Free Talk

Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers.

:: Another TK oneshot. This takes place around the year 2003. There's no DT in this universe.

"What do you mean you didn't know?" The twenty five year old Kimberly Hart said with more desperation in her voice than she would've liked at the person on the other end of the line. She leaned back against her office chair and kicked her heels off, wiggling her toes playfully. "You dated that man for almost a year, honey,"

It had been a tiring day and she felt even older when her friend called in the middle of the lunch break. Anne met Boris Jackson at one of their friend's birthday party eight months ago. He was rich-- or at least he admitted that his parents were one of the wealthiest families in Europe, dependable, and had a bright charming smile. He was pretty much a full package so Kim didn't wonder if after that Saturday night, Anne was a total goner. He had swept her feet off the floor and she didn't ever want to come back. Everything seemed to go pretty well with the two of them until last night. Apparently, dearest Boris had forgot to tell Anne that he also had a thing for men.

"Well, actually it's a good thing that that everything has been revealed now," Kim said around a mouthful of brownie. "I mean, before it's too late. You don't want to marry a guy, have two cute kids and a big dog running in your backyard just to know that he is gay at your first anniversary, do you?" She sipped her diet coke.

However, before Kim managed to say another word, the door cracked open and Angie popped her head in. The raven haired woman smiled sheepishly, "Kim, we need to talk,"

"Can this wait?" Kim asked, slightly covering the phone with her hand. "I'm kind of busy right now,"

"Er… no," Angie answered and took the liberty to come inside the room. She took a seat in one of the chairs across from Kim. They had been friends long enough for Kim to tell that there's something bothering her.

Kim was torn. She popped her fingers into her mouth and licked the chocolate clean.

"My mom called," Angie said softly. "Linc got an accident. There had been a car crash,"

Kim's face fell and she grasped Angie's hand tight with her free hand. To the phone, she apologetically said," Anne, can I call you later? Yeah, great. Hang in there,". Once she put the phone away, Kim looked back at her colleague. "I'm sorry, Ang. I'm sure everything will be alright. Is there anything that I can do?"

"Actually, yes. I have an interview in twenty minutes… I was hoping you can help me with it?"

"Well, sure, but I've never handled interviews before," Kim said reluctantly. Almost two years working in Fusion!, one of women's magazines with millions of readers which targeted women aged 18-50, she was one of the most well-known columnists in the US. From a gymnast to a journalist was quite a big change, but she enjoyed her work nonetheless. "I don't want to mess up,"

"Oh please, what could possibly happen? I have the list of the questions so all you need to do is just ask them, record your conversation and try to dig more information," Angie answered, resting her chin on the back of her clasped hands. "Come on. You know all the gossip around here, from the Marketing department to our security guards. It's supposed to be as easy as cake,"

"Now you're exaggerating," Kim rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry but snooping other people's business isn't my thing,"

"Okay, I would love to continue this chat but I'm sort of in a hurry," Angie started to get up and glanced at her watch. "I have a flight to catch,"

"Why did you ask me? I mean, I'm sure either Bob or Jenny would be more-,"

"Because you're my friend and I thought friends were supposed to help each other?" Angie offered with a grin. "You don't need to say anything, I know you want to," She leaned down and pulled a pile of papers from her carry-on. "Everything is here and this is my tape recorder," Angie began to walk backwards and opened the door. "You'd better hurry. The Blue Room, fifteen minutes. Thanks, Kim. I really appreciate your help,"

Exhaling a deep breath of air, Kim finished the last bite of her brownie. This was going to be another long day.

--

Kim was practically sprinting to the elevator. Thanks to her weak blader, after Angie left she had to go to the ladies room. The line was pretty long that ten minutes had passed before she went back to her office to grab a few things. Now not only she hadn't read the infos Angie gave her, there's also no time for her to fix her make-up.

Dressed in a pale violet blouse and black pencil skirt, she thought she looked presentable enough. Her caramel tresses was piled up to the top of her head and to complete the look, she wore her black framed eye-glasses.

The Blue Room was a meeting room located at the 6th floor of the building. It was said that Fusion! first editor-in-chief was the first person to coin the name. Considerable enough, recalling all three sides of the triangle sized room was painted in the color. Instead of an ordinary wall, there's a large, wide mirror that stopped just about a foot before a modern painting of NYC near the emergency exit.

