"Good-bye," Tommy said as he slowly released Kimberly and he watched her walk up the ramp towards the plane. He had known this day was coming ever since the coach appeared looking at her, wanting for her to come join him in Miami.
What could he do? How could he tell her that he wanted to her to stay? Would she even love him if he said he wanted her to stay? No, she wouldn't accept that from him, not after everything that she had given him. That was why he was standing here, watching her leave on a plane knowing that in his heart he didn't mean the words he had said in the Command Center, but he couldn't be selfish. He couldn't ask anything else of her, he had asked so much of her already
"Bye, I love you," Kim said as she turned around for a moment and then walked away without looking back as the tears streamed down her face, she barely heard Tommy's 'I love you, too' as she tried to concentrate on not wiping her eyes because she knew Tommy would know then that she was regretting this, that she didn't want to leave him, but she couldn't disappoint him, not after everything he had done for her.
That was two years ago when Kimberly walked out of Tommy's life. We all stood there and watched, hoping, praying that Tommy and Kimberly would be able to survive it. At first the two of them were fine, they kept in contact, they loved each other, called each other, then one day, everything changed. What was that? None of us are really sure, except the two of them and you'll be hard pressed to be able to get that sort of information out of either of them. However, Kim is coming back to Angel Grove and hopefully they'll at least talk. If not, we may wind up doing something quite drastic.
"Tommy!" Kat yelled as she ran up to him and he gave her a hug as he gave her a questioning look. He did not see anything running after her, so he really could not make sense as to why she was yelling his name.
"Kat…" Tommy trailed off as she just shook her head and he squeezed her again.
"Jason just called, he's at the airport," Kat said as Tommy's shocked expression let her know that she was right to assume that Jason hadn't told Tommy about this visit either. It seemed that he wanted to keep all of them in the dark about the fact that he was coming back to Angel Grove, for whatever reason. "He didn't tell you he was coming?"
"No, I wonder why," Tommy said simply as he slipped his arm around Kat and they walked towards the exit.
"I could think of a couple of reasons Tommy," Kat said as he gave her a rather stern gaze. The reasons that he was thinking of did not exactly make him jump for joy. "I'm just being honest, I'm not trying to upset you."
"Does he need someone to pick him up?" Tommy asked as Kat looked up at him. Now she had to break the second part of it, Jason was not alone and she knew it would not take Tommy too long to figure out who was probably with him, considering the warning that she had already given him.
"They need someone to pick them up, if you don't mind," Kat said as Tommy looked at her and just shook his head.
"Kim's come back to Angel Grove?" Tommy asked as Kat shrugged her shoulders, Jason hadn't exactly said it, but he had done everything to make her think that she was the other person with him. She knew that Jason had been in Miami for the last few months, helping Kim out with something and now just seemed to be the time that they came home. "Here, go pick them up."
"Tommy, you might as well face her now, instead of sending the woman that she thinks is your girlfriend to handle her," Kat said, pointedly, as Tommy looked over at her, knowing that she was right and hating it. He did not want to face her after everything that had happened over the last year. "And you were the one to break up with her, but she's taken the fall for it with all of our friends. It's about time you apologize for the hell you've put her through."
"Kat…" Tommy began as Kat held up her hand and he went silent.
"You were her everything Tommy, you were the reason that she was able to get on that plane and go to Miami and do everything that she did. She deserves to know the truth, she deserves to know that you realized that you screwed up and you want to make things right. There is going to be a day when you regret not telling her that and I don't want that to happen to you," Kat said as Tommy just looked at her. He couldn't believe that she was calling him out on all of that. "And it'll be kinda hard to hide from her that Jason and I are together. You might as well talk to her about it first."
"Kat, I can't see her right now, I'm not ready," Tommy said as she just shook her head and forced the keys into his hand.
"Jason wants you to come and I think that you should. You caused this, you need to fix it before one of you dies," Kat said as Tommy gave her a concerned look. He didn't think that anything was so serious right now. There was always a chance that something could happen to him any day, but he had the distinct feeling that that was not what Kat was talking about right now.
"Do you know something that I don't?" Tommy asked as Kat sadly nodded her head yes and Tommy just stared at her. "What's going on?"
"You have to see for yourself, Tommy. It's not my responsibility to tell," Kat said as she stepped away from him and turned to walk back inside of the Juice Bar as he stood there in shock.
Had something happened to Kimberly? It certainly wouldn't be the first time that something had happened and he didn't know about it, especially after his punctuation of an end to their relationship. He had regretted the letter that he sent to her since the day that he placed it in the mail, but the retaliation from Kimberly was worse than anything else that he had ever imagined. She had never been the type to be malicious, but neither had he until that fateful day.
"What have I gotten myself into?" Tommy asked as he let out a sigh and he turned towards his jeep and looked at it, wondering if he should really do this.
