Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The stately Victorian house was the picture of normalcy on the quiet San Franciscan Street. Perfectly matched in a row of neatly kept homes, the beautiful building only stood out because of the soft pastel pink of its exterior paint. At four stories it was hardly a small property, yet it exuded homeyness and peace. Or maybe that was just in Tommy’s head.

He’d arrived at his destination almost an hour ago, parking his Jeep across the street but not getting out. If he was being perfectly honest with himself, he wasn’t sure if he would get out. Because this would be it. This would be the culmination of 9 years of searching. Nine years of looking for clues, gathering tiny morsels of information, always getting disappointed when it hadn’t panned out.

If this didn’t turn out positive, he was done. He’d stop chasing and call it quits. The searching, hoping and the inevitable disappointment afterwards had left him drained. Combined with Rangering, racing and getting his Doctorate – then teaching High School and more Rangering – he wasn’t exactly sure how he was still standing upright most days.

But the postcard that had arrived at Jason and Trini’s just last week had been post-signed in San Fransisco. It had been the first actual sign of life any of them had received in the 9 years since The Letters. It had simply read: “I’m okay. Tell T. to stop looking. Everything will become clear, keep your eyes on the news. Love, KAH”.

So of course, Tommy had hesitated exactly zero seconds in making plans to go to San Fran and do exactly what the postcard had told him not to do. He’d spent days trying to pick up her trail, moving about the city asking questions. That had all culminated in him pulling up in front of this beautiful house, that just screamed “residence of a former Pink Ranger”. He knew he was in the right place physically, though he wasn’t quite sure he was in the right place mentally.

Because she’d said to stop looking and she hadn’t contacted him, only Jace. So… what if, after everything he’d been through in his search for her, every heartbreak that had followed The Letter, every bit of worry and doubt and sorrow… What if, in the end, she just didn’t want to see him? What if he knocked on that door and she refused him? That would absolutely crush him.

But if he didn’t get out and walked up those steps, he’d forever be stuck in limbo. He’d forever not know what the hell had happened to her, to them… he wasn’t sure if that would be any better. Surely, if she rejected him outright, to his face, he’d be free to maybe try and move on with his life. However impossible that sounded and felt at the moment.

The little nugget of hope in the back of his mind (and his heart), that said she’d have a good explanation and they would just fall into each other’s arms again was being persistent, but he tried to ignore it. Hope could kill a man faster than any Alien monster he’d ever encountered. And he’d had his fair share of uglies to pick from.

He was still waging an internal battle with himself, debating what would lead to the least amount of destruction to his heart, when he saw movement in his peripheral vision. He turned his head towards the house again, seeing a familiar form leaning up against the support pilar for the front porch.

Even after so many years apart, once he’d spotted her, she commanded his attention fully. Like a siren from a Greek myth, she seemed to call to him, captivate him in a way nobody else had ever managed. Even from the distance that separated them (both in space and in time) he could still see the smile that bloomed across her face when their eyes met.

A warm feeling rushed through his body the moment his eyes locked on hers and he couldn’t help the answering smile that stretched across his lips in reply to hers. With a simple nod of her head to indicate he was welcome inside, she disappeared back into the doorway, leaving the front door open for him.

There was no possible question of what he would do now. With that one smile, she’d cleared up so many of his doubts and fears. She wanted to see him. The little nugget of hope grew the tiniest bit and the warmth that had spread out across his limbs seemed to accumulate into his heart. That smile hadn’t been a dismissive one. It hadn’t been a polite let down kind of smile. That had been a full on happy-to-see-you-and-I-missed-you smile. At least, that’s what Tommy’s gut was telling him. And over the course of 12 years and no less than 5 Ranger teams, he’d learned to always trust his instincts.

He got out and locked the Jeep up before taking a steadying breath and moving up the steps toward what he felt was nothing less than destiny.

- - - -

The inside of the house was exactly as cozy as he’d imagined. The front door opened up into a small foyer with a chestnut staircase right in front of the front door and stained-glass pocket doors on his right, that led into a warm and inviting living room.

Painted a soft gray, the living room seemed to envelop you in a warm blanket upon entering. A soft looking peachy-pink velvet chaise was positioned beside the doors and bench seating with comfortable pillows was built into the bay window overlooking the street. Opposite the sofa was a fireplace encased in floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, with a TV tucked onto one of the shelves on the right. A gray upholstered ottoman finished off the décor. It was placed on a gray, white and pink rug, between the couch and the fireplace and topped with a small serving tray and several candles.

Not seeing Kim anywhere in either the foyer or the living room, he moved to his left, deeper into the house. The living room flowed into the dining room naturally. There was an airy feel to it, with light streaming in from the floor-to-ceiling windows that made up the back wall. The dining table, seemingly made out of one giant piece of tree was surrounded by metal chairs with soft cushions in the same gray and pink pallet as the living room.

He found Kim in the galley kitchen adjacent to the dining room, where she was busying herself with a vintage looking kettle and two cups of what he assumed to be tea. Tommy let his gaze travel over the kitchen as well, which perfectly matched both the rest of the house, and the woman living in it.

A kitchen island served as the divide between dining and kitchen. It was made from the same type of wood as the dining table and had two metal and leather stools sitting at one end. The cabinets against the wall were painted the same soft gray as the wall in the living room, while the cabinets under the island were a happy pinkish hue. White subway tiles and floating shelves finished off the look.

As he finished his silent perusal of her home, she turned and deposited a cup of what smelled like chamomile tea in front of him. Despite the moment they had shared outside, the awkwardness of years of no contact seemed to settle in with both of them. Kim was leaning against the stove and Tommy took the cup of tea, just so he had something to hold onto.

The silence seemed to stretch on forever until Tommy couldn’t take it anymore.

“How did you know I was out there?” It seemed as safe a topic to start with as any other. And with all the history between them, a “nice weather out there” opening line would have seemed too blasé.

She smiled a little. “Ah, doorbell camera. Well, actually, more than one, but who’s counting. I was waiting for it to ring but that seemed to take a lot longer than the walk from your car to the door should have.”

Tommy shrugged sheepishly. “Turns out that the distance between Reefside and San Fransisco is nothing compared to the distance from my car to your door.” He took a sip of the tea before admitting: “I was still debating with myself if knocking would be a good or a bad idea.”

Kim abandoned her post by the stove and moved closer towards Tommy, a little apprehensive. “And now?”

Another shrug. “Still not sure? But I know that seeing you, standing here… Alive and whole and … perfect… that’s basically all I’ve wanted for the past 9 years, so whatever comes next, at least I’ll know that much.” A brief pause, “I’m sorry, by the way.”

A quirked eyebrow and a questioning look were all he got before he elaborated. “Your card said to stop looking. I guess I never was much for taking directions.”

A melodic chuckle fell from Kim’s lips at his statement. “There’s a reason that you were the leader of the team, I suppose. But there’s nothing to apologize for. However long we’ve been apart, I still know you. I knew that once I sent that card, nothing short of an alien invasion of global proportions would keep you from driving up here. And even then…” She took her own sip of tea and wrapped her hands around the mug more firmly.

“You’re like a dog with a bone when you want something, Tommy. And while I love you all the more for never giving up on me, for not believing a word of that stupid letter, you’ve not made it any easier for me over the past years. Do you have any idea how difficult it is keeping somebody safe who is determined to throw himself headfirst into danger every chance he gets?”

While Tommy’s heart skipped a beat at hearing her say love instead of loved, his mind latched onto the other words she was saying. “Protect me? What are you talking about? I’m an adult who’s been saving this planet off and on for the better part of the past 12 years. I think I’m very much capable of protecting myself.”

He got a little worked up and slightly angry, especially when he replayed her words in his head and found the hidden meaning in them. He started pacing the space between the island and the dining table. “Basically, you’re telling me you’ve known all along that I’ve been looking for you. That we’ve been looking for you, and you didn’t think it would be nice to know that you weren’t lying in a ditch somewhere? To know that you were even on the fucking planet. You disappeared into thin air, just like that. No sign, no forwarding address, nothing to indicate you left of your own free will. After all the shit we’ve been through in our time in Uniform, all the kidnappings and the ambushes and the fear, you just vanish. How could you let us live with that worry and fear? How could you let me go on like that?”

Kim moved in his path; arms crossed over her chest but fire shooting from her eyes. “You listen to me very carefully, Thomas Oliver! The past 9 years have been hard on ALL of us. I did what I did out of love and to protect you and the rest of the team. Don’t for a second think that it didn’t hurt me as much as it hurt you. But I’ll stand by my decision until I take my last breath. Because despite the pain, it was the right thing to do. While I would have wanted you to move on and be happy, I much prefer angry and worried over the alternative. Which would be dead.”

She poked him in the chest with her index finger before going off again. “You think you know everything about danger because you’ve been fighting for the fate of this planet. And that’s heroic and selfless and brave as hell. But Tommy, there are dangers out in the world that you can’t fix by Morphing and punching something in the face. There are things, right here on Earth, that can be just as dangerous as anything Rita or Zedd or whoever threw our way. So, while you and the rest of the Rangers were out saving the planet, I was busy saving the Rangers from the planet.”

She heaved in big gulps of breath after her little tirade ended, and her breasts nearly brushed his chest with every breath she took. They’d moved closer together during Kim’s explosion, passion like a magnet, drawing them together. There was only a hair’s width between them now, electricity crackling like static in the air. After she’d regained her composure and noticed how close they’d gotten, she took a step back and seemed to deflate a little.

“I can’t undo the past years, Tommy, and I wouldn’t want to because I believe that what I did, kept you all from harm. I have to believe my sacrifice was worth it in the end.” Tommy stared at her hard for a moment, before turning and dropping himself on the barstool by the kitchen island. His head thudded onto the surface. “I just… don’t understand any of it. What could possibly be worse than the pain and the abandonment and the heartbreak that I’ve felt for the past 9 years? Please Kim,” he turned his head towards her, forehead still touching the countertop, “please help me make sense of it.”

Kim pulled out the other stool and sat down gingerly next to Tommy, her left-hand hovering over his back before deciding to throw caution to the wind and just touch him already. As soon as her palm landed between his shoulder blades, that same warmth from earlier began spreading out from that spot and into every single cell. Tommy hadn’t realized he’d been cold before, but now that he felt that tingle of heat again, he knew it would be impossible to go without.

She rubbed soft strokes up and down his back for what seemed like a blissful eternity, until she dropped her head onto his shoulder and sighed into his skin. “I’m sorry for putting you through all that, I am. And I will explain everything to you, if you’ll let me. Just… this story is not a happy one and however hard it’s gonna be for me to tell it, I know it won’t be any easier to hear. And I know you, Tommy, despite it happening almost a decade ago, I know your temper and emotions will flare up. I just need you to stay calm enough and listen to it completely. I promise we can break down after it’s over.” She brushed a kiss on his shoulder, where her head was lying. “Please, Handsome, promise me you’ll try to keep calm?”

Tommy lifted his head off the countertop and locked his eyes onto hers. He searched her face for something, and he must have found it because after a few seconds, he just nodded his acquiescence.

“Do you mind if we go sit in the living room for this? Like I said, it’s a long and difficult story to tell, so I wouldn’t mind being a little more comfortable physically if I’ll have to be uncomfortable emotionally.” Tommy nodded again and let Kim take his hand to lead him towards the living room and onto the couch.

Once they were settled, she fiddled with the hem of her shirt for a few moments, until Tommy’s hand closed over hers. She looked up and while she saw trepidation and fear in his eyes, she also saw love and compassion. That more than anything helped her get started with her story.

“A little before Gunthar came to town, I was by the lake with my guitar, just playing idly and waiting for you guys to get out of whatever extra-curricular you all had going on that day. It was a pretty quiet afternoon, the park pretty much empty. Of course, I don’t have to tell you that peace and quiet wasn’t something we were granted a lot of back then. Rito showed up with some Tengas and I knew I wouldn’t be able to take them on by myself without Morphing. So, I sent Alpha a message, glanced around and Morphed right there. Before I’d even landed more than a few solid kicks, my knight in shining white armor had dropkicked Rito into next year.” They both smiled a little at that analogy. “They scurried off and that was that. We teleported to Zordon for a debrief and went on with the rest of our day.

Tommy tried to remember the fight Kim was talking about, but with so many encounters with Rita and Zedd’s henchmen, all the fights just blurred together for him. There didn’t seem to be anything special about this particular fight, so it didn’t make a whole lot of sense to him why she started her story there, so long before her actual disappearance. But he’d promised her he’d let her tell the story, so he shoved the thoughts away and squeezed her hands to let her know he was still listening.

“The fight slipped from my mind with all that happened next. There wasn’t anything particularly special about it, at least as far as I knew at the time. And with Gunthar and Kat and moving to Florida following so quickly behind, it didn’t seem to matter anyways.”

She started rubbing her thumb over his knuckles where their hands were linked. “Those first weeks in Florida were the best and the worst ever. I was enjoying my time on the mats, feeling accomplished when I perfected an exercise, but missing you and the others so much. My head and my heart were in constant war with each other. I lived for the letters you guys sent and would be waiting on pins and needles for at least an hour each time we had a phone date scheduled.

I’m pretty sure my mom’s head exploded that first month after seeing my phone bill. Your parents probably not far behind.”

That, Tommy did remember. His household chores had quadrupled over that time because his parents had made him pay them back for the costs of the phone in housework. Those had not been the most fun times he’d had, but it had been worth it to hear Kim. He chuckled a little.

“Anyway, the weeks turned into months without anything too strange. I was feeling the withdrawal pretty hard, but Trini had warned me about it, so I was prepared. Then things started becoming weird. I started feeling like I was being watched all the time, but every time I turned around, there was nothing there. Then, little things went missing from my dorm room and my gym locker. My hairbrush and some towels, stuff like that. They would turn up again later, totally out of place. I was starting to worry that paranoia was another symptom of Power Withdrawal nobody else had ever mentioned that.

A few days later, things seemingly moved around my dorm room. Picture frames were not where I put them, my computer was on when I was sure I’d turned it off. It was starting to freak me out.”

