The Secrets That We Keep
Summary: On the night before Tommy's wedding to Katherine, Jason reveals a dark secret kept for far too long. Is it too late to right a 4 year old wrong?
Pairings: Tommy/Kimberly, Implied Tommy/Kat (not in a good way), Jason/Trini
Timeline: Pre- Forever Red. I'm not 100% sure how many years passed between Turbo I and Forever Red but I'm going to say 5, so this is about a year before that. Tommy and the others just completed their Senior year of college so they're about 23. I'm not a canon purist by any stretch of the imagination, if you are…maybe don't read this. This does NOT follow canon on purpose!
Disclaimer: I don't own it, Saban, Disney, and whoever else does. If I did, Kimberly would have been recast rather than written off the show.
AN: WARNING! I am NOT a Kat fan. Never will be. I am not nice to her in this story. If you choose to continue to read this fic and ignore this author's note, that is not my problem. Do Not flame me for not being "fair" to Katherine. This is fanfiction and I can do what I want. Read at your own risk.
….
Regret, that was something Jason Lee Scott, Earth's first Red Ranger and the original leader of the Power Rangers was all too familiar with. It was a feeling that had become ingrained in his very being for the last 3 years.
And now, as he looked over at his best friend, his brother in all but blood, it was a feeling that threatened to crush his very soul. He couldn't do this anymore…
Tommy Oliver leaned against the railing of his hotel suite balcony, gazing at the glittering lights of the Los Angeles skyline, nursing his fifth scotch. For someone who was supposed to be getting married in a little over 12 hours, his thoughts were decidedly melancholy.
If someone had told him when he was 17 that this was where he'd be in just a few years, he probably would have punched them in the face. No, not probably. Definitely. Not that his life was bad or anything. Actually, save for 1 earth shattering event that occurred a couple months before he turned 18, things had been pretty good for Tommy. He'd had an impressive tenure as a Power Rangers, he'd graduated high school with a respectable GPA despite Billy's absence, had a great run as a stock car racer, gotten into a good college, and gotten accepted for an internship with a world-renowned Paleontologist. Now he was about to get married to a great woman who'd been by his side through one of the most difficult times of his life. What did he have to complain about?
Her.
It always seemed to come back to Her. It frustrated him to no end that even after all this time, he couldn't seem to completely push her out of his heart. He was getting married for fucks sake! This was his bachelor party! Why then, was he out here brooding over his ex?
He was pulled from his thoughts as Jason came to stand next to him against the railing.
"Hey, you know the party's in there, right?" Jason asked with a smirk, gesturing to the French doors behind them.
Tommy laughed humorlessly. "Yeah I know. I just… I can't shake this mood. I know I should be excited. Maybe it just hasn't hit me yet."
"Or maybe you're just not excited."
Tommy raised an eyebrow at Jason's matter-of-fact tone.
"Come on man, this is me you're talking to. We've known each other for 7 years. There's only one person on the planet that knows you better than me, and I'm pretty sure it's the same person who's been occupying your thoughts all night. If you wanna talk…"
Tommy sighed. It really made no sense to try to hide from Jason. He already knew so much. "It's just so stupid, man. It's been almost 5 years. I should be over it by now. I mean, clearly, I've moved on, haven't I? I'm marrying Kat…I just, I can't shake this feeling that this wasn't how things were supposed to be. Kat's a great girl, I should be happy I get to spend the rest of my life with her. I shouldn't be out here missing the girl who broke my heart and threw me away like our 3 years together meant nothing!"
Jason was at a crossroads. He'd been here before 3 years earlier. He'd made a choice back then and had lived with the guilt of that choice everyday since then. Now he was back at the same place, same dilemma, same choices before him. Could he do it again? Could he keep this terrible lie going and hope that one day his best friend would be happy with the woman he settled for? Or could he finally, after all this time, tell Tommy the truth and endure the anger and hate that was sure to follow? Could Jason deal with the fallout?
Jason looked at Tommy, really looked at him for the first time in a long while. Tommy had changed a lot in the last 4 years. Gone was the shoulder length hair, traded in for short spikes. Gone was the constant need to wear his ranger color of the moment. But most notably, gone was the spark of laughter that had always lit his eyes before that fateful day in the Youth Center. Tommy lost a part of himself the day he lost Kimberly, and no matter how hard Jason tried to convince himself that Tommy would heal, that Katherine's love would be enough, the man in front of him was living proof that that was a lie. That Jason had truly failed the man he considered his brother.
He knew what he had to do, consequences be damned. He'd been a coward long enough.
Jason sighed deeply and patted his brother on the shoulder. "Tommy, man I have to tell you something. And you're not going to like it."
Tommy frowned at the seriousness in Jason's tone, a pit forming in his stomach. "What is it?"
He sighed, gripping the railing, his knuckles going white. No turning back now… "I've been lying to you for a long time. Not directly but… a lie of omission is still a lie, I guess. There was something I found out in our freshmen year of college that I should have told you, but I was a coward."
"Jase, man, stop with the buildup. You're scaring me. Just tell me!"