Her eyes glanced around the empty hallway and she carefully put her stuff on the carpeted floor. She turned to face the mirror and tried to smooth down her skirt. Kim pushed tendrils of fallen hair behind her ear and adjusted the white straps of her brand new Victoria's Secret bra that she just purchased a couple of days ago. "Go kick ass, Kimmie," She whispered.

With a new found determination, Kim picked up her stuff. She pushed the door with her elbow as she opened the first page of the twenty something page document. The bold typed name and the picture of the person she's going to interview caught her eyes and she nearly dropped her stuff.

"Hello, Kim," The voice that suddenly called her name just made her stomach lurch. She swirled around and for a moment the time seemed to stand still when her eyes met Tommy Oliver's dark, chocolate ones.

Tommy Oliver, her former boyfriend.

And no, she wouldn't start talking about that stupid letter she sent almost a decade ago. It was no longer an issue. Who she was kidding, she hoped the problem between them was as simple as that 'Dear John' letter. She was an overworked seventeen year old that missed her friends so much… he was too hurt to call her for an explanation… Everything was in the past and none of their present actions could change the fact that she had broken up with him in such an unelegant manner. They had had a long talk about it and mutually decided to forget about it. They shook on the agreement, and even slept on it.

Meeting him again in Aisha's engagement party after so long of no contact did bring back so many memories. They talked for hours that night and one thing led to another… The intense lovemaking afterwards was definitely something that both of them hadn't expected. They decided to get to know each other again, do the casual dinners and movies…. They tried to keep everything low profile. No commitments whatsoever but they were absolutely heading towards that direction.

They had a romantic candle light dinner the night before Tommy left for Africa. There's a potential digsite in Egypt that he had to leave her for a good long while. Of course, both knew that Tommy's correspondent skill was horrible and she could half-heartedly accept that. However, a picture of Tommy kissing with another woman that suddenly showed up in the evening paper was something that she couldn't tolerate. He emailed her, trying to explain that it was a mistake, that Tatiana was drunk and didn't know what she was doing when a random photographer took a picture. Still, emails? How about the five international calling cards she had given him?

She was hurt, but she survived. There's nothing official between them, he could do anything that he wanted. He said he was sorry, but maybe it's a sign. She told him that she needed some room to breathe and he gave her that. It was two months ago and she missed him desperately.

"What are you doing here?" The words flew from her mouth ans she watched Tommy swirl in his chair and cross his arms over his muscular chest. He didn't seem to be surprised seeing her there. Of course, she had told him that she worked here but he was really calm.

Sighing, her teeth gnawed at her bottom lip nervously and she turned her head lightly. She nearly died when she could see the entire hallway from the room. What she had expected to be a mirror turned out to be one of those two-way mirrors, just like in the police department's interrogation rooms. Oh shit.

How could she have known that? She had never been in this place before and noone had ever bothered to tell her. Fighting off a blush, she walked towards the square table and dropped the stack of papers in her hands.

"You're late," Tommy had the nerve to say. He closed an old edition of Fusion! and pushed it further to the center of the table. "I have been waiting for ten minutes,"

Kim frowned. Tommy was one celebrity nowadays, how could her people let a person as important as him alone? Unless…

"Let's get this over with," Kim said with barely controlled voice, making a mental note to give Angie a long lecture once she returned. Angie had planned this all along, she just knew it! Now that Kim thought about her reason… Angie didn't know someone named Lincoln. If anything, it was her dog. Oh yes, Lincoln was Angie's pet who died almost a year ago. Could you be anymore stupid? A flight to catch… Kim wouldn't be surprised if her friend was pleasurably lounging in Starbucks right now. Now she was even more suspicious if this interview was for real or not. She never heard anything about Mr. Oliver coming to Fusion! and Sally, one of her friends who was a big fan of his, never said a word about it either.

Tommy looked good. Well, he always did. He didn't even forget to wear his earring. Sitting there in his black polo shirt, Tommy Oliver was one hell of a sexy man. In fact, she believed he was the first paleontologyst who would make Fusion! front cover. It was pretty rare to have a young man who had accomplished so much in his life, and no, this wasn't about all those years fighting Zedd's goons and monsters.

The fact that he was good looking alone was enough to make any women fall to their knees.

