine." His hat was pulled so low, it still hid his eyes whether he raised his head or not. She couldn't remember when he had pulled it down. He took his morpher from her then, and was speaking into it even as he strapped it on.

"Carter, where are you guys?"

The Red Ranger sounded winded as he answered, "1st and Jefferson. This monster's a tough one."

"I'm on my way," Joel replied, and morphed as he cut off the communication. He headed toward his Lightspeed Cycle without another word to Ms. Fairweather.

"Joel?" she asked, knowing he had to go, but scared she had hurt him more than kind words could repair.

He turned as he reached the cycle. He gripped the handlebars tightly, and only then, when his helmet was hiding his face like his hat had, did he look her in the eyes. "The others need me." But she caught the rest of the implied sentence, 'even if people here don't'. He jumped on his cycle and was gone before she could respond.

She had taken the Rescue Rover back to the AquaBase and had been waiting for the Rangers to return. The fight took longer than usual, maybe because the Rangers had been shorthanded at the start of the fight, who knows? But when they had finally defeated the monster, they arrived back at the base looking tired and rightfully worn-out. She had hoped to pull Joel aside and talk to him when they returned. But Captain Mitchell's arrival in the lab prevented that.

"Good work, Rangers," he said as they demorphed. Joel tried to leave the lab inconspicuously, but Captain Mitchell stopped him before he reached the door. "Joel, what do you think you were playing at? Why didn't you answer the call? There could have been innocent lives lost because the team was not at full strength."

Ms. Fairweather started to step forward, to take the blame for Joel's absence. But Joel answered for himself, hat pushed back and head high.

"I'm sorry, Sir. I took the Lightspeed Cycle out to check on my plane and I lost track of time. I had my morpher off while I worked on the plane's engine and I never heard the call. I heard about the battle on the news and I got there as quickly as I could," he lied so expertly that even the Rangers wanted to believe him, though they knew it wasn't true.

"That's no excuse. You should be in contact with the AquaBase at all times," Captain Mitchell further reprimanded. "You and I are going to have a talk about your responsibilities if you expect to remain a Ranger."

"Yes Sir," Joel answered, never moving till the Captain left the lab.

She started toward him again, and though he never looked back he knew she was there. "Later, guys," he said, shoving his hands in his pockets and leaving the lab quickly.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Chad looking at her sympathetically. "Let us talk to him first," he advised. She shook her head and watched the Red and Blue Rangers follow their friend from the room.

"Joel?" Chad inquired upon entering their room. They found him lying on his favorite spot on the couch, his hat tipped down over his face. "Joel, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," they heard him mutter from under the hat.

"Liar," Carter jokingly offered, steeling himself for the retort he expected.

"Maybe I am, and maybe I'm not," he answered cryptically.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Chad asked.

"I think he's taking this a little too well," Carter said suspiciously.

Joel pushed his hat back and they could see the smile on his face. "Okay, so I am upset that she lied to me like that. But you have to admit, the situation is perfect now!"

"How so?" Chad asked, taking a seat.

"She's going to be feeling guilty and wanting to apologize. It's the perfect opportunity for me to finally get close to her!" he almost laughed with fiendish glee.

"You're incorrigible, you know that don't you?" Carter accused, shaking his head.

"Of course, but she doesn't," he smirked.

There was a knock at the door then, and as if on cue, Joel tipped his hat back down over his face. Chad laughed at him and went to answer the door, and found Ms. Fairweather waiting on the other side.

"I, I came to speak to Joel," she said, faltering slightly over her words.

Joel sighed a little too dramatically and pushed himself up. "Okay, I guess," he muttered, pushing his hat back and walking to the door. "Shall we go for a walk?"

"I'd like that," she smiled at him tentatively. But as he moved past her into the hallway she added, "Go on, I'll catch up. I need to ask Chad about an experiment he's helping me with." Joel accepted her lie readily enough and headed off down the hallway. She then turned to Carter and Chad, and explained before Chad could ask, 'What experiment?'.

She whispered, "I do feel bad about lying to him earlier, but I'm not stupid. I know what he's up to."

"Then why did you...?" Chad gestured at the departing Green Ranger.

"Because two can play at that game. And I realized that I've never given myself a chance to get to know him, and I should do that before I turn him down. Besides, I've put up with a lot from him, and him from me. And yet he still keeps coming back." She shrugged and smirked, "I like persistence."

She turned, and Carter and Chad watched her walk away. She soon caught up to Joel where he was waiting for her at the end of the hallway. He flashed her his biggest smile as they took a left and disappeared from sight.

"So," Carter began, "she says she feels bad for lying to him earlier, but she lied to him just now without batting an eye."

"And he's acting depressed and playing the sympathy card just to get closer," Chad finished. The Red and Blue Rangers looked at each other and burst into a fit of laughter.

"Oh yeah, those two were meant for each other!"

****
For your love I'd rope the moon and put it in a blender
Mix up a concoction that might make you surrender
I'd bite the brand of a buckin' Brahma bull
Rob me a gin mill, I'd fill the ocean full
I'd take on the Army, Her Majesty's Marines
Your love ain't just the cover, it's the whole magazine

For your love I'd stop a freight train single-handed
Straighten out the bends in the Rio Grande
I'd climb the tower at the tv station
Broadcast my affection to the United Nations
I'd take on the government, in Washington, D.C.
Your love ain't a engine, it's a rockin' machine

For your love, I'd stop the hands of time
For your love, I'd dig a diamond mine
For your love, I'd do it all the time

Yes, I would!

For your love I'd walk a tightrope and wrestle anacondas
Jump a motorcycle over half a dozen Hondas
Carve your initials on a forest of bamboo
Paint the Brooklyn Bridge, Baby, pink with a broom
I'd take on the press, from Tokyo to Pravda
Your love ain't just a hot sauce, it's a whole enchilada

For your love, I'd stop the hands of time
For your love, I'd dig a diamond mine
For your love, I'd do it all the time

Day and night!
****

THE END