Tommy was trying his very best to not ask why she’d never mentioned it on the phone or in any of her letters and Kim noticed. She rolled her eyes a little and shook her head.

“I know that look. I never mentioned it for the same reasons I didn’t mention the withdrawal, it would have distracted you from what you needed to be doing, which was stopping the machine empire. And it’s not like I had any concrete proof or anything. Just a vaguely uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach.

One night, I was on the phone with Trini when I accidentally dropped my receiver. As I was trying to reassemble it, I found something that I didn’t think was part of the phone. I did a search of my room and found 3 more bugs hidden in various locations. That’s when the feeling solidified, I wasn’t paranoid, I was actually being watched.

From that moment on I started being a lot more cognizant of my surroundings. I pretty quickly identified two guys who were following me and a couple more outside either my dorm room or the gym. I started editing my letters so it wouldn’t be clear to an outsider what I was alluding to, and I started refusing to say anything Ranger related on the phone. I know it must have seemed weird to you all at the time, but I wasn’t sure anymore what was safe and what wasn’t.”

Tommy had tensed at her words, and she could see the toll it took on him to stay quiet. Anxiety and guilt rolled off him in waves and she squeezed his hand in worry. If he was reacting this way already, she would have to tie him down when she got to the really hard parts of her story.

“One day I was walking towards the gym and noticed the two following me get distracted by something. I took the opportunity to duck into an alley and hid. When they realized they’d lost me, they came running towards the gym and I stepped out behind them. They tried to make excuses and scurried off pretty quickly. In their haste to leave, one of them dropped a little spiral notebook. I was filled with notes about my days, who I had contact with and how long for, transcripts of phone calls I was making. And near the back of it was a picture of me. It was obviously a still frame from a video, slightly blurry and unfocussed. But it was without a doubt me, mid Morph, by the lake.”

Kim let her chin drop onto her chest. “God, Tommy. I felt so so stupid! Two years of being a Ranger with my identity intact and then I make a fucking beginner mistake like that. I must have stared at that picture for 10 straight minutes, wrapping my head around it. A million thoughts flitted through my head, the main one being relief that you guys had arrived already suited up. I got really scared, knowing somebody other than you guys knowing my identity as the Pink Ranger. And I didn’t get the feeling they were out to congratulate me on a job well done.”

“I realized pretty quickly that they were trying to deduce the identity of the rest of you by surveilling me and at that point I promised myself that I’d do whatever it took to keep you guys safe and away from being exposed. But there was no way I could have warned you guys. Based on all the information in that little notebook, they were watching my every move and had been for almost all my time in Florida. They were tapping my phone and bugging my room, and I had no doubt they were monitoring my other ways of communicating as well. I’d given my communicator to Kat when I left, so I couldn’t even reach Zordon to warn you. I figured there was only one thing I could do ….”

A tear fell from her eyes and onto their still joined hands. Tommy could see where this was going. “You broke up with me and disappeared off the face of the earth.”

Kim started shaking her head, “It’s not that simple. I couldn’t just disappear without causing panic with everybody I loved. And I wasn’t 100% sure they didn’t know who the rest of the Rangers were. So, I did the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I wrote my mom a letter that I was done with her, accusing her of the most horrible things and telling her I was going to live with dad and to not contact me again. Then I wrote the same one to my dad but in reverse. They weren’t speaking and I figured they would never find out. Then I wrote letters to Jace, Tri and Zach telling them how much it hurt that we’d grown apart and that I needed to have some space. The last letter I wrote… well, I must have tried to write that 10 times. I couldn’t get through it without dripping tears all over the pages. But I had to do it, it was the only way I could think of to make sure you wouldn’t follow me.” She rubbed his hands again, “I should have known it wouldn’t work with you. You know me too well.”

Tommy squeezed back in comfort, but Kim could feel the anxiety rising with him. “Then I quit my place on the team and moved my most treasured stuff somewhere it hopefully wouldn’t be found. And a day before my 18^th birthday…,”

“You gave yourself up to the people who were following you.” Tommy let go of her hand to start pacing again. Now more than ever before he resembled the Tiger he’d once commanded on his first outing as White Ranger. Anxiety, guilt, fear and anger rolled off of him in waves and Kim wasn’t entirely sure who it was directed at.

“God, Kim! Why would you do something that stupidly dangerous?! It’s – that… We wouldn’t want that! We could have dealt with it together. You should have just come back home!”

Okay, so at least some of that anger was directed at her. She huffed in annoyance. “Excuse me?! You’re one to talk about walking into stupidly dangerous situations! Do I have to remind you of the fact that you kept using the Green Powers even though you knew it could kill you?! Or how about all the times you hurled yourself headfirst into a fight without even so much as a plan? Or, how about the fact that you can’t seem to walk a fucking mile without stumbling onto another Power? Don’t think I don’t know about the black Brachiosaur, Dr. Oliver.”

She stood from her seat as well, arms crossed and clearly gearing up for a fight. “I did what I had to do. What you would have done, if our situations were reversed. I protected you so you could protect the world. Who would have protected the world from King Mundo? Where would the world be now if the Power Rangers had disappeared without a trace?”

Kim fell down onto the sofa, suddenly out of steam and looking tired. She continued in a softer tone. “I was expendable,” Tommy let out a soft wail of agony at her statement, but Kim ignored it, “I was no longer in Uniform and couldn’t help the Rangers anymore with the fights. But I could do this. So, after I had settled everything, I went up to the car they had watching me and surrendered myself.”

Kim took Tommy’s hand before he could pace away from her again and pulled him down next to her on the sofa. He was all tension and anger, and Kim worried about what he would do when her story took them into the darkness.

“Tommy,” he didn’t respond to her, he just kept clenching his jaw and flexing his hand in hers. “Handsome,” she tried again, this time turning his face towards her with her free hand. “I already told you my story wasn’t going to be a happy one. At least not yet. And what I have to tell you next won’t be any better than what I’ve already told you. But I need you to remember that I’m sitting here and that I’m okay. I need you to look at me and see that. The story… it’s in the past, what’s done is done and there’s nothing you can do to change that now. So, please, try to stay calm?”

Tommy looked like he would argue, but something on her face must have warned him off. He reluctantly nodded for her to continue, all the while keeping his hands balled into fists tightly.

“At first it didn’t seem like a big deal. They took me to a pretty non-descript building somewhere in downtown Miami and put me in a standard looking interrogation room. Two guys in suits came in with a TV and they started playing some footage of the Power Rangers in action. The footage looked like it was B-roll film from the Angel Grove news, all bad angles and worse sound. Then it cut to the video of me by the lake. Once that was done, they just sat and stared at me for a while, obviously trying to make me talk out of discomfort. When that didn’t work, they started with questions like:.

Where do the powers come from? (I don’t know how they work; they just do); Do you know any of the other Rangers? (No, we’ve never met outside of our armor. I’m not even sure all of them speak English); Where is the base of operations located? (There is no base of operations that I’m aware of. We get a message to meet in a certain location if there’s trouble.) Who sends you these messages? (I don’t know, I’ve never met the person on the other end of the line.) Were you always the Pink Ranger? (No, and as I’m sure you’re aware of, I no longer am either.)”

Kim shifted on her seat, trying to get into a more comfortable position while not letting go of Tommy’s hand. “That went for a couple of hours and naively I thought that they would let me go when they realized they wouldn’t get any more information out of me. Of course, by the end of the day they just locked me in a cell and the day after they started the whole thing anew. And again, the next day, and again, and again even though my answers never changed. It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize they were waiting for something to happen and even longer to understand they were waiting for you.” Tommy tensed even more, if that was even possible. “Well, the collective you anyway.”

“They were waiting for the Rangers to rescue one of their own. Which we would have, had we known what was going on.” He said it through clenched teeth, but she heard his vehemence anyway.

“Yes, and that more than anything resolved my decision to keep you guys out of it. They were using me as bait, and it would have worked and undone all that I had worked at. I guess they took a page out of Rita and Zedd’s playbook for that tactic. When a week passed without so much as an attempt by the Power Rangers to save me, I was moved. The assholes black-bagged me and when I was finally put into my new prison cell, I’d lost all sense of time and space.

Tommy’s hand nearly crushed hers and she tapped it a few times to make him release his death grip. “From then on, my days followed the same routine; blood tests, endurance tests, CT-scans… you name it, they put me through it. And afterwards again with the questions, always the same ones. Unless I was in the interrogation, nobody spoke to me. Food came without any regularity, night and day didn’t exist anymore. I had no way of knowing how long I’d been away for. And when they still didn’t get any of the answers they were looking for, they decided to stop playing nice.

The tests stopped and they stopped asking their questions in the relative comfort of the interrogation room. It started with sensory deprivation. Sound and lightproof room they put me in for hours on end. Of course, they didn’t know that all the time I spent in Rita or Zedd’s dark dimension had prepared me for that particular horror. Then they started with electro-shocks, waterboarding and whippings.”

Tears were slowly running down Kim’s face, but her voice had gone flat and almost robotic. It was easier to tell the story if she tried to detach herself from it as best she could. Tommy’s clenched fist unfurled, and he started wiping at the tears that escaped her eyes.

“I held out as long as I could, I promise. But the pain… I guess I’d never realized how much damage and pain was absorbed by the Powers and the armor. It was unlike anything I’d ever felt before, and it was constant. I… they broke me.”

Her shoulders started shaking in silent sobs, and she let go of Tommy’s hand to curl in on herself. When she wouldn’t look at him, he moved closer onto the sofa and pulled her into him. He was barely holding it together himself, practically vibrating with rage. He took her hands from where they were curled around her upper arms and laced his fingers through hers in a silent show of support.

After a few moments, Kim’s chocked voice continued. “I’m so ashamed of myself. I was so weak, and I gave them so much. About Zordon and Eltar, about Ninjor, Rita and Zedd, the rangers of Aquitar… but” and she shakes her head violently, “never about who you were! I protected the identity of my family! I kept imagining what they would do to all of you if I cracked. But I could feel it coming, I could feel my resolve weaken. I knew I had to get out of there and by that time I really didn’t care if it was alive or dead.”

At her words, Tommy’s hands clenched around her fingers again. It was a very clear sign of his distress at her words, but it helped remind her where she was. Despite what she’d said to Tommy earlier, the past sometimes came back to haunt her, even though she knew it was just that, the past. Mostly it were nightmares of her time in captivity, either with Rita and Zedd or with the suits. Sometimes it was her in the cage, but the worst of the nightmares were when her mind provided her with images of Tommy behind the bars.

Her experiences, both as a Ranger and for what came after had left their marks. Not only physically in the form of the scars that marred her skin but mentally as well. She couldn’t stand it when her back was exposed and for a long time any sort of cracking sound would bring her right back to being tied to a bench and whipped.

“I came up with a plan. It was insane and the chances of it succeeding were almost non-existent. But we’ve faced abysmal odds before, so I was hoping for another miracle.

Once a week, a doctor came to give me a check-up and to bandage the worst of the wounds. After that they would let me in a small bathroom to clean up. It was the only room they allowed me in that had a small window outside. It was on the fourth floor and the window was barely bigger than a doggy door. It could only open about 3 inches because of the metal brackets that held it. I’d been trying to force them open for a while without much luck.

When the doctor came next, I knew I had to succeed. If I didn’t, all I went through would have been for nothing and you would all be in so much danger. So that time, I went into the bathroom, and I broke the flimsy shower curtain bar to barricade the door. Then I climbed up to the window and put my full weight on the brackets. I was so sure I would fail and a big part of me hoped they would just come in and shoot me when they found me wanting to escape. But nobody came in and the brackets cracked under the strain.

I squeezed through the window, holding onto the windowsill, trying to find a grip somewhere. And then my feet touched a ledge. It was barely wide enough to put my feet on it, but I managed it. Somehow, I made my way down to the ledge on the floor below and then I was stuck, 20 feet up a building with no other hand or footholds. I was exhausted and bleeding and so very scared. And then a delivery truck stopped at the corner of the building, and I found my way out.

I dropped on top of the truck and when it continued its route, I went along with it. I didn’t know where I was, and I didn’t have a safe place to turn to. I still couldn’t risk contacting you, because they would surely send a team to Angel Grove. I couldn’t go to the cops because I didn’t trust them. I didn’t’ have any shoes or coat on, my shirt was covered in blood and my face was all colors of the rainbow with bruises in varying stages of healing. I held on for dear life on top of that truck as far as Arlington.

I somehow ended up at a shelter for abused women. The woman who was in charge took one look at me and took me in. She didn’t ask who I was or how I got there, and she never mentioned the injuries I had. I was in bad shape. Several broken ribs, a broken wrist and my back was torn up. A few of my wounds were badly infected and I was teetering on the verge of pneumonia. On top of that I was sporting bruises in every stage of healing.

I stayed there until I was fully healed, in constant fear they would find me. But they didn’t. Lina helped me get a new identity and after that I got on a bus towards New York City.”

With her story now told, she felt drained and wrung out. Every bit of energy had gone into telling her tale and reliving the horrors and the shame and guilt was exhausting. Her chin dropped to her chest again and she couldn’t bear looking up and seeing the pity or disgust she imagined Tommy to display.

But he released her hands and put a finger under her chin to tilt it towards him. Tears were running in silent streams down his face and there was no trace of pity or disgust. Instead, he looked pained and sad and compassionate. Despite her giving up so many secrets, he wasn’t repulsed by her.

He pulled her towards him again, letting her slump onto his shoulder for support. Retelling the story had been the hardest thing she’d had to do since living it. But telling Tommy and not have him turn away from her was freeing in a way she didn’t expect. Tommy for his part was quiet and pensive, all the fight having left him as well. He looked as mentally drained as she herself was feeling.

A contemplative silence fell over both of them as the sun started setting outside, a golden hue permeating the room around them. After a few minutes, she couldn’t take the silence any longer.

She needed to shed the somber mood that had followed her story, but Tommy still seemed rooted in place. “You okay there, Handsome?”

