Emma's life was going well. She had her usual routine of work, her daily jogs in Central Park, and just chilling at home or nights out at a bar or two. She was finally figuring out the wonkiness with her power, or at least she tried to tell herself that. She was still susceptible to the occasional hiccup when she was overly anxious or felt backed into a corner. Those times were rare now that her gym workouts helped to boost her confidence. She felt strong and aptly able to take on anyone if she needed. The past few years had been rough and she was not about to become vulnerable again to anyone.

She was now a 27 year old woman instead of being 36, which is how old she was before being traumatically de-aged. Thankfully, there was a mutant who helped her regain her memories through his power with object memory. She would forever be grateful for Ty. 

Emma woke up at 8:00 am to start her day. She grabbed a quick shower, got dressed, and walked out with her small cross body backpack and her travel cup full of coffee. Today was her off day and she wanted to start it off by jogging/walking around Central Park for a while before she grabbed some lunch and ran some errands. Amongst the huge city, Central Park was just so green and open with fresh air. It was her place to just feel free. A place to feel like you can get lost to wander and explore, but still familiar enough to not make her feel anxious. She loved it here so much. It really helped her get through her trauma. She still has to fight everyday to not let those painful memories of what happened flood her brain all day. 

Life was starting to settle back into a somewhat normal routine. Ranger still didn’t have a handle on how his power worked since it was altered by that mystic, but he was finding his way through it. Noel had joked that now their daughter, Emma, would have a mother. The child was lucky she was so cute, she was a threenager and could be quite the hellion. Which only made sense, she was Ranger and Noel’s kid.

So Ranger found himself sitting on a park bench, Emma playing in the grass a few dozen yards away. The kid had found a stick and was poking at the ground as she sat there. Ranger smiled and scanned around the park. The park was generally safe enough, and in case of an issue, Ranger was part of the American un-healthcare system and he made house calls. Proactively.

There was a chime and Ranger picked up his phone. He had set it down on the backpack that sat beside him. Work never ceased. Between Blac-Tac and SUPER there was plenty of business. Especially now that he and Muse had buried the hatchet.

Ranger scanned the email, SUPER business. Most of the referenced material in the email would have to access them through JWICS later. Ranger looked up, it had only been a minute, but Emma had become too quiet.

”Emma?” Ranger called, looking for a moment before seeing her near the path but further down it. Where people were traveling. ”Emma, c'm'on over here.” Ranger said, waving for her to come back to him.

One of the first things Emma did after arriving at Central Park was making sure to sit at one of the fountains and enjoy her coffee. By the time that it took her to walk to Central Park, it had finally cooled off enough for her to drink it without scalding her mouth. She drank it slowly, enjoying the full flavor and robustness. She filled out one of those online quizzes for a coffee company and they picked out a few selections of coffee to be sent to her. She had just received them the day before and she picked one to try this morning. She made a mental note that she really liked this brand's roast and would definitely order from them again. She watched the fountain and some people as they walked around or were obviously cutting through the park as bike messengers or bustling to work. After a little while, she finished her coffee. She rinsed her cup out at a nearby drinking fountain, closed the lid tight, and put it in her bag. She walked out to a nearby path, stretched, picked her playlist, and started out on her run.

Emma had been jogging around Central Park for a while. She had found the right music for today. She was jamming out and had found the perfect pace for her jog. She had been running for about 30 minutes when she decided that she would slow down and walk around for a bit. She would make up her mind later if she wanted to continue jogging or if she would call it finished for the day. She had been listening to music on her phone with her wireless earbuds, but they died on her. She took her ear buds out of her ears and slid her backpack around and put them in the front pocket. She needed to be better at remembering to plug them in at night so they would have a full charge to last all day.

As she was finishing putting her earbuds up and walking forward, she suddenly heard someone call her name. Emma slid her backpack back around and looked up upon hearing her name called. She had heard her name not just once, but twice. And it was followed by a come here. When she looked up, she saw a man sitting on a bench with a backpack set next to him. She was slightly confused. He seemed familiar. Was he one of her possible one night stands? It must have been pretty great if he wants her to come over. Some of her memories were still kinda fuzzy so it's possible they had met before and she hadn't really remembered. She slowly started to walk over towards him. Emma sat next to him on the bench, smiled at him and said "Hey! You seem really familiar. Have we hooked up before? I guess I must have been pretty memorable for you to see me in the park, remember me, and call me over. Were you interested in maybe coming back over? I'll make sure I won't forget you this time." Emma leaned in a little and bit her lip, flirtily.