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"I thought you said someone would be here waiting for us," Kim said, weakly, as she sat down and Jason gave her a concerned glance. She had called him a few months ago, needing someone who would listen when no one else would. Most of her friends had just taken Tommy's side in the break up and that was all that she knew for sure, but now she needed to come back. She didn't know if she would be able to live with herself if she didn't see them again.
"I called Kat and told her to send someone, but she might have had some trouble convincing him that it's the right thing to do," Jason said as he sat down next to her on the bench and felt her shiver against him. She was freezing and although she was wearing the warmest clothes that she owned, it was not helping her any.
"He doesn't even know, Jason," Kim said as he saw the tears fall down her cheeks and he reached over and wiped them away. "I don't want him to see me like this."
"But you came here so that you could see him, the doctors here will take care of your body, but you need to let him take care of your spirit," Jason said as Kim just shook her head.
"He doesn't want me anymore. He made that perfectly clear to me in his letter," Kim said as Jason looked up and saw Tommy walking towards them, his hair pulled back into a ponytail.
"You'll be all right," Jason said as he stood and gave Tommy a hug as he walked up towards them. He recognized Jason, but he didn't recognize the woman in the bandana. "How you doing, Tommy?"
"Pretty good, the monsters have been good today," Tommy said as he took a step back and Jason saw him looking over his shoulder with a questioning look on his face. He had been preparing himself to face Kimberly, but it looked like Jason had brought someone that none of them knew.
"I've never known you to be shy," Jason said as Kim hung her head and Tommy for the first time could see the side of her face and realized who she was.
"Hey Tommy," Kim said as she looked up at him and saw the shock in his eyes. She was surprised that Jason had not told him anything, but she had made him promise and he had been good to his word.
Three months after the Pan Globals, as Kimberly trained for the Olympics she found herself becoming increasingly tired. She had thought that it was just the extra stress, but after several weeks it did not go away and she when into the doctor. That was when she found out that she had Leukemia. The doctors had told her that they caught it fairly early, but she still had been undergoing treatment for the past several months and she just knew that she needed to come home. Whether or not she had Tommy or any of the others with her, this was her home and this was where she needed to be.
"Hey," Tommy said, shell shocked as he reached for her, but she took a step away and stood looking at her hands. "I guess I deserve that."
"Don't…don't feel sorry for me," Kim muttered as Tommy squeezed his eyes shut as Jason looked between the two of them. They were refusing to look at each other, but only if they had, they would have seen that the pain was mutual, not just one sided.
"So, where am I taking you?" Tommy managed after a few moments to calm himself down. He would cry when he got home to his mother, he couldn't cry in front of her, not if she was so determined that he just stay away from her.
"You are taking her home and then I'm going to come to the Youth Center," Jason said as Tommy nodded as he smiled and then picked up Kim's bags and she gave him a thankful, though weak, smile.
"So when did you find out?" Tommy asked, quietly, as he looked down at her and she looked away from him.
"About six months ago," Kim said as he tried to hide the hurt in his facial expression, but didn't quite manage it. "I just couldn't tell you."
"But…no matter what I did…how could you think?" Tommy asked in a jumble as she just grabbed Jason's arm and Tommy realized how much the flight alone must have taken out of her and seeing him was not doing her any good. "I'll talk to you about it tomorrow…you need rest."
"Thanks," Kim muttered as Jason climbed into the back seat of the jeep and Kim gave him an odd look as she pulled herself up into the front seat and sunk into it as Tommy passed her bags back to Jason.
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"How could you not tell me?" Tommy asked after they had dropped Kim off at Jason's parents and Jason was now sitting next to him. He didn't know what emotions were running through him, but he definitely felt some of it more than he should.
"I was not breaking a promise to her Tommy. She's had enough on her the last six months without worrying about whether or not you knew about it. And what would you have done? Come down there and sit at her bedside as she cried as she lost her hair, take her back because she's sick? She doesn't want your pity, she just wants to see you again in case things don't turn out well," Jason said as Tommy leaned his head back against the head rest and then covered his eyes. "We need to get going."
"I can't drive right now," Tommy said as Jason gave him a sympathetic look as Tommy just crawled into the back seat and curled up as he felt like he was going to throw up.
"Do you want me to just take you home?" Jason asked as Tommy barely nodded and he gave him a sympathetic look before backing out of his driveway. He had to admit that his own reaction to this had been absolutely horrible, but this was still when Kimberly was having a hard time dealing with the reality. Now she just didn't want anyone's pity, she just wanted to be with the people that she cared about, even if they didn't care anymore. "When are you going to tell her that you screwed up Tommy?"
"Do you think that she would believe me now? She doesn't even want me to touch her anymore. I don't think that it will matter that I screwed up, she'll just think that I feel sorry for her," Tommy said as Jason nodded his head that that was indeed a problem.
"Well, if you care, you'll try," Jason said, as Tommy just looked at Jason. He, personally, was going to let Tommy just think about that on the rest of their ride to his home. Jason knew just how much Kimberly needed Tommy back in her life, but they both were going to have to do some soul searching before they would be able to accept the other again. The pain of their breakup had been far too much on the two of them.