He shook out of his stupor and turned his eyes on her again. His chocolate-colored eyes were glazed over, and Kim couldn’t catch all the emotions that flitted across his face.

He shook his head softly. “No… I’m really not. I… I can’t really name all the thoughts that are jumbled in my head right now. Fear for sure. That I almost lost you for real. What you said about wanting to die… God Kim, hearing those words fall from your mouth was like getting punched by the Megazord. Rage, also pretty prevailing. At what happened to you, how you’ve suffered for us. How in the world a human being can be so cruel to its own kind. Sadness at what you had to go through and that you had to endure it all alone for so long. And I’m so so very scared that you’ll disappear again. I want to tear down entire cities to find those who did this to you and rip them apart for the pain they caused. And that makes me even more scared because those kinds of thoughts sound a whole lot like the Green Ranger.”

He moved closer to her and before she knew what was happening, he’d pulled her into his chest in a bone-crushing hug. All the things she’d endured had given her a severe aversion to physical contact, but despite that, she relaxed into the hug immediately. Her body instinctively knowing, or maybe remembering that she was safe within his arms. He dropped a kiss on her hair before continuing, “It’s a mess up in here right now,” she felt him tap his forehead on her head to indicate where the mess was situated. “But if there’s one thing I’m absolutely certain of, it’s that you were never weak or cowardly! What you did… however much I wish you’d given me up so I could have taken your place… You protected us all, taking that on without the protection of the Powers. That’s pretty much the bravest and most selfless thing ever. And that includes all Ranger accomplishments; past, present and quite possibly future as well.”

Kim started to protest his words, but he silenced her with a run of his thumb over her lips. “You went up against an enemy more powerful than you, knowing full well you didn’t have the Power or the armor to protect you, Kim. You know I know how that feels and what kind of sacrifice that is.” Kim dropped her chin onto her chest again, but Tommy wouldn’t have it. He put his hand under her chin and tilted her head up again. “Everybody’s got a breaking point, Beautiful. And you endured more than most would have been able to tolerate. And then you were clever enough to plan your way out. Fighting Rita or Zedd or Mondo… we never did that alone and never without Powers, at least not for any real length of time. If there’s one thing you need to cement in that beautiful head of yours it’s this: What you did… that makes you the hero in this story, not the Rangers.”

He pulled her into him a little tighter. And now that I know what happened to you, now that I’ve found you again… I’m gonna be glue, baby.” That caused a surprised chuckle to escape from Kim’s lips and she dropped her head onto his shoulder more fully. “I like that thought.” She straightened up to look in his eyes, their noses only an inch apart and their breaths mingling. “I need you to know that I was never running from you. I was fighting as hard as I could to get back to you.”

Kim started crying again, burying her nose in the crook of his neck and throwing her arms around him. Tommy lifted her legs, so she was sitting sideways on his lap, then wrapped his arms around her again. He murmured soft words of comfort into her hair. “I know, Beautiful. Shht, don’t worry about it. We’ve got time. I’m not going anywhere. I’m here…”

They sat like that for a while, until Kim’s cries turned into soft sobs before she quieted down completely. Tommy’s cheeks were wet as well, his emotions when it came to Kim always close to the surface. He figured she’d fallen asleep on him and thanked whoever was up there that she still felt safe enough with him to be able to do that. He fleetingly wished his evil counterpart would make an appearance, so he could let loose on the assholes that did all this to his beautiful, strong and stubborn girl. Except, she hadn’t told him who exactly had taken her, if she even knew herself.

She nuzzled her nose against the side of his neck, indicating she hadn’t fallen asleep like he’d thought. So, he voiced his question into her hair, hoping it wouldn’t set her off again, she was drained enough as it was. “Kim, honey… do you know who took you?”

She tensed a fraction, before relaxing back into Tommy’s embrace. “Like I said earlier, not all dangers are from up there,” she pointed towards the sky to indicate the wider universe, “some of them are from out there,” this time she pointed out the window. “I didn’t know for sure at the time, but if it walks like a spy and tortures like a spy… “

She saw understanding harden his face, his jaw clenched, and his hands balled into fists once again. “The fucking CIA did this to you? What the actual fuck?!” Kim sighed in resignation. “It was just a hunch at first, realizing I was in Virginia and all the clandestine shit they pulled. But about a year ago my business partner hacked his way into some top secret, very hush-hush servers and found the file they kept on me. He copied it and then deleted any and all reference to me he could find. I hid the files in several lockers around the continental US and gave the keys to people I trusted with my life. Then he planted a little note in their databases that the documents would leak to the press if they ever so much as sneezed in my direction. It’s part of the reason why I felt comfortable enough to reach out after all this time.”

A frown had formed on Tommy’s face at her words and something akin to hurt flashed over his face. She could tell something about that last piece of information bothered him and knowing him as well as se did, she knew exactly what it was. She straightened up again. “Do you have your keys on you?” He looked at her quizzically but nodded and shifted her forward a little so he could reach into his pocket and get them out. He dropped them in her outstretched hand and Kim proceeded to examine each and every one until she found one that caught her attention. She held it up in front of his face, “Do you really think, after all I went through, there are people on this planet I trust more than I trust you?” She lifted her eyebrows in challenge and Tommy flustered.

He took the key from her and examined it carefully. He tried to think back to where he’d gotten it, but it took a moment before he remembered. “Billy gave Jason, Trini, Zach and me each one of these keys. He said they were just-in-case keys and that if something big happened, we would know what to do with it.” Kim nodded. “They’re my insurance policy. The five of you each have access to all the files and video of my time in captivity. If I don’t call in at set times, our computer system will automatically send instructions to each of you for where to go and what to do.”

Kim saw Tommy process through her entire explanation, fitting puzzle pieces together in his mind. She could see the exact moment realization hit him. “Wait… Billy gave me this key. Billy who’s been on Aquitar for 10 years before he returned to Earth. Billy, who’s been having dinner with Jason, Zach and me once a month for the past three years. You’re telling me he’s known where you were all this time, and he didn’t ever tell us?!”

Tommy’s voice raised a bit in anger and disbelief. Billy was one of his most trusted friends, the Ranger he’d served with longest, somebody he trusted with his life. To find out he’d kept Kim from him for 3 fucking years, it was almost too much.

“Hey, hey…,” Kim tried to catch Tommy’s attention again, by putting both hands on his face and turning it towards her. “Billy only did what I asked him to do. He wasn’t happy with it, and he tried to talk me out of it every time we met, but I couldn’t risk everything I’d put in place to protect you and myself. Not before I was ready.”

“Ready for what?”

“Well, that’s another long story. One I don’t really have the energy to tell tonight. But me and Billy reunited by chance and when I explained what I wanted to do to protect the past and future Rangers, he got on board without question. We founded PRISM together.”

Tommy looked shocked. “You’re Billy’s mystery partner?” Kim nodded. “The public face of PRISM will revolve around smart solutions for the general population. Billy’s been developing some technology based on Ranger tech that will certainly help with that. Besides that, we have some patents we license out to have a steady revenue stream. But underneath, PRISM is a way to protect Rangers and to locate and protect new Powers, create new technologies to better protect our planet and to research ways to maybe tap into the PowerGrid and restore old Powers. It’s a company by Rangers for Rangers and we’ll make sure we’ve got room for every single ex-Ranger once we’ve established our base. We’ll build our new complex over top of the original Command Center. And in six months PRISM will hold a press conference to launch our own line in smart technology. At the same time, Kimberly Hart will be announced as CEO, and I’ll become a sort of public figure. We hope that will deter anybody who’d still wishes to do me harm.”

With Tommy’s hurt in Billy’s actions hopefully stymied, Kim stood from his lap and stretched. “I don’t know about you, but all this emotional turmoil has made me really hungry. You want some pizza?”

- - - -

While assembling their homemade pizza (from homemade frozen dough, thankyouverymuch) they talked about the “normal” stuff that happened in the 9 years they’d been apart. Tommy told her about college (I didn’t think I would love it as much as I did, but after all that time hanging around Dinosaurs Zords, I really wanted to know them. Also, during those digs, if there were more dormant Powers… - I took some community college classes, mostly law and business and some psych, but I was too afraid to enroll fully.)

They talked about people they befriended (Hayley is great, she’s like the female version of Billy, she may not be a Ranger in name, but she was an integral part of the Dino Thunder-team. Maybe you should consider her, for PRISM. – I didn’t really make new friends. I kept to myself most of the time, too afraid to get attached. I did spend a lot of time keeping an eye on everybody back home. – Sounds vaguely stalkerish, but sure…)

Tommy told her small anecdotes about their friends (… and then he decides to prove me wrong by starting his own security company. And actually, being successful. The Red asshole still rubs it in my face every time he parks his ridiculously flashy red Mustang besides my beat-up Jeep when we meet up. – Oh, PRISM invested in his company early on and we want to talk to Jace about integrating it into PRISM in the long run. – So, you’re the one I have to thank for losing that bet?) and about his newest team (they’re little shits most of the time, you won’t believe the attitude… or the mouth on them. But they stepped up big time and I’m proud of them for getting their act together. – Have you forgotten who the original teens with ‘tude were? I hate to burst your bubble Ranger-boy, we were at least as bad as them, if not more.)

When the conversation inevitably landed on relationships, things got a little awkward for a split second (Yeah, they convinced me I needed to move on, but my heart wasn’t really in it. We went out a few times, but it became clear that we were better off being friends and teammates. Besides a random date here or there, there hasn’t really been anybody. I just … can’t seem to get over this one girl I knew a long time ago. – Like I said, I kept to myself. That included relationships of the romantic kind. But… that girl from long ago, she sounds interesting, tell me more. – She just recently resurfaced in my life, and we’ll see where it leads, but I’m pretty confident it’ll go the way I would like it.) Hard as she might have tried, Kim couldn’t hold back the grin that stretched her face at his words.

When the prep work was done and the pizzas were baking, Kim poured them both a nice glass of red wine and they moved back towards the living room. She could see the wheels in Tommy’s mind spinning and she was worried she’d overloaded him with everything she’d told him. Maybe she should have let him process more between the telling of her story. She took his hand from where it was lying slack on his knee. “Whatcha thinking so hard about there, Handsome?”

Tommy refocused his attention on her. “I was just thinking about how hard a time I had finding you, and how I probably never would have without that card you sent. I guess I’m just curious what name you used during these past years, because it wasn’t any variation of your actual name. I went through every Kim, Kimberly, Ann, Anne, Annie I could find, with every last name I could think of in connection with you and I came up with nothing.”

A bright red blush started creeping from Kim’s cheeks all the way down under the collar of the shirt she was wearing. “Oh uhm… does that really matter? I mean, in a few days Kim Hart will make her grand comeback and the other identity can quietly disappear into the ether again.”

She couldn’t quite meet his eyes and Tommy got even more intrigued with how she reacted to his question. “Kim… I want us to know each other again. We both missed a significant part of the other’s life over the past decade. Your other identity is a big part of that. And I’m curious what name you chose for yourself, when being able to pick anything.

“Well, when you put it like that. Fine.” She reluctantly got up from her seat on the couch and headed into the foyer. When she came back, she had a driver’s license in her hand, which she thrust at him in a huff. “If you make a big deal of this, you can go eat your pizza out in your car. On your way home!” With that said, she picked up her glass and stalked off towards the kitchen to check on their dinner. Leaving Tommy on the couch, staring after her bemusedly before he glanced at the license.

He could barely contain the smile that stretched his face. It felt a bit funny to be this happy about a silly name, especially after what he’d heard that afternoon. But the name and date of birth he saw printed in black just made him giddy. He dropped it on the coffee table and picked up his own glass before moving towards the kitchen as well.

“You know, I really love the name you picked. While you’ll always be Kim to me, the other name suits you as well. Maybe, in the future you could use it again, with a few little alterations.”

Kim looked up from where she was cutting their pizzas with a roller. “What do you mean, use it again? I spent too long not being Kimberly Ann Hart, I really want to just get back to that.”

Tommy rested his forearms on the kitchen island, leaning into her personal space. “That’s a shame. Kimberly Ann Oliver has got a great ring to it.” Tommy laughed as Kim’s complexion turned bright red again and he had to save the pizza from dropping out of her hands and onto the floor. “You think you’re so funny, Thomas Oliver, but I was NOT kidding about kicking you out.”

Tommy dropped the plate he was holding on the dining table and raised his hands, palms out in sign of surrender. “Who’s joking? I’m deadly serious Kim. I know we can’t just jump back into our relationship as it was. I mean, we’re not seventeen anymore and we’ve missed a whole lot of each other’s life.

But I was being serious when I said that I’m not going anywhere and even when I was at my lowest during those years we were separated, I’ve never once doubted that you were the one for me. I know we need to get to know each other again, but I don’t think the core of who we are has changed over these years. Hell, I’d marry you tonight if I thought you’d actually agree to it, I’m that sure about us. There’s only one way I see this thing between us going, and that’s you and me sitting on our front porch in our rocking chairs at 95, counting grandchildren as they run around in the yard. And you can turn it every which way you’d like, but I know you feel the same way. I mean, the name you picked…”

She didn’t immediately respond to him, shuffling about her kitchen and taking utensils and napkins from drawers and cupboards. She put them onto the table before reaching for her glass of wine and taking a fortifying gulp. “I picked that name because I was isolated and scared and I needed the reminder that I was not really alone. That I was loved and missed. I would not have made it through everything I have without that. Olivia Greene was the perfect alias that encompassed all that.”

Tommy moved closer to Kim and pulled her backwards into his chest. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting safety and comfort. And I’m glad that I got to give that to you even if I couldn’t be with you. And never doubt that you were loved that you are loved.

Kim leaned back into his embrace, and they stood there for a moment, enjoying just being in each other’s company until Kim’s stomach let out a loud rumble and the spell was broken. She sat down at the table while Tommy went to get the bottle of wine to refill their glasses.

“So,” Tommy started when he was seated as well, “if you guys are planning on moving PRISM into the mountains back home, does that mean you’re moving down there as well?”