Emma looked up at Ranger as he beckoned her over. She started on her way back and Ranger turned and set his phone on top of his backpack. It was times like this that had him wishing he had brought Reveille or Dammit along. Reveille was good at keeping Emma out of trouble if Ranger looked away for a minute… Dammit, probably got Emma in more trouble, but she was a great guard dog. Kept Emma safe.

Before Ranger’s daughter could make it back over, a woman sat down on the bench beside Ranger. Before Ranger could give so much as a ‘Howdy, how’s y’r ma?’ the woman was asking if they had hooked up and if Ranger was interested in another round. Ranger blinked, and gave a slight cough. That conversation starter was not on his bingo card for the day.

”Um… I don’t think we’ve had the uh… pleasure.” Ranger said to the woman before leaning forward to grab up his three year old who had toddled over .

“Is she your friend, Dad?” Emma asked and looked over at the woman. “I’m Emma!” she announced waving erratically before holding out a little hand for a shake.

Ranger smiled as his daughter tried to imitate her daddy meeting someone. He then looked back at the woman. She had thought they had met, or maybe her name was Emma and the signals got crossed. Yet, blonde to light brown hair, fair skin, green eyes, five foot five. The description was familiar to Ranger, it matched up to someone he had read about in Noel’s journal. Someone Ranger had described to her one night when he was affected by a power.

Emma watched as the man blinked, coughed and denied having hooked up with her before. She suddenly saw a toddler come into view as she walked up. Emma leaned back as the man picked her up. She smiled as the little girl introduced herself and held her hand out. Emma reached out, took the little girl's hand, and gave her a firm shake. Not so firm as to hurt her, but firm as in a decent handshake and not sloppy.

"My name is Emma, also. It's nice to meet you." , Emma said. She let go of the little girl's hand and looked at the man to address him. "I'm really sorry for the misunderstanding. My memories are somewhat still fuzzy at times. I was attacked. My memories were gone and I somehow became 27 again. You seemed familiar so I thought we had had some fun together before." Emma made sure to mind her language. She did not want to be the one responsible for a toddler asking what hooking up meant. 

Emma took a long moment looking at his face and processing through the memories that Ty had helped her get back. She thought through Ty going through items in her apartment. Suddenly, a memory came to mind of Ty holding a feather, a feather that was blatantly obvious to have been part of a kind of show girl costume. Then the memory of this man transitioning into a fashion model Angel in a dance hall became clear in her mind. His name also came back to her. 

"You're Ranger, aren't you? I remember you now. A friend named Ty helped me get a lot of my memories back and it's still hard trying to process them all. I still had a feather from your fashion model costume that night in the dance hall. Does that seem right?" Emma tilted her head slightly with a puzzled look on her face as she spoke. She waited for him to confirm or deny her realization before letting herself relax. She unconsciously held her breath, hoping that her memory of him was correct. She had a lot of anxiety trusting that her memories didn't get scrambled in her head. She tried to be patient with herself, but it was overwhelming trying to keep all her new/old memories organized.

Children often had a magical way of diffusing awkward or uncomfortable situations by just being themselves. Emma’s self introduction worked to divert the conversation just enough to cease being so awkward while also producing the name of the woman who had started it. Her name was also Emma. Of course it was. That was why she had thought Ranger was waving her over. She thought Ranger was calling out to her and he apparently looked similar enough to someone she had had a late night liaison with.

However, the name sharing was not the most interesting piece of information. The reason the woman was unsure was. Emma, the older Emma, was a victim of the de-aging. The same thing that had occurred to Ranger and Noel and a host of others. Ranger couldn’t tell Emma, but he had spearheaded the operation to end the organization responsible.

”I understand.” Ranger said, ”I had the same thing happen t’ me.” Ranger looked from one Emma to the other. Thankfully Ranger didn’t wake up post de-aging and already have a kid. That was a blessing for his second chance at his late 20s.

Ranger looked back to the de-aged Emma when she used his callsign. That was interesting. She then referenced Ty, Ranger had never met the man but knew of him through Noel. Then, when Emma referenced a fashion model costume, it all made sense.