"I was hoping I would do an interview with Brad Pitt or Christian Bale, but well…," Kim shook her head and moved to sit across his chair. She checked the tape recorder and put it in the middle of the table. "Now-,"

"You are so boring. Brad and Christian would be disappointed," Tommy smirked, leaning over and supporting his body on his forearms. "You give Fusion! a bad name,"

Ignoring his comment, Kim cleared her throat loudly, her fingers tracing down the list of questions Angie had prepared. "So, Mr. Oliver… You just returned from your last dig in Africa-," Her face paled. It was a touchy subject that she didn't want to address now. "Could you tell us more about it?"

Tommy might be an ex-boyfriend, but he was also a professional. "Many people would think that Egypt only has those pyramids, Sphinx, tombs… But actually it's the best place to find ancient fossils from the ancient world. My profesor, Doctor Wishburne who had...-," Kim really could care less about the seventy five year old doctor who once had been Tommy's supervisor. She wasn't taking notes, that's what the tape recorder was for, right? All she wanted to do was to come over and slap that face. Hard. "… Many of them would give us information about the mammalian evolution in the Old World,"

"What made you want to be a paleontologyst?" Kim asked, her feet tapping at the floor.

"Aren't you supposed to be asking me those questions in the right order?" Tommy politely asked, his lips curving into a small smile.

"Could you please just answer the question?" She returned in a clipped tone.

"I guess all those years riding our dinozords took a big part of me wanting to be a paleontologyst," He answered with a shrug, clearly enjoying Kim's bitter facial expression. "What? You want an answer and you got it,"

"I'm tired, Tommy," Kim stated between greeted teeth. "Don't test my patience,"

The former leader of the Power Rangers burst into peals of laughter. For a moment he looked like the old Tommy. So carefree, not having any care of the world. "Don't be so serious. What if Brad told you that the reason he took that role in the Interview of the Vampire was because he used to befriend with one? You would laugh and think that it was so cute that Brad Pitt had a high sense of humor,"

"If you want me to say you're cute, just say so," Kim said defiantly.

"Of course, the correct words are very cute,"

Kim would forever hate Trini for telling Tommy her first reaction when she saw him in the karate expo. "Whatever," She popped her knuckles and moved on to the next question. "We'll go back to that question later. So… Where do you come from?"

"Again with the random questions," Tommy pointed out.

"I can ask you anything I want," Kim answered tightly while trying not to think about how sexy he was and how wonderful he could be in be-. Stop being a pathetic loser, Kim. "Answer the question, please,"

"I spent most of my teenage years in Angel Grove but I originally came from Texas," He complied, finally standing up and walking to the window. He peered down and for a while looked at the busy traffic. "My team has found many dinosaur fossils, but I honestly want to study more about mammoth bones,"

"Could you please go back to your seat? I don't think the tape would catch your voice with you standing there," Kim requested, dragging her eyes southward. He had worn a pair of tight, dark jeans that he knew she loved to see on him.

"If you want me to be close to you, all you need is ask," He said as he slowly turned around, his smile gracing her seconds later.

Kim shrinked in her chair. Tommy was acting as if nothing had happened. Could it be that Tatiana Sergeyev was only a bad dream? The Russian beauty clearly had feelings for Tommy. Unfortunately for her, Tommy Oliver was as dense as ever if things had come to women.

"There aren't many questions about your profession actually," Kim said, reading the whole questions thoroughly. "Understandable enough. People should've bought National Geographic if they wanted to read about it," She bit her tongue once the words escaped her mouth. Damn.

Tommy raised an interested eyebrow. "Don't tell me you bought that latest issue of Nat Geo just to see me shirtless,"

"You wish,"

"I think you'd like Fayoum," He said, his fingers making circles on the surface of the table. "You should go there some time,"

"I bet you had so much fun with Tatiana,"

"I told you she was drunk,"

"Yeah, you also told me she kissed you because of it,"

"You're just jealous,"

Sometimes she just wanted to kick him. "How about the fact that you're so busy with her that you didn't have time to call me?"

Even for her it sounded pretty lame. They were not in high school anymore, for God's sake! Tommy went silent and he regarded her closely. "Is it what this is all about?"

"No," Kim quickly answered. The former pink ranger grabbed her pen and twirled it just to distract her mind. "Let's continue. I really don't have all day. Besides you have a photoshoot in one hour,"

"I wonder if Charles Darwin had ever been in a magazine before," Tommy said lightly, his eyes boring through hers. "I love what I'm doing but I seriously hate this,"

She could relate to that all too well. She had her own experiences. Bringing home four gold medals was enough to make someone an instant celebrity. "Then why are you here?"