Kim finished her bite before replying. “Well, eventually, yeah. I mean, up until now it was just Billy and me and we could do what we needed to from the comfort of our own homes. But I can’t lie and say that being this isolated from everybody hasn’t taken its toll on me. Working from home was all fine and good while I was here and didn’t have any kind of support system or protection, but now that we’re finally moving into the final stages of the Plan….” She finished on a whisper, “I just don’t want to be lonely anymore.”

Tommy took her hand and rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. “You won’t be. Not anymore.” Kim shook her head to expel the sadness, there had been enough of that over the course of the day. “However much I’m going to miss this house,” she looked around the room wistfully, “it’s just a house. I want to go home.”

“Got any preference on where you’d want to live?”

Kim shrugged noncommittally. “Not really. I mean, Angel Grove would be nice but it’s not an absolute must. I could see myself in Ocean Bluff, Stone Canyon or Turtle Cove or any of those seaside towns, honestly. As long as the commute isn’t a horrible pain in the butt.”

“What about Reefside?”

She shot him a longsuffering look. “Tommy…,” she started, but he interrupted her. “Don’t ‘Tommy’ me, Kim. I’m being deadly serious. What about Reefside?” His words said Reefside, but Kim knew he meant more than just being in the same city.

She sighed. “Yes, Reefside too… but…,” again he didn’t let her finish what she intended to say. “No buts about it, Kim. I spent too many years without you, and I’m terrified this is all a dream or a hallucination and I’ll turn around and you’ll be gone again.” He took her hand more firmly in his and brought it up to brush his lips over it. “I’m only half of me when you’re not around. And sure, I’ve been content, I like my life well enough, and I’ve got my job and my friends. But I’ve not been truly happy since we were us. And now that you’re here, I can feel the pieces of myself that I’ve been locking away sliding into place again.”

He looked up at her, desperation written all over his face. “Oh, Handsome… I feel the same, you know I do.” She brushed her hand over his face and let it rest on his neck. “You’re not that sweet, shy guy who came to my aid in the school hallway anymore. You’ve done so much growing up and I really can’t wait to get to know the man you are today. I promise I’m not going away again, not if I get a say in it, but don’t you think moving in together would be a little soon? We’ve only just reconnected and … I mean, we haven’t even talked about what comes next, for us.”

“I didn’t think I was hiding what I would like to come next but let me clarify so there is no confusion. I don’t want to be your friend, Kim. At least not just your friend. I was yours the moment you smiled at me in that hallway, even if Rita derailed us for too damn long. I want everything with you, Kim. And that hasn’t changed since I was 17 no matter how much time we spent apart in between. We’ve sacrificed so much of ourselves and our relationship for the ‘greater good’. I think it’s time we got some happiness for us. I told you earlier, I’d marry you right here, right now if you’d agree to that. But I don’t mind waiting a bit, have our friends there when our paths lead us back to the inevitable. You and me, that’s endgame.” He got up from his seat and started pacing again. In the back of her mind Kim wondered how long it would take him to wear out a pattern on the floor. “As for ‘too soon’, this feels about thirteen years too late, if you ask me. I just want to spend the rest of my life waking up with you. We both know this is it, so why waste time pretending it’s not? You’re worried about how others might see it? Kim shrugged, her hand twirling the nearly empty wineglass.

Tommy dropped down onto his knees in front of her and turned her towards him on her seat. “Because if that’s the only real issue you have with moving in with me, I can tell you right now that I don’t care. Anybody who knows us won’t be surprised and those that don’t are irrelevant.”

Kim took his face between her hands again. “What if we move in without knowing each other’s little sides? What if my penchant of leaving socks everywhere gets on your nerves? Or you start to resent the fact that I keep humming silly songs all day long. Or when you find out that pizza is just about the only thing I can cook without burning everything to a crisp?”

Tommy’s hands wrap around her wrists. “So what? I’ll put your socks in the hamper if you can deal with me leaving towels all over the place. And you can hum all you want, or whistle or sing. Hell, use a fucking microphone or a bullhorn for all I care. You know I love your voice and your singing; I’ll never tire of hearing you. Not if hearing you means you’re actually with me. As for cooking, I’m not gonna say I’m a MasterChef, but I make a mean grilled chicken and can sunny-side-up the hell out of some eggs. There’s always take-out for everything else. What matters is you and me, the rest is confetti.”

He fell silent after that, their eyes locking. So many unspoken things passed between them, until he spoke up again. “Now that that’s over with, I guess my next question is gonna be a piece of cake. Kimberly will you please move in with me?”

Kim broke eye contact with him, turning her head away for a moment. Those words were identical to the ones he spoke that long ago day by the lake, right after they’d shared their very first kiss. A smile flitted over her face before she turned towards him again. “Well?” He said expectantly. When her answer wasn’t forthcoming, he huffed out an exasperated “Kimberly!” The tension broke as she chuckled and replied with words she too had spoken that wonderful, happy day by the lake.  “I didn’t want to make it too easy for you. Of course I’ll move in with you.”

His answering smile felt like a gigaton of warmth that was shining on her, and she could tell he loved the fact that they both remembered that day so very well even after so many years apart. He leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on her lips, eliciting another soft chuckle from Kim.

“I think we did that out of order,” she said with a smile in her voice and her face full of open affection. “Meh,” came Tommy’s reply, “we’re adults now, we write our story the way we want to.”

They went back to eating their – now cold – pizza and talked more about the friends she was excited to see again. They could come back to the heavy stuff later. There was plenty of time for that.

The bottle of wine was just about empty, and Kim stood to grab another one. Tommy stopped her with a hand on her arm. “I should… I’ve got a hotel booked for the night. I didn’t know if I’d find you or… I should get going.” Despite his words he didn’t make a move to get up. He was just skating his hand up and down her arm. The reluctance to leave was palpable in the air and even though Kim’s sure the words must have been hard to utter, she also loved that he was trying to give her some space after all the heaviness of the day.

Kim shook her head at him. “Still my knight in shining armor, I see. I just agreed to move in with you, because we both feel like another night apart is not an option. So why would you think that doesn’t start right now? I’m not nearly ready to let you out of my sight, I’m not sure I’ll every be ready for that. The only place you’re going is to your car to put it in the garage and get your bag out.”

Tommy let out a breath of relief at her words and a warm smile chased away the frown. He winked at her and saluted, “Yes, ma’am!”, earning him a playful shove from Kim before he kissed her cheek and practically skipped out the front door.

When he was outside on the porch, he pulled out his phone to check if he’d missed any messages and was surprised by the number of missed texts and calls. The day had been an emotional rollercoaster and he’d completely forgot to let Jason know he’d finally found Kim. Instead of reading all the messages (they were bound to be rude anyway), he hit #2 on his speed dial and waited for him to pick up.

“Dude! Finally! I’ve been calling you for hours man. Did you find her?”

Tommy glanced backwards towards the house again, seeing Kim moving in the back. “Yeah man, I’m looking at the house as we speak.”

“You still haven’t gotten out of the car?” Jason huffed in annoyance, “Man, next time you stumble onto Powers, you better get yellow, you big chicken!”

Tommy saw the garage door open up and got behind the wheel of his Jeep, putting his phone on speaker and dropping it on the seat beside him. “You do know your fiancé’s a former yellow Ranger, are you implying Tri’s yellow-bellied?” – “Shut up, man! Just, get out of the car already and knock on the damn door. I need you to find my sister and to have her come home and I especially need you to stop pining.

“I will, just after I park my car in the garage, I don’t think it would be polite to park it in her foyer.” Tommy let those words sink in for a moment and he practically heard it the moment they clicked with Jason. “You found her? You actually found her?” The hope in his best friend’s voice was tinged with grief but mostly just genuine happiness. “How did it go? Is she alright? Tell me you’re bringing her home!”

The emotion in Jason’s voice made Tommy’s chest hurt. However much he had missed Kim; he knew the same went for Jason. Kim was his sister in all but blood, having been neighbors since they’d been born. Not knowing where she was and what had happened to her had been killing their Red Ranger just as much as it had Tommy.

“Jace, breath buddy. I’m about to park my car in her garage and staying over, how do you think it’s going?” He heard a slight gagging noise float over the line before Jason’s voice came back, “I do not need that much information, bro. That’s my sister you’re talking about. Is she okay?”

Tommy sighed. ‘Being okay’ might be an overstatement but together they’d make sure she’d get there again. But that wasn’t Tommy’s story to tell, just as he now realized it hadn’t been Billy’s either. “She’s… it’s been bad, Jace, but she’s mostly okay now. I think coming home and being with her family again is going to be a big step forward in that department.”

“What happened to her? Where has she been all this time?” – “That’s her story to tell, man. And you really need to hear it from her. But after, you and I should have a little conversation about it. As for her coming home, that depends on who’s home you’re referring to. But yeah, she’s coming back with me, as soon as possible.”

Jason was quiet again for a few seconds, processing what Tommy hadn’t told him, before he spoke again. “I’ve got your back, you know that.” Tommy let out a sound of affirmation. “But if you get married without any of us to witness it, I’m not saving you from the wrath of the others, you hear me?”

Tommy’s belly laugh echoed through the empty street as he started the car and slowly pulled out and turned onto Kim’s driveway. “I’ll keep that in mind, bro. For now, I think we’ll just let all of us be happy that she’s back, before doing anything big like that. Besides, didn’t she and Tri have some sort of pact with each other about being maids of honor? Isn’t that one of the reasons you’ve been engaged for 5 years?”

Jason huffed in agreement. “Yeah, it just… it wouldn’t feel right without Kim there, but now that she’s back, I’m thinking we can fast forward a bit.” Tommy turned off his car and spotted Kim standing at the top of the stairs leading up into the house. “Look man, I gotta go. Tell the rest… tell them we’ll be home soon. We’ll have everybody over when she’s settled in. Please, please tell Rocky to hold off on rushing over, I don’t want to overwhelm her.”

“Yeah man, I will. As for Rocky… you know him, he’s like an over enthusiastic Golden Retriever puppy, but I’ll try. You tell Kim we’ve missed her, and we love her, and we’ll see you guys soon, okay?”

“Will do, bro. Catch you later.” – “Later man.”

Tommy hung up the phone and got out of the car. He took his bag from the backseat and slung it over his shoulder. As he made his way up the stairs, the air crackled with electricity around them. He looked up at her and got caught in her eyes again, his feet moving up the rest of the stairs on autopilot. He stepped into her personal space as he reached the top, crowding her against the wall behind her.

He ran his index finger over her cheek, and she shuddered, sparks seeming erupting from his touch. When the tension became too much, he dropped his bag at their feet and rushed to close the remaining few inches of space that were left between their lips. His right hand twisted into her hair and his left snuck behind her and onto the small of her back, while her hands gripped his face.

While their second first kiss earlier had been a sweet and chaste peck, much like their actual first kiss all those years ago, this one was all passion and heat. They fought a battle for dominance, tongues twisting and chasing, teeth clashing. When they broke apart it was only to suck in a big breath of fresh air before they fell into each other again.

Tommy’s right hand let go of Kim’s hair and travelled down her back, over her ass and ended gripping her thigh, with his left following closely behind towards her other thigh. He squeezed lightly and she took the hint for what it was. She hopped up and locked her legs around his waist, her shoulder blades resting against the wall for extra support. Her head thudded to the wall, but she was too caught up in the pleasure of his lips and teeth roving over her face and neck to notice the ache.

He bit down lightly on her collarbone, and it caused Kim to moan his name into his ear. She arched her back, pushing herself more fully towards Tommy. Another soft whine of pleasure slipped from her when her core aligned perfectly with his growing erection. His lips continued their downward travels, lavishing kisses, licks and bites on every available piece of skin. When he reached the top of her breasts, he huffed a little in annoyance at the piece of clothing that covered them.

His hands – strong and confidant and so so reverent – slid from her thighs, squeezing her ass firmly before one slipped under the waistband of her jeans and the other made its way under her shirt.

The second his fingers tripped over a patch of irregular and puckered skin; the atmosphere shifted. Kim froze in his arms, and he sobered from the haze of lust that had taken him over. He dropped his forehead onto hers, both breathing heavy and labored. Kim wouldn’t look at him, so he nuzzled his nose against hers to draw her attention, while both his hands retreated back to her thighs.

“Talk to me, Beautiful.” His voice was soft and imploring.

Tears were pooling in her eyes and when she blinked, they fell soundlessly onto her cheeks. “It’s…,” her voice was hoarse, and she scraped it and tried again, “they… they’re…” her words drifted off into sobs as her head fell onto Tommy’s shoulder. “Hey, hey… honey… If it makes you this uncomfortable, I won’t come near them, I promise. But, as much as I hate them for being a visual reminder of the hell you went through; and as much as I wish I could have spared you the pain; they are a part of you now. They won’t ever be ugly, because you’re the most beautiful woman in the world, both inside and out. They are an outward sign of your courage and endurance and strength.

She turned her head a little, her lips brushing softly against his neck in the process. “They… you’re not repelled by them?” she asked him in a small and fragile voice. He shook his head vehemently. “I hate what happened to you, but nothing about you can ever be a turnoff.” He shifted his hips against her core, letting her feel the evidence of his arousal and a noise of contentment erupted from deep in her chest. “Will you… can I see them?”

A heavy pause lingered after his question but finally he felt her head nod against his cheek. He put his hands a little firmer on her thighs and turned around. He moved towards the stairs and took the first ones as easily as if he wasn’t carrying an extra 110 pounds of weight.

“Hey! I can walk, you know.”

“Yeah, I know. But this way is much more fun.” He grinned into her hair.

“Show-off,” came her muttered reply. Her voice was still a little shaky, but she sounded a lot more like herself already.

She directed him towards the master bedroom, and he carefully settled her dead center on the bed. Then he joined her and immediately captured her lips again. Their hands roamed over the other’s body wherever they could get to, but Kim grew frustrated quickly. “Too many clothes,” she muttered onto his lips. She grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pulled upwards, Tommy letting go of her lips just long enough to slip the offending piece of cotton over his head.