Noel had kept journals of life events, a good plan when you often wind up wiping out parts of your memory on the regular. One recorded event, with pictures Quin had taken included, was of a time Ranger showed up at Haven looking like a Victoria Secret Angel. Underwear and wings and all. ”... Yeah… That—that happened t’ me. Well, the other me.” Ranger took a breath and set his daughter on the ground. ”Hey, Emma. Why don’ y’ go play right there. If y’ stay close I’ll let y’ walk Dammit an’ Miss Rev with me tonight.” Emma nodded and excitedly ran off to where she had been before she had run off earlier.

Looking back to the other Emma, Ranger backed up. ”I also was de-aged. My wife an’ I both. Well, now wife. I think then we were jus’ t’gether. I’d gone out dancin’ ran int’ someone that caused me t’ change then there was a work emergency… That was you?”

Emma nodded her head as Ranger mentioned that he and his now wife had also been attacked with memory loss. Emma felt pretty embarrassed and her cheeks flushed a bit. Of course he was married and had a kid also named Emma. She hated that she had just walked up and made a whole awkward situation. She needed to remember to tone down on her confidence a bit and don't assume every attractive familiar guy or lady is someone she's been with. 

She listened as Ranger set his daughter down and told her to go play, bribing her with what she assumed was an adventure in walking their pet dogs later. "You're have a beautiful daughter, Ranger. I'm sorry for the mixup and being crude. Hopefully little Emma didn't overhear me. I didn't know you were married. If I had remembered correctly, I wouldn't have said what I said.", Emma apologized, cheeks still flushed a bit. 

Once her memory of Ranger came back to her, she realized that she didn't know him all too well, but that she certainly did feel like he was someone she could trust. She could feel that when she danced with him that night in the dance hall before his evolution into a living cat walk mannequin, aka a Victoria Secret Angel.

Emma looked over at the little girl as she played nearby. And then Ranger asked if the snafu of that night was caused by her. Emma looked up at him, but she had the image of his transformation in her hear. It made her chuckle just a little, but she tried to stifle it back and regain her composure. "Yeah, that was me. It was so not on purpose. It happened when I fell and you caught me. Hopefully you weren't too upset. Maybe it was a funny evening and memory for you. If not, I'm really really sorry. I've gotten to be a bit better with my power management now. I do still have a hiccup every now and then. Did you and your wife have a hard time regaining your memories too after being attacked?"

”Thanks, an’ y’ can call me Michael. Feel a bit odd f’r someone t’ use that name when I’m jus’ out with the kiddo.” Ranger said with a smile. It had the same energy as when someone says, ‘Mr. so and so is my father.’ An’ it’s alright. Kid’s probably heard worse from me, her mother, ‘r half the guy’s I work close with.” Ranger waved off Emma’s worry. The awkward moment had passed so Ranger could see the humor in the whole situation, plus Emma looked genuinely sorry about saying what she said potentially in front of little Emma.

Emma confirmed the transformation into an angelic underwear model was her fault. ”I don’t’ve actual memories of anythin’. My wife… She, uh, well… She causes memory loss. Equal parts t’ herself. She keeps journals on everythin’. So I’ve got a good log of my life since we got together a few years before we were de-aged. It was funny, we were de-aged t’ shortly after our first meetin’ ten years prior.” Ranger looked at the tattoo of a ring on his finger and the name ‘Noel’ tattooed as part of it. ”We woke up t’gether an’ I guess the stars aligned an’ we ended up together again.” Looking at his daughter, Ranger counted Rhia and Jude among those stars. They were largely responsible for her. "An' I'm not upset now, an' I don't think I was upset then. Got razzed for it, but nothin' new."

Emma followed along with the conversation, nodding her head and smiling at Michael's understanding. She was glad that he wasn't upset with her. Emma couldn't imagine going through memory loss often, like what Michael described about his wife. It was a good thing that she used journals as a means of remembering when it did happen. She watched as Michael looked down at his tattooed ring finger and she read the name Noel. She hadn't met her before, but you could definitely see the love that Michael had for her in his words and the look on his face as he read her name on his finger. Emma hoped that one day she could find a love like that in someone. It was a very rare thing to find and something so special should be cherished.

Occasionally, Emma would glance over to little Emma playing as they continued in their conversation. She noticed that sometimes Emma would edge just slightly further as she played. Kids oftentimes would get lost in their imagination and not realize just how far away they were getting. Emma had nodded her head as she was telling Michael about her Mom, when she suddenly realized that little Emma had made it over to the fountain and was leaning way over.

