Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Power Ranger characters; they are the property of Saban.
Timeline: This story takes place after A Different Shade of Pink but Kimberly has not left for Florida. I'm also setting this at the end of the school year and the beginning of summer.
Please forgive me if the story doesn't flow that well in the beginning. I'm new at this whole writing thing but I have so many ideas and I decided to finally do something with them. I welcome all reviews well and bad, because at least that means people are reading my story. This is a Tommy/Katherine story because frankly there aren't enough of them around and I hope all you Kim/Tommy fans will respect that because it is not my intention to bash Kimberly or the relationship that she had with Tommy.
Katherine Hillard sighed as she threw the last empty box out of her bedroom and into the hallway. "Well that's it, I finally finished unpacking."
"Did you say something sweetheart?" her mother's voice called from the hallway.
"Nothing Mum, I was just talking out loud to myself," she replied sitting down on the bed as her mother came into her room.
"Your room came together quite nicely, I know it's not the same as back home but I think you've done a great job," she said smiling at her daughter. "Now why don't you go and find those new friends of yours, you've been cooped up in this house for weeks now and I'm sure they'd love to see you," she said planting a kiss on her daughter's forehead.
Katherine didn't say a word but offered up a half smile as her mother left her room. She had been avoiding her new friends for the last couple of weeks, making the excuse that her mother needed her help getting settled into their new home. However, the truth was Katherine was afraid. Afraid that even though her friends had told her all was forgiven, there'd still be some resentment over the things she had done to Kimberly.
It didn't matter to Katherine that she'd helped her new friend by giving Kimberly the confidence to get back on the balance beam and win the Pan Global trials, by conquering her own fear of water. She still blamed herself for the fact that Kimberly had fallen off the balance beam in the first place.
She thought back to her arrival in Angel Grove. How a young man had approached her in the park leading her to believe he was a student at the high school she would be attending. Katherine had been so relieved that making a new friend had come so easy to her. It turned out to all be a trap though. As the young man turned into a horrible bird looking creature called a Tenga. It was then that Rita Repulsa changed Katherine from "the sweetheart of Surrey Hills" to an evil cat monster, which she used to do her bidding against the Power Rangers.
It was that same spell that intensified Katherine's attraction to Tommy Oliver. Rita used that attraction to make Katherine jealous of Kimberly and the more her attraction grew, the easier it became for the evil to take over and she focused all her attention on getting rid of the Pink Ranger. But that was all over now; the spell had been broken by Katherine's selfless deed of attempting to save Kimberly's life.
But if the spell was broken, why did Katherine still have such intense feelings for Tommy. She reached over and opened the drawer of her night stand and brought out the only picture she had of Tommy. It was the same picture that she had taken out of Kimberly's backpack and torn in half. She felt so guilty for keeping it but she couldn't bring herself to confess to Kimberly what had really happened to the picture.
Her attraction for Tommy had been the deciding factor in Katherine's mind that she needed to place some distance between herself and her new friends. She had hoped that as the weeks went by that her attraction to the White Ranger would lessen. After all, Zordon had warned her that there might be side effects from Rita's spell and her attraction to Tommy was surely just that.
Katherine opened the drawer once more and dropped Tommy's picture inside. She couldn't hide in her room forever. Attraction or not, she couldn't let it keep her from making new friendships. Besides, Katherine knew her feelings for Tommy were a lost cause. He was very much in love with Kimberly Hart. All anyone had to do was just look at the two of them together to see that. Katherine would just have to hope that in time her feelings for Tommy would pass.
"Mum, I think I'll take you up on your advice and see what Kimberly and the others are up to." Katherine yelled as she ran down the stairs out the front door.
Katherine pulled her car into the youth center parking lot. She turned off the engine and sat in the car taking a few deep breathes. Come on Kat, pull yourself together. She knew she was just being silly and grabbed the handle opening the door.
Once inside the youth center, Katherine took a few moments to look around and tried to spot the familiar faces of her friends. "Hey Katherine, I haven't seen you around here in awhile," came the voice of Ernie the owner of the juice bar from behind the counter.
"Hi Ernie, I didn't mean to stay away so long but I've just been so busy unpacking," Kat explained.
"Well I'm glad that your back and I know of some other people who'll be glad to see you as well," he told her and pointed to the nearby table where Aisha sat with Adam, Billy and Rocky. Kat took another deep breathe and headed over to the table.
Aisha glanced up and noticed the tall blonde heading in their direction and leapt up to greet her friend. "Kat, it is about time, we thought you'd fallen into a black hole or something." Katherine smiled and gave Aisha a hug before taking a seat in the empty chair next to Rocky.
"You guys must have had a lot of stuff, it feels as though you've been gone for months," Rocky said as he made room for her at the table. "Yeah, I'm really sorry, if I haven't been around lately." Kat replied.
"It's too bad that Kimberly and Tommy aren't here, they'd be glad to know that your back," remarked Billy.
"Where are they?" Kat asked just trying to make conversation.
"Well, Kim's started training with Coach Schmidt for the Pan Globals and she's been pretty busy these last couple of weeks so she and Tommy have hardly seen each other," Aisha told her. "Tommy went to see if he could persuade Coach Schmidt to give her a break so he could take Kim out to lunch."
"It must have worked because we haven't heard from Tommy in awhile," Adam said speaking for the first time.
"Has Kimberly made a decision on whether or not she's going to join Coach Schmidt in Florida to continue training?" Kat asked genuinely taking an interest in her friend's opportunity.
"Not yet, but I think she's going to turn him down because she doesn't want to leave her ranger duties behind," Aisha said lowering her voice so that only those at the table could hear her.
"It's an amazing opportunity but I don't blame her is she decides to stay here," Kat told them.
"Yeah well, enough about that, we should celebrate the fact that your out of hibernation," joked Rocky.
"I'll go order more drinks," Billy offered.
Katherine watched as Billy left and chided herself for being so afraid. None of her friends had mentioned the unfortunate events that led to her eventually becoming their friend. She also found herself feeling grateful that Tommy was no where to be seen. The less she had to interact with him the easier it would be to let go of her feelings for him. Though that wouldn't be easy with school letting out for the summer when she knew her friends would want to hang out as much as possible.