The room was only lit by the moon and streetlights that fell in through the windows, but she saw enough of him to have her breath caught in her throat. He’d always been in great shape thanks to Karate and later all the Rangering, it had still been a boy’s body. Now, he was toned and sculpted, and she couldn’t stop her eyes and hands from roaming over his bare chest. She could make out several dark shapes covering parts of his skin but was too distracted by her fingers dipping in each and every ridge of the six-pack he was sporting to really pay attention to them.

His hands framed her face, and he pulled her gaze towards him, a question clear in his chocolate-brown eyes. For a moment she panicked, fearful of his reaction to her scars, but then she saw the look of love and pride in his eyes, and she nodded. He pulled her shirt up and threw it over his shoulder, knuckles dragging over her abdomen and her breasts as he did so. Tommy reverently kissed her shoulder as he turned her around so her back faced him. He brushed aside the hair that fell over her back and unclasped her bra, until she was exposed to him completely.

He sucked in an involuntary breath when he got his first look at the extent of damage she’d endured, and a tear dropped from his eyes onto the scars. He was in awe of how open and trusting of him she was.

He let his fingers drift over every single jagged line softly tracing each and every one of them. He could feel Kim shiver under his touch, and he hoped it was out of pleasure and not bad memories. He replaced his hands with his lips, kissing the same path his fingers had taken. When he reached her shoulder again, he nipped at it. She moaned his name into the darkness and the sound of it shot right towards his groin. His hands went around her body, tracing her curves until he reached her firm breasts.

She sighed again as he continued his ministrations. Her hands came up into his hair and she pulled on it lightly. He bent forward to catch her lips again while his hands massaged her breasts a little longer before drifting down to pop the button of her jeans.

He slid the jeans partway down her legs before he turned her again to tug them off all the way. As they came face to face again, he could see the tears that still pooled in her eyes. But they were otherwise clear and the panic they’d displayed earlier had vanished completely. Instead, he found love and acceptance, and he was absolutely sure those feelings were reflected in his own eyes. He kissed her again, long and deep, trying to put every feeling, every emotion into it and seal it into her forever.

Her short fingernails cut a path over his abdomen as she slid her way down his torso and towards his jeans. She undid his pants at a leisurely pace, her fingers brushing his shaft and making him twitch. He released her lips to move over every newly exposed piece of skin, kissing each and every blemish he came across.

Her hands tugged his jeans halfway down his legs before she hooked her feet into them and wrangled them off completely. Kim let her hands drift over his ass and up over his toned shoulders, back up to cup his face. Her thumbs traced a soft path on his cheekbones.

She must have understood what he’d been trying to convey with that kiss, because with every next kiss she placed, on his forehead, his cheeks and ultimately his lips, she whispered; “I love you. I have always loved you. I will always love you.”

With those words hovering in the air between them, he entered her. Tommy moved slowly, giving them both time to adjust. When they were fully connected, they started moving in sync. Slow, unhurried in their lovemaking, they whispered promises of forever against each other’s skin.

Kim was so responsive to his every move and touch and despite the slow pace they were setting themselves – or possibly because of it – it wasn’t long before he felt her muscles spasm and contract around him. She bit his shoulder before an extended moan erupted from within her chest, his name echoing through the room. He tried his best to prolong her climax as long as possible, but the combination of her muscles gripping him, the extasy on her face and his name on her lips was too much. He quickly followed her over the edge with a few last thrusts.

They stayed entangled in each other while their heartrates and breathing evened out, foreheads pressed together and gazing into each other’s eyes. When they finally separated, Tommy got up to clean himself up in the bathroom. He found a washcloth next to the sink and brought it with him in the room to clean Kim as well. When he came back to bed, he slid behind her, pulling her back flush to his chest. She took his hand and settled it between her breasts, right over her heartbeat.

- - -

Kim woke up a little after 8 AM, feeling deliciously sore and spent. They had fallen asleep intertwined in each other but sometime during the night, Tommy had woken Kim from a terrible nightmare. He’d comforted her and she’d instigated another round of lovemaking. She’d needed the reassurance that he was really there with her and that her nightmare had just been that a bad dream. When a couple of hours later, Tommy had been caught in a nightmare of his own, she’d woken him and round three had commenced.

She was exhausted, both from the day before and all the emotional vomiting she’d done and from their wonderful night together. She snuggled closer into him until the dark spots on his chest caught her attention again. In the low light of morning, she could see it was a dragon inked into his skin.

Tommy was still out cold, his one arm around Kim’s back and the other flung over his eyes: his breathing even and relaxed. She hesitated only a fraction of a second before she lightly traced the head of the dragon that seemed to rest on his right pectoral. Her fingers flitted up towards his shoulder, where the body of the beast was drawn in spectacular detail, his legs coming down on his upper arm, while his tail wrapped around his shoulder blade.

It was inked in a magnificent array of greens, each scale looking so lifelike she was half worried it would jump up and hurl a fireball at her.

“Trent drew her.” His voice came out raw and sleep-addled, adding a sexy gravel to it. Despite that, she let out a little squeal of surprise and she lightly slapped him. “Give a girl some warning you’re awake, will you? You scared the shit out of me.” He barked out a laugh at her. “’M sorry, you just seemed so enthralled by my chest, I couldn’t bear to interrupt you.”

“Phst,” she said, “I was admiring the Dragon, Mr. Vanity.” She traced the head of the Dragon again. “She really is beautiful… so much detail.” He smiled at her awed tone, and the fact that she seemed to love the drawing as much as he himself did. She’d never showed any preference or dislike of tattoos before, but it hadn’t ever been a serious topic they’d broached, so he really hadn’t been sure they wouldn’t be a turnoff for her.

“You want to see the others?” – “There are more?” She vaguely remembered more dark spots on his body from her inspection last night, but by the time she’d finished drooling over his chest and arms, he’d been doing something wickedly wonderful with his hands and she’d lost all interest in everything that wasn’t what he was doing to her.

Tommy tugged down the sheet towards his hips, leaving it to barely cover the lower half of his body. Kim got distracted for a minute by the strong V of his hips and the soft trail of hair that disappeared under the covers, and she felt Tommy’s chest shake in laugher. “Seen something else you like?” he said playfully.

She tore her gaze back up towards his eyes and while feigning indifference she shrugged, “meh.” Tommy’s eyes never lost their mirth, so she knew he wasn’t fooled by her acting. “So… tats or…,” he trailed off without offering her another choice verbally, but his eyes said it all. It was tempting to forget about the markings that were scattered across his body, but her curiosity was peaked. “Tats first… we’ll see about the ‘or’ later.,” she replied cheekily.

He chuckled again and took her hand, leading It to a simple line drawing that was slightly off center in the middle of his chest. Right over where his heart was. It was nowhere as intricate or as beautiful as the Dragon, yet it took her breath away.

“I got this one first, the day that marked the first anniversary of your disappearance. I was so down that day, refusing to get out of bed, staring at pictures of us and basically wallowing in sadness and loneliness.” Kim made a soft sound of distress at the picture he was painting. She’d never wanted that for him. He took her hand and kissed her fingertips before repositioning it over his heart. The steady beat was reassuring, and she turned her head up to listen to his story.

“Everyone came by the house, but I’d begged my mom to tell them I wasn’t feeling well and to send them away. I heard them all leave, asking my mom to send me their best, and then I went back to my bed and the pictures. A few minutes later, I heard somebody climb up the side of the house, the same way I used to when I snuck back in late at night. I was just about to club the intruder over the head, when I realized it was Rocky.

He basically dragged me from the house, kicking and screaming, but he wouldn’t relent. So, we went to the park, and he handed me a file folder. Inside were some grainy pictures of somebody who looked a lot like you, taken by security cameras in a train station somewhere in Florida. They were taken I’d guess in between you sending the letter and you giving yourself up. It had taken Rocky’s uncle Daniel all his weight as Sheriff of Stone County to get those shots, and it had taken him over a year to finally get his hands on them. They were old, but they were something to start with.”

Kim remembers her outing to the train station, although from Tommy’s story she couldn’t exactly pinpoint which one the pictures had been from. She’d picked out several different stations and even more lockers to obscure the one she was using for the stuff she held most dear. Mostly pictures and letters, things she didn’t want to lose after she would go missing, for however long that would be. It’s a good thing she’d been prepared for long, even though she’d been hoping for short.

“Anyway… Rocky… he looked me in the eyes and told me: “If you think something is wrong, then I’ve got your back, no matter what. I’ll always watch your six, and I’ll always trust in your instincts as much as I do my own. So, whatever you need, I’m here.” And honestly, I’d never been so glad to have a buddy like Rocky. So, we made some plans to go to Florida and investigate some, even though we knew it would be a long shot, and Rocky asked his uncle to keep looking for you.

I went home after that and putting all the pictures and stuff back in the box I was keeping them in, when I spotted that Pink origami Crane you folded me right after we’d gotten the Ninjetti Powers. I just remember thinking that I wanted something a little more permanent to remind me of you. To remind me of what we had. So, I went out to the tattoo shop downtown and asked them if it was possible to draw something like it. Half an hour later I was back out with my first tattoo.”

Kim traced the simple lines that made up the little origami bird that seemed suspended over his heart. To see the symbol that signified her Life Force so close to it, was touching. “It’s beautiful. Both the tattoo and the sentiment behind it.” She dropped her lips onto it and kissed it reverently.

Tommy kissed the top of her head and took her hand again, this time moving to the lower left side of his torso. “Turns out that getting a tattoo is pretty addictive, and a little after I got the Crane, I came across a beautifully drawn White Tiger, that reminded me of Saba and I decided that it would be my thanks to him, for all he sacrificed in battle.” He let her fingers ghost over his stomach towards the intricate face of the tiger, just rounding his waist.

“After that, I kept my eye out for designs that would reflect all my time in the Uniform.” He turned a little so she could his left shoulder blade. “The Phoenix…” A beautiful bird in red and yellow seemed to burst from a complex tangle of flames, its wings spread wide, and its head held proudly. Kim touched it admiringly. He dropped his shoulder again and shifted a little further from her, causing her to let out a sound of discontent. He didn’t go far however, just put enough space between them so she could see the Falcon talons that gripped his right ribcage. “The Falcon…” Then he shifted his arm so she could see the inside of his right bicep and the checkered flag that represented his Turbo days.

The design on his left bicep was something she couldn’t quite figure out without his explanation, “It’s a few pieces of vertebrae of the Brachiosaur. It’s a nod to the Black Dino Ranger but could also just be something a boring Paleontologist would have inked on his skin.” They both chuckled at his comment.

Kim gripped his wrist softly. “What about these?” Kim traced the foreign design that was inked on it, noticing there was a matching one on his other wrist. She could tell it was some kind of Asian Character, but she could neither pinpoint the exact language or its meaning.

“This one,” he turned his right wrist up so she could see the marking better, “is 力 chikara which translates to ‘strength’ or ‘power’ and this one,” he turned his other wrist, “is 勇 and that translates to ‘courage’.”

“Well… both of them are very fitting.” She paused, “no scratch that. All of them are very fitting.” She said it so solemnly that Tommy couldn’t help but chuckle. “Thanks, Beautiful. I guess they all represent things or times that I always want to remember. And you know how bad my memory is.”

That caused Kim to launch into a fit of giggles worthy of her sixteen-year-old self.

When her laughter had died out, she let her hands roam all the ink on his body again, until she stopped at the Dragon. “So… the Dragon came last?”

Tommy nodded. “Despite looking, I never found a design I loved enough to represent it. The Green Ranger got off to a less than stellar start, but it’s the Power that I hold closest to my heart.” That surprised Kim somewhat. Tommy had seemed so happy when he was in White, she’d have thought that was his favorite incarnation of Mighty Morphin’.

Tommy noticed the look and he explained. “Green was where it all started for me, you know. Despite the circumstances that got me the Coin, I feel like that’s where my life finally began. When I found the things I’d been looking for, knowingly or not. It’s the color I was when I found purpose and duty, the color I was when falling in love with you, the Color I wore when I found a family in all of you.”

Kim kissed him softly, a simple reminder that she loved him and that he was her family too. “I had just about given up hope that I’d find the image I was looking for, when Trent gifted me the drawing before he left for college.

After he was released from Mesagog’s spell, he’d been pretty down. I could see the guilt and the shame in him, the same as I felt after I was freed from Rita. So, I sat him down and told him the story of the Green Ranger and when that was done, I shared with him what Zordon said to me after I was myself again.

Kim turned her eyes towards him again. “What did he say?” Tommy smiled at the memory and the wisdom his first mentor had laid at his feet. “He told me that Good and Evil are two sides of the same Coin and that every choice you make decides which way the Coin will land. You just need to make sure you balance your choices in the right direction. And I told him that the weeks under Rita’s control had put so much red in my ledger, I’d never be able to turn the tide. And Zordon replied that the only choices that mattered, where those made out of free will, because those are the ones that show true character.

I think my story got through to Trent because I saw a big change in the way he carried himself. I can only imagine Zordon had that same effect on me.

Anyway, Trent took my story and those conflicting feelings and when I saw the drawing, I knew I’d found what I’d been looking for.

Kim’s hand drifted back towards the intricate Dragon. While what she said earlier was certainly true, all of his tattoos were fitting, she couldn’t help but think the Dragon represented him most perfectly. It looked fiercely protective and strong, but there was a gentleness in his eyes that was matched by the chocolate brown of its host.

As Tommy’s tale of tattoos drew to a close, she pushed herself into his side more firmly, sliding her knee up and over his hips. Her fingers scratched lightly over his sternum and her lips and tongue traced lazy patterns across the talons on his ribs. “So… can I take you up on that ‘or’ now?”

Tommy laughed as he flipped Kim on her back lightning quick, making her squeal with laughter. He brushed his nose against hers, pressing his forehead to hers and staring in the honey-colored depths of her eyes. “I love you,” he told her, right before his mouth descended on hers.