Emma grabbed Michael's arm and exclaimed, "Michael! Emma's at the fountain!" She pointed over to the fountain as she spoke, panic rising in her voice. She wasn't aware if little Emma could swim or not, but knew that children around water could be dangerous.

Ranger gave his daughter, Emma, a lot of freedom. Likely more than most other parents gave their three-year-olds. Most parents could throw a truck or sprint faster than most cas on the road. This meant that as he spoke with the adult Emma he let his daughter wander more than he should.

Adult Emma was watching child Emma more than Ranger was as they spoke. Adult Emma didn’t know how immediate Ranger’s response to Emma could be. So it was Adult Emma who saw child Emma at the fountain first.

Ranger looked where adult Emma had pointed. Child Emma had climbed up on the stone around the fountain, ”Emma, get down!” Ranger called to his daughter, using his military voice which boomed out across the park. As he yelled, he stood. The yell caught child Emma’s attention and she turned to Ranger but in her childlike movements she overbalanced herself and fell backwards toward the water.

In a flash Ranger was moving. He didn’t know how deep the water in that fountain was but he wasn’t about to sit by and just see if Emma was okay. Ranger ran and as they did they changed. With each step they moved faster and their body changed until they were moving over 100 miles per hour, shoes flying off their now much smaller female feet. Ranger reached the fountain in seconds, hair flying into her face at her rapid deceleration.

”Emma! Emma, are you okay?” Ranger asked as she plucked her daughter out of the water. It wasn’t too deep for the child, but the fall had scared the kid and she was wet and crying. ”It’s okay, my little potato. I’m here.”

Emma watched as Ranger yelled out to little Emma as she had climbed on the fountain. Ranger's yell caught little Emma by surprise and she fell backwards into the water. Emma gasped when she saw her fall and immediately started running toward the fountain to help her. Little Emma may not have been her daughter, but anyone that wouldn't run to help a child like in this instance was soulless and definitely needed an adjustment. 

Emma ran pretty fast. She did go running everyday and worked out a good bit so she was by no means slow, but she was no where near having super speed as her power. Ranger was beside her at first, but suddenly he blurred as he ran faster than anything she had seen before. As she continued to run, Rangers's shoes flew off. Before she could make it to the fountain, the blur of Ranger came into view again; except this time Ranger was no longer the tall man that Emma was once talking with on the bench. Instead in his place, Ranger was now a very attractive woman and was hurriedly grabbing little Emma out of the fountain. 

Emma could hear little Emma's cries as the fall had startled her and she was now all wet. Emma finally made it to the fountain, looked at little Emma and now FemRanger, and asked both of them "Is she okay? Are you okay? I was so scared. My heart dropped into my stomach. I take it that the super speed and gender swapping is your thing, Michael?"

Emma had a towel in her backpack and she quickly took it out to help dry off little Emma. She had is for the days when she got really sweaty after her runs, but she hadn't used it today. Unfortunately, she didn't have any kids clothes for little Emma to use as Emma didn't have any kids. The great thing about Central Park though was that you would be near somewhere that sold children's clothes. Then, again, maybe FemRanger was prepared and had a spare set of clothes in her pack. Children were often messy or had accidents so Emma figured spares and overpacking of things came with the territory when having kids and becoming parents. 

”Y’re okay. Jus’ a little wet, but okay.” Ranger cooed as she gently stroked her daughter’s wet back.

It was a little later that big Emma arrived and began making sure everyone was alright and asking Ranger about her powers. Ranger put her hand on little Emma’s head as she buried her head in Ranger’s shoulder.

”She’ll be okay. She’s jus’ spooked by the fall an’ the excitement.” Ranger said, then followed it with a, ”Thank y’.” as she accepted the towel. ”Speed is one of my things. The gender swap, tha’s pretty new.” Ranger wrapped Emma in the towel as her cries simmered. ”See, Emma. ‘s’not so bad. Jus’ a little water.” Ranger said before kissing his daughter on the head. ”Now, we need t’ get y’ some new clothes… An’ I need t’ find my shoes. Cain’t go walkin’ ‘round with the piggies out.”

Emma smiled at the piggy reference. Her face was still red and contorted like she was crying, but the smile was a start. ”There should be somewhere ‘round here t’ buy some toddler clothes. Maybe there’ll’ve changin’ rooms. Bonus momma day f’r y’, Emms.” That drew a bigger smile from the child. To the adult Emma Ranger said, ”This is new t’ me post de-age. Wadn’ a thing back when y’ turned me int’ an underwear model.”