"To see you," He said simply and sincerely, she could see it in his eyes. Then mirth filled his brown orbs and he grinned to lighten up the mood. "Or maybe some hot celebrities like Beyonce,"

Kim rolled her eyes at his remark. She moved passed some questions and tapped her finger at the tenth. "What's your favorite movie?" She knew the answer to the question; he had dragged her to watch them the next day after their first time.

"Star Wars?"

"Of course," Kim lifted a hand to halt his tongue when he began to open his mouth. "Don't tell me that you love it because you think the acting is superb, the special effect is magnificent, and all those stuff. How about I tell my readers that your favorite is the second movie because you got to see Natalie Portman in that backless dress?"

"Very funny, Kim," He narrowed his eyes.

Kim gave him a sweet smile and continued. "Your favorite food?" That was another question that she could answer right away. In their short time together, they had told each other many things that they hadn't known before.

Tommy pretended to be thinking seriously and in one quick move, he rose from his chair and sat at the empty spot next to her. Kim tried to master her mind and body when his aftershave invaded her sense. He was sitting so close to her and it had been far too long since she saw him. Well, except from the National Geographic, that was.

"Sushi,"

Kim snorted. "Right, sushi. I'm sorry, Tommy, but we don't publish lies in our magazine," While she loved Japanese food, Tommy was not a fan of sushi. He told her that eating them made him feel like he was in the Fear Factor.

"So you were telling the truth when you said you'd never forgot your high school sweetheart, even when you were dating other people?"

His question caught her off guard. The way he looked at her so intently… "Why, don't tell me you read my piece of writing,"

"You bought Nat Geo to check me out, is it wrong if I did the same thing?" Tommy didn't even try to deny and it made her want to laugh and cry at the same time.

Kim turned her face away, breaking their eye contact. She apprehensively tried to concetrate on the paper in her hand. "Favorite color?"

He answered without a moment of hesitation. "Black and white,"

"And here I thought you were going to say pink,"

Tommy laughed, putting his arm on the back of her chair. "Yeah, I'm sure Kat would appreciate it if she read this article,"

Why did the man she loved have to be such a jerk?

"How about your personal life, Mr. Oliver? Is there a special lady in your life right now?" Kim asked as he moved closer to her. Before she could continue, he had reached out his hand and cupped her cheek to turn her to him. "What?"

"Why do you always talk so much?"

Kim would laugh if only her heart wasn't pounding so fast in her chest. She could feel her pulse racing. "Why'd you never answer my questions?"

"Have I told you that you look beautiful with your glasses on?" His face inched closer to hers and he licked his lips with anticipation. There, he had said the B word.

She would answer if only he didn't suddenly pull her head forward and crush his lips to hers. The urge to resist was strong, but this felt too good... Tommy had his hand on the back of her neck while the other one gently rubbed her cheek. He opened his mouth to deepen the kiss and at the first caress of his tongue on hers, she finally surrendered to the moment.

"Is that how you kissed her?" She managed to say. His only answer was to pull her into another long, sweet kiss that left her breathless.

"Why don't we continue this interview somewhere else?" He suggested huskily, still holding her petite figure closely.

"That is a good idea, but I can't leave the office. The break's almost over,"

"Just say that the famous Tommy Oliver asked you to show him around,"

"I thought you hated being famous?" Kim asked with a smirk.

"Well, I love being with you,"

Somehow, Kim pulled away from his embrace and took the tape recorder. She clicked it off, grabbed the cassette and put it in Tommy's pocket. "If somebody hears this, you will get even more famous,"

"We can go to your apartment and I would be more than happy to give you an exclusive interview,"

Kim laughed and rested her head on his shoulder. She would deal with Angie later and called Anne back, now she just wanted to be with him. She felt him lean his head against hers and she knew that she would never want to go on without him by her side. "Let's go, Tommy,"

"Lead the way, Beautiful,"

:: Okay, this is pretty long for my average one-shot, but I enjoyed writing it so much. I just hope you like it too. I'm completely oblivious about paleontology so I gathered some information about it. Thank you for reading, please let me know what you think. No flame though.

- Yuuri