- - - - -

They were still lounging in bed when her stomach suddenly let out a loud grumble. It broke the reverend mood they’d been in and caused both of them to burst out in laughter.

“That sounds like my cue to introduce you to my world class breakfast making skills. How about I head down and start that, and you take a shower.” She nodded and kissed him deeply before getting out of bed and heading into her on-suite.

She came down minutes later with feeling refreshed and slightly less sore. Her hair hung damp on her back, and she was casually dressed in jeans and a shirt. Tommy was finishing up eggs with his cellphone clenched between his shoulder and ear.

“… well, yeah of course I did and I’m sorry. But we haven’t…” – “Okay, but will you just let me…” – “I really don’t think that’s gonna be…”. He spotted her coming into the kitchen and mouthed “Rocky” at her before returning his attention to the phone again.

Whatever the ex-Ranger was saying seemed to annoy Tommy and he wasn’t getting a word in edgewise. Finally, fed up with the one-sided conversation, Tommy snapped, “Rocky!” It came out sharper and louder than he intended, but at least the other end of the line was finally quiet for a moment.

“Sorry man, that came out harsher than intended. But can you breathe for a second and hear me out?” – “Of course, she knows you’re all worried about her, but that’s not my story to tell, bro.” – “Yes, and while I might not agree with it, I do understand now. So will you, I promise.” – “I did, and we are, just not sure yet when. But I’m not sure a full-on reunion is the best idea; it might be a little… overwhelming after all these years.” – “Well, of course I know you want to see her, and I know she feels the same, but let her get settled first before you bring the entire circus down on her.”

Kim was listening to Tommy’s half of the conversation with amusement. Rocky hadn’t changed much over the past years, still quick to show affection and eager to share it with everybody. She remembered all the phone calls they’d shared after she’d moved to Florida and with a pang of regret, she realized that she never told him how much his words had meant to her, especially those he didn’t know she heard. She moved closer to Tommy and motioned for him to hand her the phone.

He quirked an eyebrow and mouthed, “are you sure?” and she just nodded and held out her hand. Tommy didn’t say goodbye to his friend and figured hearing Kim’s voice would be enough to get the other guy to shut up.

When she put the phone to her ear, she could hear Rocky rambling on about a schedule and how Tommy didn’t get sole custody of Kim just because he was in love with her, because they all loved Kim, and all wanted to see her as soon as possible.

She took a deep breath and interrupted him with a soft, “Rocky.” The line fell quiet at that, and she could swear he’d stopped breathing for a moment. When his voice finally came over the line again, it was brittle but happy, “Kimmy….”

Kim moved to the living room with the phone, leaving Tommy in the kitchen to finish up their breakfast. The strained to listen to what she was saying, but it was too soft for him to hear. And if she wanted him to know, she’d tell him later.

When she moved back into the kitchen a few minutes later, she was wrapping up the conversation. “… I will tell him, but I won’t be responsible for the fist shaped bruise that will most definitely mark your face when he sees you.” – “Yeah, I love you too, brother from another mother. Bye.”

She ended the call and dropped it on the kitchen island. Tommy was just plating the eggs. “When did you and Rocky get so close?” His question was asked in curiosity, but there was an undercurrent that Kim picked up on that was about 20 % jealousy and 80 % surprise.

She shrugged as she moved past him towards the espresso machine that stood on her counter. “You know Rocky and I got on like a house on fire. He was always up to being my co-conspirator for any prank we pulled and constantly cracking me up with his jokes. Honestly, I was kind of surprised when Zordon made him the Red Ranger instead of Adam. I’ve always found Rocky had much more in common with Zach than he did with Jason.” She cocked her head to the side in thought. “He at the very least isn’t a typical Red. And lord knows what the Powers were thinking when they made him blue after you got the Zeo’s. That boy didn’t know a circuit board from a circus tent.”

Tommy snorted at that, while levelling her a look. “Like you do,” he questioned her. Kim shrugged again. “Well, I am the CEO of an upstart tech company that will take the world by storm, so…”

Another snort. “How could I have forgotten.” He moved the plated eggs to the table and sat down. “Nice deflection, though. Ten out of ten.” Kim dropped down onto her own seat and flushed pink. It’s not like Rocky and her had anything to hide, but after everything she’d told Tommy yesterday had already put him in guilt mode. Kim really didn’t want to pile un more if she could help it. He wasn’t having it though.

“You were telling me about you and Rock?” he steered her back on topic.

“He started calling me a lot, after ‘Sha left. I guess he needed somebody to talk to about everything he was feeling. Tommy frowned at her words. “I was there. If there’s anybody who knew what he was going through, it was me. How come he didn’t talk to me about this? How did I not know he was feeling so bad?”

And there he goes with the guilt… “Oh, Handsome… A few reasons spring to mind.” He turned his gaze on her questioningly and she elaborated. “For one, you had to lead the team into another Power transition while also training a new rookie. He didn’t want to pile yet another thing on your plate.” She put her head on his shoulder, “Secondly, he knew you were struggling with me being so far away and he didn’t want to make you feel even worse by constantly reminding you of that.” She sat back up and took his head in her hands. “And thirdly – and this might be the most important reason – he didn’t need somebody to commiserate with, he needed somebody to help him understand.

“Understand what?”

Kim took his hand in hers. “Understand why anybody would voluntarily give up what we did. The Power, the family… the love.” She squeezed his hand when his eyes dropped to his plate. No matter how supportive he’d been of her following her gymnastics dream, she knew he’d also struggled with the why of it all.

“Rocky’s a lot of things; over-enthusiastic, prone to get distracted, happy-go-lucky… but at his core, he’s loyal to a fault. That’s why he couldn’t wrap his head around us choosing anything over the duty that had been placed on us.”

She let go of his hand to take a bite of the eggs that were rapidly cooling on her plate. “I guess talking to me about those things, helped him understand. Or at least he started understanding that it wasn’t about ditching responsibility and more about personal growth. At least it was like that for me. And I’m pretty sure I know Aisha well enough to suspect it was the same for her.”

She took another bite and continued, “I’m just happy they found each other again. And so so glad they got their reunion so much sooner than we.”

Tommy shot her a look that she felt warm her all the way down to her toes. “We got here, that’s what’ important.” Kim beamed back at him and nodded.

“When I sent that Letter,” a dark look flashed over Tommy’s face and she knew he was still processing everything the Letter signified, “Rocky was the only one that didn’t let up with the phone calls. He must have called 10 time a day for the few days between you receiving that Letter and my …,” she wrung her hands, “you know.” By the look of him she could tell he was filling in her blank with his own interpretation: unnecessary sacrifice, dangerously stupid decision, brave but infuriating move, ….

“Maybe he sensed that it would be the last time he’d get the chance, because that last night, as I was cleaning out the rest of my dorm, he broke from his routine. Every time before when he’d call, he’d just say “Kim.” in this really soft and heartbreaking kind of way. But that final message it was longer, and I must have listened to it 20 times over the course of the night, crying and psyching myself up for what I would be doing the next day.”

Tommy’s clenched jaw let her know just how he felt about the fact that she’d needed to psyche herself up, but his curiosity outweighed his irritation. “What did he say?”

Kim’s mind drifted back to that last night of relative safety. She’d already put her most cherished possessions in a safe place, but was puttering around in her dorm room, trying to clean what was left. The phone rang, like clockwork, and like always she let it ring without picking up. When the machine did in her stead, she hadn’t been surprised to hear Rocky’s voice over the line. She had been surprised when he broke his usual routine of just whispering her name.

“Kimmy… I don’t know what’s going on. But my gut is telling me it isn’t anything good. And you know a Ninja can’t afford to ignore his gut. I’m not sure if any of my calls reached you and I’m not sure this one won’t get lost in the ether but… We love you Kim, never doubt that. We miss you. And no matter what, we want you to come home. Please, come home. Tommy’s… he’s a mess. Bouncing between shutting himself in his room for days on end and throwing himself headfirst into battle without thinking.” The line went silent for a moment. “If you don’t… If what my instinct is telling me is right… don’t worry about him. I’ll take care of him for you, until you do what you have to and find your way back to him. To us. Just… be careful. Be safe! And let the way of the Ninja guide you.” Another pause, heavy with emotion, “I love you, Kimmy. My sister from another mister.”

“No matter how much I wanted to pick up the phone and just tell him to come and get me, I knew I couldn’t. Not without putting you all in so much more danger. I trusted Rocky to keep his promise to take care of you.” Then she huffed in annoyance, “of course, if I had known what Rocky meant by take care of you, I might not have been so comforted.

Tommy cocked his head at her, his eyebrow raised in question. “He’s the one that encouraged you to search for me, gave you the first piece of information, even. Even if it was inadvertently, he put you in far more danger, danger I specifically sacrificed myself to get you out of.”

Tommy got ready to interject, but Kim kept talking. “They were following you, Tommy. Maybe not always actively, but you were definitely on their radar. If it was only because they took advantage of the fact that you were looking so they didn’t have to, or because they suspected more… I don’t know. What I do know, is that you came too close for comfort a few times and I had to think quickly to get us both out of trouble.”

Again, Tommy tried say something, but she shushed him with a finger. “Don’t, Tommy. Don’t try and downplay this. If they had caught us, we still wouldn’t have been together. They would have done to you what they did to me, and worse. I know you would have traded places with me in an instant, so why can’t you understand that I’ want to do the same thing for you?”

The pained look was back in Tommy’s eyes, and he shook his head. “I do understand, Kim. More than you’ll know. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it. I was the leader of the Power Rangers and fact of the matter is I should have protected you better. I should have been better!”

He was breathing heavily, air puffing out erratically. Kim took his face in her hands again. “You stop that, right now! Me getting caught morphing, that was nobody’s fault but mine. And everything that came after… that’s on their head, not yours. So please, stop taking on guilt that doesn’t belong to you. Let it fall where it should, on those actually responsible.”

They went quiet after that, eating what was left of their breakfast and letting everything settle. When they were done, they cleaned up together. Both of them reveling in the simple domesticity of the task at hand.

“So… this feels… nice,” Tommy remarked as they were doing the dishes. Kim looked at him funny and started laughing. “Is that your way of telling me you don’t have a dishwasher in Reefside?” – “Actually, that I do have. But I know you know what I mean, smartass. This, being together doing normal things. We never had much of that our first go around. And I guess… I guess I’m just looking forward to having more of that from now on.”

Kim dried her hands on a towel and wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling herself flush against his chest. “I do know what you mean, Handsome. I’ll admit to being a little sad to leave this house, but I think I’m getting the better end of the deal.”

She stood up on her tiptoes to more easily capture his lips. He chuckled. “I don’t know about that, Kim. The house is… well, let’s just say that between teaching at school and wrangling my own set of teens with attitude on the Dino Thunder team, there wasn’t much time left to decorate. It could do with a good old-fashioned Kim Hart make-over. I mainly bought it for its proximity to the caves and its privacy.”

He rubbed his hands over her back in soothing circles. “Honestly, I don’t think I ever imagined it being more than just a house. Not while living in, it alone. The fact that you are coming with me, that you’ll be with me, that’s what’ll make it home.”

He looked around the living room/kitchen and continued, “that being said though, I don’t know if our house can ever live up to this one.”

“Our house,” she sighed and dropped her forehead on his chest for a moment, “I really like the sound of that.” She let her gaze wander around the room as well, trying to see it like he did. “I don’t need all this, you know. You… that’s enough. Like you said yesterday, all the rest, it’s just confetti.”

The smile he directed at her was as bright as the summer sun and just as warm. “Just the same though,” he said while looking around some more, “maybe we should decide what you want to bring along. That way we can see how big a truck we need to rent.”

“Well, that’s easy. Just the contents of my closet upstairs. And I’m pretty sure we don’t need a truck for that. Just a couple of boxes and they’ll be fine in the backseat of your Jeep. Which – for the record – I can’t believe you still drive.

“Hey,” he said, fake indignity laced through his voice. “I’ll have you know that Jeep has some pretty fantastic memories attached to it. I couldn’t get rid of it even if I wanted to. Besides, I couldn’t afford a new car when I was still in school, and after that I got distracted by teaching and Rangering.”

Kim thought back to their high school days. The dates he took her on, the make-out sessions on the back seat. That one memorable time they’d almost been caught by Jason’s dad while their hands had not been above the waist. A blush crept up her face. “You know I love that Jeep. It holds some pretty fond memories for me too, you know.”

Tommy kissed her again. “Yeah… But are you sure you don’t want to take anything more with you?” Kim shook her head. “Tommy, nothing in this place except for the contents of the closet upstairs, is mine. I’m renting this house, furnishings and all.” He looked at her in confusion.

“When I first moved here, it was right after PRISM started making a profit and I could afford to live in a nicer place than the shoe-box apartment I was living in. But Billy hadn’t procured the files yet, so I rented because it was easier, and it wouldn’t break my heart to leave in a hurry if I had to. After Billy gave you those keys, he also retrieved some of the things I had secured before surrendering. I hadn’t dared move those in before, because I couldn’t bear losing them if I had to make a run for it.”

He understood that. There were several things, mostly tucked into a box of memories, that he couldn’t bear losing either. It went with him every time he’d moved over the past decade, and he knew he’d be devastated if he ever had to leave it behind.

“My landlord did let me know last week that he would be putting the house up for sale and asked me if I was interested. I should call him and let him know that I got a better offer.”

- - - - -

“Hey! I was wondering where this had disappeared to.” Tommy came out of the closet with his arms full of clothes to put away in the boxes Kim had pulled out. He dropped them on the bed and fished out an old sweatshirt. The green of the sleeves and hoodie had faded over time, but it was still unmistakably sixteen-year-old Tommy’s favorite sweatshirt. The one he’d been wearing when he first met Kim, in the hallway of Angel Grove High.

The blush that spread across Kim’s face and chest was beautiful, and for a second Tommy was tempted to abandon their mission of packing in favor of finding out just how low that blush went. Then he remembered they were trying to pack so they could move in together, and that got him right back on track. Except, “I knew you stole it.”

