DISCLAIMER: The characters you recognize are not mine. They belong to Saban and Disney.
SUMMARY: Kimberly hit her head harder than anyone thought in 'A Different Shade of Pink'. My take on what would have happened if Kim couldn't see when she woke up.
A/N: JD strikes again. I watched all three parts yesterday and the thought started swimming around in my tired little brain. I hate it when he does this to me but it has to be written now.
Kimberly Ann Hart opened her eyes to realize that her room was dark. She heard Tommy talking to her but she couldn't see him. She turned her head toward his voice, using it as a focal point.
"Don't you know you're supposed to land on your feet?" he asked, teasing gently.
"Tommy?" she asked. He didn't understand. She was looking straight at him but it was like she couldn't see him.
"Kim? What's wrong, beautiful?" He saw the tears welling up in her big brown eyes.
"Tommy, I can't see you. I can't see anything." The tears started falling. "What's wrong with me?"
"I'll get the doctor." He tried to stand up only to have Kim fling her hand toward him as if trying to catch him.
"Don't go! I'm scared!"
Tommy sat back down. "I won't." He lifted his communicator to his face. "Billy, Tommy here. Kim's awake but she can't see anything. Can you send the doctor in?"
"Affirmative, Tommy." Billy's voice was almost soothing to Kimberly. She knew that her friends would figure out what was wrong and how to fix it.
Just a moment later, the doctor walked into the room. "I understand you're having problems with your eyes, Kimberly. Let me take a look." He looked around inside her eyes as Tommy watched.
"What's wrong, doctor? Why can't she see?"
"It appears that the blow to the head did some damage to her eyes. Now, in most cases like this, vision restores itself with time. That's the case in about seventy-five to eighty percent of these cases. The other twenty to twenty-five percent either require surgery to correct the problem or it doesn't correct at all."
"What are the chances of her vision not coming back at all?" Tommy asked.
"Maybe five percent. Of course, if her vision does return on its own, it could take months if not years for it to happen."
"How soon could surgery fix it?" Kim asked. She wanted this fixed now.
"Kimberly, I'll tell you what I've told others in your position. I prefer not to recommend surgery on eyes unless absolutely necessary. Your best bet, and the safest in my opinion, is to give this some time to resolve itself. Because surgery on the eyes carries no guarantees. It might help but it could do more damage than good."
"But I have to be able to see to be able to do gymnastics," she protested.
"I'm sorry, Kimberly. But I will not recommend something that I'm not sure will fix the problem. Now, we have many programs that can teach you how to get around without having to depend on others too much." The doctor sighed. "I'm going to leave you alone to discuss this with your friends." He turned to Tommy. "Please try to convince her to give her eyes a chance to heal themselves."
"I'll try. But Kimberly can be stubborn when it comes to some things." Tommy watched as the doctor left the room. Billy came in moments later.
"Kimberly, the doctor asked me to come in and try to talk you."
"I want to try the surgery." Kim was adamant.
"You've known me for what 12 years now? You know that I wouldn't tell you a lie." Billy was right. In twelve years time, he had never once lied to her. "The surgery is risky. Do you really want to risk having the surgery make it so that your eyes never return to normal?"
"When you put it that way, Billy, I guess not. But what about my gymnastics?" Kim was on the verge of tears again and Tommy wasn't sure how to deal with this.
"Kim, it doesn't matter if you do gymnastics or not. We're still your friends and we'll stand by you no matter what." Tommy placed his other hand over hers and lifted it to his mouth where he kissed it gently.
"Will you? Will you be able to deal with the fact that I can't be a Ranger anymore? How am I going to deal with not being able to go into battle with you? Am I supposed to just sit at home and wait to hear if you made it through the most recent battle?"
"Kim, calm down. Getting upset isn't going to solve anything." Billy was worried about his friend. Kimberly seemed to be on the verge of hysteria and the last time he had to deal with that was when she found out that her parents were getting a divorce.
"Maybe we can help," came a familiar voice from the door. Before anyone knew what was happening, Trini was sitting on the opposite side of the bed from Tommy and hugging her best friend.
Billy and Tommy looked to the door to see Jason and Zack standing there with smiles on their faces. Tommy got up and walked over to them. "Man, am I glad to see you. I don't know what to do."
"Sensei told us what had happened. That's why we're here. He sent us to help."
"What about the conference?" Billy asked.
"It was over months ago. Zordon made arrangements for the three of us to attend the Wind Ninja Academy to advance our training. He contacted Sensei and asked if we could come to help Kim with her problem. In fact, he told us that, if she wanted, Kim could come to the Academy to stay with us and learn how to function through the blindness."
"But what about the team? Don't they need a Pink Ranger?"
"We can help find someone. Is there anyone that you have in mind right off the top of your head?"
"Not off the top. Give me a few days to think about this. But in the meantime, I'm so glad to have you guys here."
Just then, Tommy's communicator went off. He sighed. "Zordon, this is Tommy."
"First of all, let me say that it is nice to see you feeling better, Kimberly. I am sure that your vision will return with time."
"Thanks for worrying about me, Zordon."
"Thank you for coming so quickly, Jason, Trini and Zack. I believe that keeping Kimberly surrounded with friends right now can only help her."
"Our pleasure, Zordon," Trini answered with the other two nodding their agreement.
"I am sorry to interrupt your visit but I'm afraid I have bad news."
"What is it, Zordon?"
"Rocky, Aisha and Adam have been attacked in the park by Rito and an army of Tengas. They need your help. You must go immediately."
"Alright." Tommy and Billy exchanged glances. "I'll see you later." Tommy kissed Kim's forehead and they morphed into ninja form and left for the park leaving Kim alone with three of her oldest friends.
Jason sat down in the seat recently vacated by Tommy. "What were you doing that this happened?"
Kim told the guys everything that had happened. Jason wasn't real happy that she had sent Tommy away when she was so tired and he was just worried about her. "Kim, would you like to come to the Academy?"
"I think so. Especially since being here I can't help the team and Tommy would be constantly worried about me. Lord Zedd seems to have an unhealthy obsession with me. He tried to make me his bride remember? And ever since that, he's constantly targeting me. It's really irritating."
"Is that the only reason you're agreeing to go?"
Kim bowed her head. "You know me too well, Jase. Tommy deserves better than to be stuck with someone who can't see and needs to be taken care of."
"You know that he doesn't see it that way."
"It's how I see it. He's too nice to put it that way. He would never say anything like that. But I already know that if my sight never comes back, he'd eventually learn to hate me for clinging to him."
"He loves you, Kim. He could never hate you," Trini told her. She was sitting on one side of the bed while Zack stood beside Jason.
"We'll see. Besides, I think it would be good to get away from Angel Grove for a while. Maybe it would help me to get myself back together." She sighed. "But before I can go anywhere, I need to find someone to take over for me as the Pink Ranger."
"Don't worry, sis. We'll help you," Jason promised.
Several days later, Kimberly, Jason, Trini, and Zack joined the other Rangers in the command center. They had found Kimberly's replacement.
Tommy was sad to see Kim giving up her Power Coin after everything she'd been through so recently. He knew though that in leaving the Rangers, Kimberly was trying to prove herself. He just hoped she realized that she had nothing to prove to anyone that was standing there that day.