Jason closed his eyes and felt his own heart rend in two. For his betrayal of Tommy or for what would surely follow his confession, he wasn't sure. But the time had come.
"Kimberly wasn't the one who wrote you that letter. Kat was." Jason took a deep breath and continued before Tommy could interrupt. "I always thought it was strange that Kim broke up with you like that. It wasn't like her at all, but I could never get her to talk about it. Then, one night I went over to the girls' loft to grab something from Trini's room. I overheard Kat and Tanya arguing. I don't know what it was about, didn't really care at the time but then I heard Tanya mention you. She told Katherine that she could never be trusted because of what she did to you who she claimed to love. Then Kat started talking about the letter, saying how she didn't have a choice, how you would have never let Kim go otherwise. Well I confronted Kat and she told me the truth. That she wrote the letter pretending to be Kim… so she could finally have a chance with you. That she did it because it wasn't fair to you that Kimberly was so far away, chasing a dream that didn't involve you. I told her she needed to come clean or I would. But…"
Jason ran a hand over his face tiredly. He didn't dare look at Tommy. "But I wasn't exactly without my own sins. And apparently Katherine knew that. I uh…I cheated on Trini. I got drunk at a party and had a one-night stand. It was stupid, and it never happened again but I never told Trini. Somehow Kat found out. She said if I told you about the letter, she'd tell Trini about the party. I… I'd spent so long convincing Trini to give me a chance, waiting for her to get over Billy, and we were finally solid. She'd told me she loved me, I was finally getting something I've wanted since I hit puberty. I was afraid to lose her. So, I told Kat I'd keep her secret if she kept mine and we haven't spoken of it since. There's hasn't been a day since then that I haven't regretted not telling you. I just kept telling myself that you loved Kat, so it didn't matter. But I knew it wasn't true."
The former Red Ranger risked a look at his best friend and the other man's face was a stony, unreadable mask.
"For what its worth, I'm sorry, man. I know what I did was unforgiveable. I just couldn't let you walk down that aisle not knowing the truth."
Tommy inhaled deeply and turned his back to Jason. He looked down at his hands, at the deep red marks on his palm from where his nails had bitten into his flesh, then closed his fist once again. Without a word he spun back around and slammed his fist into Jason's jaw, knocking him flat on his back.
Jason looked up at Tommy, unsurprised by the brief flash of green he saw in his eyes. He climbed to his feet, rubbing the quickly forming bruise.
"I deserved that."
"Oh, did you?" Tommy asked, his voice icy. Tommy swung again and was rewarded with a gush of blood from Jason's nose.
"Four years! You've known for four fucking years! You more than anyone knew what losing Kim did to me. That woman is the other half of my soul, Jason!"
"I know! And I'm sorry, Tommy. I am so sorry!"
"Does she even know?" Tommy asked, his eyes quickly filling with horror as he wondered what Kimberly must think of him. "Does she think I just quit returning her calls one day and started seeing Kat? Oh god…"
"She knows about the letter. She doesn't know Kat wrote it. She found out after Muranthias. Rocky kind of went off on her."
"Why didn't she tell me?! Or did someone blackmail her into silence too?" Tommy asked bitterly.
"She was devastated. She thought… she thought that since you didn't fight for her, didn't even try to call her, that it must have been what you wanted. And since you were with Kat…" Jason trailed off as the fury in Tommy's eyes returned full force.
"And you just let her think that?!"
"I didn't know back then! She wouldn't even talk to me about it until I told her I knew the truth, and at that point she told me to just leave it alone."
Tommy shook his head angrily. "You're a real piece of shit, you know that Jason?" Tommy didn't even spare him another glance as he stormed back inside. He snatched Jason's phone up from the bar and quickly searched his contacts until he found what he was looking for.
"Man, what are you doing?" Jason asked as he followed him into the room.
The other men in the room, Adam, Rocky, Zack, and Tommy's brother David stood up in alarm, seeing the blood on Jason's face.
"What the hell happened to you?" Rocky asked.
Jason waved him off. "I'm fine. Bro- "Jason reached a hand out toward Tommy, but it was smacked away.
Tommy threw Jason's phone at him. "I am not your fucking 'Bro', do you understand me?" Tommy growled.
"I'm sorry- "
"THAT CHANGES NOTHING!" Tommy grabbed his keys and headed for the door.
"Woah!" Adam said, rushing over to his former leader and grabbing his arm. "Tommy, think about this man. You've been drinking quite a bit. Whatever happened, we'll deal with it, but you don't need to go anywhere right now."
"Adam, no offense, but if you don't move your fucking hand, you're gonna end up looking like Jason." Tommy said darkly.
Adam swallowed thickly at the unadulterated rage on Tommy's face. There was no reasoning with him right now. If this was back in their Angel Grove days, he would have sworn Tommy was under a spell. Adam sighed and let go.
Tommy gave Jason one more hate filled glare and disappeared out the door.
…..
Ooooh. Sorry, Jason fans. I love Jason, honestly. Anyway, review please! Let me know what you think! 10 reviews gets you the next chapter early!