Kim huffed indignantly at him, “Stole? I didn’t steal anything, Oliver! You gave it to me, remember? That day you walked me home during that awful thunderstorm. I was shivering and you very gallantly gave me your shirt.” She walked over to him and took the shirt reverently in her hands. “I just… forgot to give it back afterwards.” She lifted it to her nose, like she had done a hundred times before, but dropped it a second later, sighing sadly. “It doesn’t smell like you anymore.”

He wrapped her and the shirt in his embrace, “I could take it back, wear it for a while. Or you could just, you know, come directly to the source.” His voice had dropped as he whispered in her ear. His breath coasting over the shell of her ear, making her shiver and goosebumps erupt on her flesh.

Kim leaned forward in his arms, trying to capture his lips. He noticed and pecked her lightly, before stepping back. “Nope, we’re packing. Because the faster you’re packed, the faster you and I can go home.” He turned back towards the pile of clothes and started folding them into the box.

She moved back towards her bathroom and the few items there that she needed to pack. He could have sworn he heard her voice muttering, “tease” behind his back and he grinned before focusing back on the task at hand.

After the third green shirt he folded he started realizing the contents of Kim’s closet looked less like they came from her closet and more like items that would be in his. Or at least, had at one point in time been his. “Kim… is there a particular reason why pretty much all of my green shirts seem to have migrated from my closet to yours.”

She came up behind him and dropped some towels and various bottles of scented lotion into the second box. “I don’t know, you didn’t seem to notice at the time that I kept borrowing your shirts. Besides you’d switched to white, like the second you got the Tiger Power.” She ran a hand lovingly over the fabric. “They made me feel safe when I was in Florida. They smelled like you and if I closed my eyes real tight, I could imagine you wrapping me in your arms.”

A thought popped into Tommy’s head at her mentioning Florida. “Kim… these shirts… they were the most cherished possessions you hid away in a locker at the train station?” She shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. “… Yes. Along with the pictures that are in the last box in the closet.” Tommy’s heart warmed and broke at the same time at her confession. “Oh, Beautiful…” A few tears fell onto the now folded shirts and he tipped her head up towards him.

“They just… if I never got the chance to be with you again, I could still… the shirts…,” she sniffled incoherently, but he got the gist of it. “Shht, honey, it’s okay. I understand, shht.” He wrapped his arms around her again, her face nestling in the crook of his neck and swayed them back and forward a little. A few moments later she’d calmed down again, and he released his hold to look her in the eyes again. “You know the best thing about moving in together?” She shook her head. “Unlimited access to both shirts and hugs.”

The smile she gave him was still a little watery but genuine and he decided he’d teased her enough about the shirts and continued putting them in the box.

She’d been right of course. Once he’d switched to white, all other colored shirts seemed to lose their appeal. It must be a defect in Ranger genes or something, the silly propensity to wear only your uniform color. Even now, a year after the black Dino Gem was destroyed, he still favored black over any other color. In any case, he hadn’t noticed when the green had disappeared, because he’d not really cared anymore. The fact that Kim had slowly but surely smuggled them out of his room and into her own wardrobe seemed fitting though.

He walked back into the closet and realized there was only one small box left. He turned towards the bed, where the moving boxes were lined up. “Hu, I guess a couple of boxes was right.” They would without a doubt fit in the Jeep. Which basically meant they’d done all the packing they needed to do. A glance at his watch told him it was not even 4 PM yet. If they threw it in the car and left right now, they’d be home by seven. He could have Kim home today.

“So…,” he started, “I guess we’re finished here. This is the last of the stuff in here.” He placed the box of pictures on top of the clothes and sealed it closed. Kim looked around the room, “Yeah, I guess so. It’s weird to think that my whole life can fit in your 16-year-old Jeep, but also kind of fitting.”

He picked up a box, brushing a kiss in her hair as he passed her on his way down the stairs. She followed him down carrying her own box. “So… should I put it in here, or can it go into the car?”

She could hear the question he was really asking in between the words of the question he’d spoken, so she answered that one. “I’ll call my landlord and the cleaning crew from the car. They can get the key from the lockbox and clean this place up. I’ll have to pay the three months lease I’ll owe for breaking contact, but that shouldn’t be much of a problem.” She headed for the garage stairs with her own box. “There’s nothing for me here anymore Tommy. I’m ready to go home.”

Tommy nearly floated down the stairs at her words.

Chapter Text

The drive down to Reefside was uneventful and spent in easy conversation or comfortable silence, up until Tommy’s phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket and saw Jason’s face on the screen. He looked over at Kim and when she nodded, he tapped the phone and put it on speaker.

“Bro, any indication on when you’ll be coming home?” – “Jace, man… it’s not like you can pack up an entire life into three boxes, throw them in the backseat and be done with it. It’s gonna take a couple of days, at least.” He saw Kim trying to stifle her laugh and tried his best to keep his voice level.

“Just… hurry up, okay. It’s been long enough. We need her home now.” – “Yeah,” he took Kim’s hand where it was lying on her thigh, lacing their fingers together, “I know, man. But I’ll call you when we know when we leave San Fran, and we can meet up for some dinner or something else – low key – to welcome her back into the fold.” He heard Jason sight on the other end of the line. “Yeah, sure. I just…,” Tommy heard the strain in his best friend’s voice. “I know buddy. It’s overwhelming in the best way, and she’s your oldest friend. Of course, you’re anxious to see her again.” Jason let out a breath of agreement. “I gotta go man, I expect that call the second you know when you’ll be home.

“Sure bro, the second. Later!” – “Later!”

Tommy was about to say something about their overbearing friend, when he saw Kim worrying her lip between her teeth. He squeezed their entangled fingers in worry. “Hey, what’s going through that beautiful head of yours?”

She gave him a watery smile. “Were we to harsh to Jace? I mean… he sounded so… tired and hopeful and sad. I feel bad for lying to him.” Tommy squeezed again. “Well, I’m not gonna lie and tell you he isn’t all those things, and then some. He’s been beating himself up for years.” – “Why?” Tommy sighed.

“Well, first of, he hates the fact that he believed that letter you sent him. I don’t know what was in it, he never said, but it must have cut deep.” A silent tear slid from Kim’s face, and she wiped at it roughly. “It was a horrible and cruel letter and each and every word of it was a fucking blasphemy of a lie.”

Tommy rubbed tiny circles of comfort over the knuckles of her hand. “You can tell him all that, soon. And he’ll forgive you, no question.” Kim looked at him, tears still pooling in her eyes but blinking them away. “And the other reasons?”

“Well, he’s upset with himself and feels guilty for not showing up at your door and demanding answers. He thinks he could have talked sense into you so you wouldn’t disappear. And lastly, he’s ashamed that he didn’t believe me instantly when I told him I didn’t believe a thing that was in those letters and that he refused to help me look for you those first years.”

“As for being too harsh now… what do you think would happen if I’d told him we’d be in Reefside in,” he checked the GPS, “20 minutes?” She thought about that for a second. “How long is the drive from Angel Grove to Reefside?” – “At this time? About 30 minutes, give or take five.” Kim nodded. “Yeah, he would break at least a dozen traffic laws just to beat us there.”

Tommy levelled her a look. “Beautiful, he would commandeer a chopper to make sure he was at the house before we even left the interstate.” She chuckled at that, still a little fragile but genuine.

“Look… all of them feel bad for believing your letters at face value. After everything we’ve all been through together, they feel badly for not looking into it further. By the time they all started listening to their instincts rather than their emotions, several years had passed and it was hard for them to face it. A few of them did get me some leads. Zach used his contacts amongst the different charities he’d been overseeing, Jace started a low-key missing persons investigation. Adam went to every shelter he could find between Florida and California and Aisha and Trini were the comfort when a lead didn’t pan out.”

“God,” she let go of his hand and put her face in hers, “when they find out… I’m gonna need a forcefield to keep all of you contained so you won’t do anything stupid.”

The house was dark when they arrived. It was a little past nine, later than he’d anticipated but a need for dinner had forced them to stop along the way. Not that he’d actually minded because that dinner had felt very much like a date, and I loved that. Despite them being gross from sitting in the car for hours on end and the fact that their only option had been a roadside diner, it had been a cozy and intimate evening.

He took their bags from the car, deciding the boxes could wait until morning, before making their way into the house. He led Kim up the short staircase of the front porch and in through the door.

Tommy hadn’t exaggerated when he’d told her his house could use some TLC. Everywhere she could see there was wood. Dark wood staircase right in front of her, dark wood paneling on every wall, hardwood flooring stained a dark chocolate brown. To her right was a solid wall (with paneling) with two doors. Both doors stood open and Kim spotted what looked like a study at the front of the house and the kitchen through the back door.

To her left there was a half wall (obviously, more paneling) that opened up into the living/dining room. Despite the abundance of windows and the open floor plan, the space felt cramped and confined. Heavy wooden furniture was scattered around the room without any rhyme or reason. A tattered couch and two leather recliners were placed where the living room part of the space was, a TV placed on top of a dark oak dresser.

On the other side of the room, an old micra table was placed with 4 mismatched chairs scattered around it. She turned the right corner in the back of the dining room, admiring the beautiful glass paneled back doors and ended up in the kitchen of horrors. A tattered breakfast nook was right across from the dining room and further to the right was the most dark and frightening looking kitchen she’d ever seen. Old fashioned dark wood cabinets topped with a heavy black granite countertop, caused her to nearly become claustrophobic, despite the obviously large dimensions of the room.

Tommy had followed behind her, dropping the bags in the foyer on his way in. “You weren’t kidding about this place being a little… neglected.” Tommy laughed at the look of horror she was trying to mask. “No, I wasn’t.” He looked around and winced at his surroundings. The house had good bones, it was large and had plenty of open space, but it was a lot outdated. “Most of the stuff in here came with the house. It had been an old widower living here and he had no family left, so I bought the house as it was. The only rooms I actually use are the study and the master bed and bathroom.”

Kim scrunched her nose. “That’s… kind off sad, actually.” Tommy moved towards the fridge and took out two bottles of beer. “Don’t I know it. It’s just that between moving here, starting teaching, becoming a Ranger again and the aftermath of that… I really haven’t had the energy to do more than the absolute minimum to the house. Which basically means, bedroom for sleeping and the study for work.”

He opened the bottles and handed one off to Kim. “I have to admit that I was putting it off. I guess I’ve been waiting for the right time to start. Or rather, the right person.” He stepped closer to her and slung his arm over her shoulder. “The house, like me, has been waiting for you Beautiful. And I honestly can’t wait to get started. Together.”

She smiled up at him before taking a swig of her drink. “Okay, Handsome. I’m going upstairs to snoop around.” He let go of her shoulder and swept his arm towards the doorway into the foyer. “By all means.”

Kim kissed him on the cheek and headed towards the staircase. She prayed the upper floor of the house would be less… depressing but wasn’t holding much hope. Once she got to the second floor, her fears were confirmed. The hallway was more of the same; dark wood paneling on all walls and dark stained hardwood flooring. Right at the top of the stairs was a door on her left hand side and another three were set in the opposite wall. One final door was located at the front of the house above the living room.

She decided to start with that door and work her way around the hallway. When she opened the door she found a spacious but baren bedroom. It too had the hardwood flooring but thankfully lacked the unappealing wall paneling that disfigured the rest of the house. When opening the other three doors she found two similar bedrooms, equally empty and a jack-and-jill style bathroom. Slightly dated but otherwise not too bad.

She moved towards the last remaining door which would obviously be Tommy’s… their… bedroom. She pushed open the door and turned on the light.

A piercing scream echoed throughout the house, all the way to the basement Lab where Tommy was checking on some scans he’d started before leaving for San Fran. He rushed up the stairs, adrenaline flooding his system and preparing to kick the shit out of whoever or whatever was making Kim scream like that.

The sight that greeted him when he got to his room was… not what he’d expected. There were no monsters or evil foot soldiers of any kind. Instead, he found Kim standing on the bed, her gaze sweeping the floor.

“Kim? What happened? What’s wrong?” He asked, still on alert. He checked the walk-in and the on-suite but couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary. She rounded on him with murder in her eyes. “There is a rat in your room!” She pointed towards the pile of boxes that he still hadn’t unpacked, pushed into the far corner of the room. It was pretty much the only thing that was in there, accept for the bed and chair he used to dump his clothes on before he fell down and passed out from whatever kind of exhaustion he’d put himself in.

Tommy dropped his guard and scratched is head in confusion. “Hu? A rat? That’s impossible.” She put her hands on her hips in agitation, and Tommy got slightly distracted from the problem at hand by her heaving chest and the perfect curves she was accenting. “Well?” Kim questioned and her tone shook him from his thoughts. “Well, what?”

She threw her hands in the air in anger. “Go. Find. It!” she bit out at him. And although it really wasn’t the time, a riled up Kim was like his Kryptonite. A pink flush started spreading over her, starting at her hair and slowly descending down under her shirt, her breath came in short, heavy bursts. It must have been some weird fetish he’d retained from his starting days as a Ranger. Kim’s temper had almost guaranteed to flare anytime Zedd threw one of his monsters their way.

Tommy remembered fondly and vividly how Kim and he burned off the excess adrenaline after a fight. Especially after their relationship had gotten more physical.

“Tommy!” her exasperated voice startled him from his trip down memory lane. “Right. Where did it go exactly?” She pointed to his boxes again, “behind there!” Tommy crept towards the boxes, trying to be as quiet as possible and corner the supposed rat. When he finally got a good look at the animal hiding behind his stuff, he straightened out and started laughing.

“What? Why are you laughing?” Tommy reached behind the boxes and picked up the little intruder. The dove was a little dazed but not hurt, so he moved to the window and put it on the window sill. “Not a rat, Beautiful.”

Kim got off the bed and moved closer to him and the bird. “Well, in my defense, I only saw a flash of it and…” The bird flew off and Tommy closed the window again. “No worries, Beautiful. But It’s been a long day, how about we call it a night.

- - - -

The morning dawned early, the morning sun streaming in through the east facing windows. Tommy rolled over towards where Kim was supposed to be but found the bed empty and cold. For a moment he panicked, thinking the past few days had all been a dream. He practically catapulted from the bed before his eyes fell on her socks on the floor besides the bed. Then he smelled the fresh coffee in the air and head noises coming from downstairs. He fell back on the bed and relaxed for a moment before getting out and getting dressed.

When he found Kim in the kitchen, she was furiously scribbling on a notepad he recognized as one from his study.

“I see you’ve raided my study.” Kim didn’t even look up from her writing, merely pointing towards a cup sitting on the island counter. “I couldn’t sleep so I started thinking about what needs to be done in the house and…”

Tommy picked up his cup and moved to stand behind her. She dropped her head backwards onto his chest. The anxiety and stress rolled off her in waves and he knew this whole redecorating thing was her way of distracting herself from the stress becoming too much. He’d seen her do it countless times when they were teenagers.

“Beautiful, I know the house needs work and I’m looking forward to fixing it up with you. But with everything that’s going on at the moment, maybe it can wait until things have settled down a little.” She turned in his arms and dropped her head on his chest again. “I need to because of everything that’s going on. I need to not think about what I’ve got to tell the others when I see them again. And I need to not think about all the possible ways our plans could fail and I could lose you all over again. There’s a lot that could go wrong in six months.”

Tommy brought his hands up and rubbed her neck. “Well, I’m home all summer, so I guess we can start the remodel. Just, take it easy, will you?

She smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I’ll just be the brain of this operation and you can be the brawn. Tearing out drywall, ripping up carpets, sanding floors, that’s more in your wheelhouse. I’ll just oversee the progress and,” she pressed herself closer to him, running her hands over his chest and abs, “demolition.”

He recognized the sparkle in her eyes. It hadn’t changed from the time they were sixteen and filled with hormones and he’d been reacquainted with it just a couple nights ago. He put his hands on either side of her on the countertop, effectively blocking her in. “You know, I’ve got other ways of distracting you from all that.” He breathed into her ear, causing goosebumps to erupt on her arms. She let out a little whine and he picked her up and deposited her on the counter. They were practically eye-level and he could see her eyes half lidded with lust, before he dove down to consume her lips with his.

Her hands found their way to his back and he obligingly raised his arms over his head so she could pull of his shirt. She scraped her nails over his back, coaxing out a low growl from deep within his chest. His mouth left hers to move down the column of her throat, sucking and biting until he reached the thin spaghetti strap of her top. He nudged it out of the way with his nose, letting it slide of her shoulder. He took advantage of the fact that the top of her breast was now exposed to his mouth and lavished it with attention. His left arm went around her, pulling her forward onto the counter and closer to the edge, while his right reached for the hard nipple of her other breast.

He was just about to return the favor of removing her shirt for her, when he heard a car door slam and voices that were like a bucket of cold water thrown over him. He let out an aggravated groan and dropped his head on Kim’s shoulder, causing her to chuckle lightly. “Sorry, Handsome, I guess this distraction will have to wait for another time.” She pulled the strap back up her shoulder and kissed his cheek before she slid off the counter and hurried up the stairs.

Tommy took a deep breath, trying to get himself composed enough to go out and face his charges. Or possibly murder them.

“… sure he’s busy. We should probably have called first. You guys know he doesn’t like it when we barge in unannounced.”

Tommy stepped out, tugging the last of his shirt back in place. “I would have thought that after spending a year in the Uniform, you’d all learned the health benefits of listening to a Yellow when she tells you something is a bad idea.” The team froze at the sound of Tommy’s voice and the roughness in it. They all turned towards him. “Have I told you guys lately your timing has not improved since you were Rangers.”

“Dr. O.! How’s it going dude!” Connor either wasn’t picking up on the edge in their mentor’s voice or he was dumb enough to ignore it. It didn’t exactly help Tommy’s anger. “I was having a great morning, until it got interrupted by uninvited guests on my front lawn. Which begs the question, why are you here, exactly?”

All three male Dino Rangers took a step back at his tone, leaving Kira ahead of them and face to face with Tommy. She turned an incredulous look towards her former teammates, “Gee, thanks a lot guys,” before straightening herself and facing their team mentor “I’m sorry dr. O. We just got back home for the summer and the boys wanted to swing by and catch up. I told them it was rude to just show up without calling but…” she huffed in annoyance, “It’s like they think you don’t have a life outside school and Rangering.”

Tommy rolled his eyes, “contrary to popular belief, I don’t just materialize out of thin air in case of trouble.” Then he turned towards Conner, “and I thought I’d told you to never call me ‘dude’.”

“Well, that’s debatable,” came Kim’s voice from behind him. “You do have a tendency to just appear to save the day.” He turned to see her walking out the house. She’d gotten dressed and while she looked amazing in jean shorts and a tank top, he couldn’t help but think about the fact that if it hadn’t been for the teens, she’d be naked by now.

“Kim…” he sighed, “meet the Dino Thunder team, Conner, Ethan, Kira and Trent.” The kids gasped at his casual mention of their identities, which were supposed to be secret, but Tommy just continued, “guys, meet Kimberly Hart, the original Pink Ranger.”

The teen’s protests cut off quicky at hearing that, eyes going comically round. “I thought I recognized you from somewhere,” Kira addressed Kim, an edge of hero-worship in her voice. “We saw you in dr. O’s video!” Kim cocked her head towards Tommy. “What video?” Tommy winced. After hearing Kim’s story and finding out what she’d done to keep him and the rest of the Rangers safe, he realized that making a video detailing Ranger history might not have been the best move.

“I’ll… uh… explain later?” He could see the danger in her eyes, lurking behind a fake smile. “You can bet you will.”

- - - -

“God, I’m so happy this day is over.” Tommy groaned when he slammed the front door. The Dino team had taken over his time with Kim for the entire day, grilling her about their adventures against Rita and Zedd. While she’d been relegating them with stories of the glory days, she’d also gotten them to help tear down the paneling from the walls in the living room.

The six of them had gotten a lot done with the demo of the house, but having the teens in full on adoration, yapping at them the entire day had been as draining as any monster fight. His living room looked like a tornado had come through it, electrical wires hanging out, holes in every wall and a giant pile of discarded wood sitting out on his front lawn.

“Don’t count on it, buddy. You’ve got some explaining to do, Lucy.” Tommy dropped his head against the door in defeat. “Look, Beautiful…” he said as he turned towards her, “I realize how it sounds. But I swear the video is secure in the Dino Cave.

Kim rolled her eyes. “Yes, because a secret base has never been broken into before, right?” Her tone was sarcastic and Tommy couldn’t blame her. He himself had once breached the Command Center with nefarious intentions and caused a whole lot of destruction.

“It’s… you’re right. That kind of recording can’t fall into the wrong hands. I’ll destroy it tonight.” Kim hesitated a second. “How about you show it to me, and maybe we can give it to Billy to secure at PRISM.”

Tommy nodded and led her down into the Cave that had been his Dino Thunder command center.

- - - -

They spent a little while down in the Cave, but hunger brought them back up. After Tommy placed an order for take-out, they dropped in front of the TV for some rest. “I like this.” Tommy said after a few moments of rest. Kim turned her head towards him, looking up at him from where it was nestled on his lap. “You like watching TV in a living room that’s barely inhabitable?” He chuckled. “Not that part, no. But the quiet, normal act of just wasting time away in front of the TV. Not having to rush to save something or someone, or training or mentoring. That’s the part that I like.”

She hummed in agreement, before turning back towards the screen.

When the doorbell rang, Tommy got up. “That’ll be our food. How about you head into the kitchen and get the cutlery.” She nodded and they split up in the foyer. Tommy took his wallet and opened the door. He took out some bills and handed them to the delivery guy. “You can keep the ch…” he looked up and his words got stuck in his throat. “Jace? What are you doing here?”

The former Red Ranger’s face was a thundercloud, directly aimed at Tommy. “Bro, you really think I don’t know when you’re lying to me? We gave you a day, now we want some answers. Where’s Kim?”

“Hey Tommy, where do you keep the…” Kim came into the foyer and froze when she saw who was at the door. “Jace…” Her voice cracked and time seemed to stand still for a moment, before she flung herself into Jason’s arms, crying and laughing simultaneously.

“Hey! How come I didn’t get a tearful welcome like this?” He asked, after they’d hugged for what seemed like forever. Kim let go of Jason before leveling him with a look. “Maybe because it took you over an hour to get out of your car to come see me, and even then you only came out because I practically dragged you, kicking and screaming.” She turned back towards Jason. “Besides, I really don’t think you’d want me to give Jace the kind of welcome you did get.”

Tommy didn’t know whether to be smug or offended at that, but when he saw Jason choking on his tongue and turning an awful shade of puce, he decided to let it go. He was about to usher his  - not quite welcome - best friend into the house when he noticed the Radbug and Adam’s car stopping behind Jason’s.

Tommy hung his head in defeat. He’d so hoped for a few days of it being just the two of them, but that seemed impossible now. There was no way he’d get them out of the house again any time soon. “I guess I’ll order some extra food.” He said dejectedly, while all his old teammates received the same tearful greeting as Jason.

Once he’d updated his order, he came back to find his living room overflowing with ex-Rangers, Kim crying and a stoic Jason leaning up against the wall.

“Alright Kim. I’m sorry for barging in but Tommy would have let this ‘adjustment period’ go on indefinitely if we’d let him,” Tommy made a half-assed attempt at rebuttal, but couldn’t really deny what Jason said. If it were up to him, he’d keep Kim all to himself, at least a couple of days longer.

“But I think we could all use some sort of explanation and I for one am tired of waiting.” Tommy saw the look of panic cross Kim’s face and tried to get his friend to back off. “Jace, bro… this really isn’t up to you.” He squared his shoulders and puffed out his chest a bit. “You need to let Kim do this on her own time, pressuring her won’t do any good.”

Jason looked like he’d argue, but Kim’s hand on both their arms quieted him. “It’s alright, Tommy. The sooner it’s over, the better.” The look of panic was replaced by determination and Tommy saw Kim getting into something akin to mental battle mode.

He nodded at her and guided her to the couch, tugging her down to sit beside him. He saw Rocky make a move to sit on her other side, but Billy beat him to the punch. Tommy was glad, Kim could use all the support she could get in getting the story out again. “Well, it all started one day by the lake…” Kim started, her voice shaky but resolute.

Tommy found out that hearing the story a second time wasn’t any easier than hearing it the first time, and looking at Billy, he felt the same.

The food arrived just as Kim reached the part where she’d reunited with Billy, and the former blue Ranger volunteered for kitchen duty to get away from the hostile looks he was getting from the rest of the room.

By the time Kim was done, she was barely holding herself upright, slumping against Tommy’s chest and wiping at the tears that stained her face. Tommy’s eyes landed on Jasons’s for a moment, before the other man abruptly turned and stalked from the room, slamming the door behind him. Tommy was torn between love and loyalty for the woman is his arms and his brother but Kim had also noticed Jason’s departure. “Go,” she said to Tommy, “talk him down before he does something reckless and stupid. Or gets himself hurt.” Tommy looked at her and then at the door. “I’ll be fine,” she reassured him. He nodded once and slid out from behind her and out the door.

He found Jason by the pile of wood paneling they’d dumped outside that afternoon, punching and kicking at it. “Jace, man… you need to calm the fuck down.” The former Red Ranger rounded on him, clearly gearing up for a fight. “Calm down?! Were you not in there just now? Did you not hear what they did to my sister?! How can you be so calm at hearing that?” Tommy was fast enough to sidestep the fist that was aimed at his face, batting it away before it could connect.

He put his arms up in a defensive stance and they started circling each other. “Fuck that, man! I’m so far from calm, we’re not even on the same planet anymore. But Kim doesn’t need me to storm off and break my hand or get tetanus by punching some old wood, man. She needs us to keep it together, so she can allow herself to fall apart.”

Tommy kept blocking and deflecting Jason’s moves. It wasn’t a challenge, Jace didn’t mean to make it one, but rather his way of processing everything he’d heard. “I just… I don’t get it man. Why didn’t she just come to us. We could have protected her! This… we… weren’t worth to ruin her life over.”

Jason ran out of steam and sagged against Tommy, who hugged his best friend before they both sat down on the ground. “I think… to her it was. To her, we are worth it. And neither of us has the right to take that conviction from her. And… we would have done the same, man. In protecting her or any of the others. In a heartbeat, you know that. So we can’t blame her or judge her for making that decision.”

Jason shook his head. “You’re right, I can’t. But I can blame myself for not believing you sooner. I can blame myself for being so upset about that letter that I forgot who Kim was. That she’d never do something that unnecessarily cruel just because.” Tommy shoved his shoulder against Jason’s. “She doesn’t want that either, bro. She just wants to get back what she lost. What they took from her. And all we can do is support her and help her deal with it all.” He got quiet for a moment, “well… that and… I really want to find the people responsible for it. We might not be Rangers anymore, but that doesn’t mean we can let something like this stand.”

“I believe I can be of assistance with that.” Billy’s voice reached Tommy and Jason a fraction before he, Zach, Adam and Rocky appeared from the darkness.

They all dropped down around their former leaders, creating a small circle of pissed-off brothers and lover. They sat out there together for a long time, at first refining and perfecting Billy’s plan, after that talking about the things they would have done differently had they acknowledged that Kim might have been in trouble. Until they finally just caught each other up on the most recent happenings in their life.
Adam was just in the process of trying - again - to convince Jason and Tommy to teach a few karate classes in his dojo, when the door opened and Kim’s voice floated through the darkness. “If you guys are done with all the brooding and man-pain, we’ve reheated the food and are in the process of devouring it. If you guys want any, we suggest you come inside now.”

They all moved inside the house, a lightness to the group returning. They’d been through so much together, they would get through this as well. Everybody took food from the kitchen and migrated back towards the living room, where there was room for everybody to sit and eat. After a few minutes of quiet eating, Rocky turned towards Tommy. “No offence bro, but what the hell happened to your living room?”