Disclaimer: PR aren't among my possessions.

Felt the urge to do another oneshot.

Pairing: Jason/Kimberly

For the purposes of this fic, Jason moved to San Diego at the age of twenty.

It Was Inevitable

"This place really is gorgeous, Julie," Kimberly Hart said, looking around the living room in the apartment.

"Thanks," Julie Morgan said with a smile. It was the second Saturday in June and twenty-three-year-old Kimberly had arrived in San Diego from Florida two hours earlier. Julie and Kimberly had been friends and dormmates back when they were training with Coach Schmidt. Anyhow, Julie had moved here to California a year ago. Kimberly had decided to use some of her vacation days on visiting not only Julie, but, Jason Scott- who'd moved here a few years earlier. He'd been running a dojo with a friend for six months.

"You think I should call Jase or just go through with the original plan?" Kimberly asked as they plopped down on the couch. The thing was, Kimberly had planned to surprise both Julie and Jason by showing up in San Diego. Julie had definitely been stunned to see Kim at her door.

"Go through with the surprise thing. That's a lot funner," Julie said.

"Definitely," Kimberly agreed with a laugh. "I'll just swing by his place in an hour or two."

Julie nodded, then, she cleared her throat and began squirming a little.

"Are you okay?" Kimberly asked with a frown.

"Well, that kind of depends, Kim," Julie said slowly.

"On what?" Kimberly asked.

"Your answer. See, there's this guy I met a few days ago and we were supposed to be getting together for dinner tonight-" Julie was saying.

"Oh, my God. I can't believe I didn't think you might have plans! Maybe I should've called. I'm sorry, Jule. But, then, you don't have to worry about me. You can go on and have a great time. I'll just-" Kimberly was saying.

"It's really okay, Kim. I'm glad you're here. The thing is, that was him I was talking to on the phone a few minutes ago and I told him you were in town. He suggested that you come out with us tonight-" Julie was saying.

"God, I so hope you told him no," Kimberly said, her "valley girl-ness" creeping into her tone. "You did tell him no, right? The last thing you guys need is a third wheel-"

"Actually, he has this friend. And-" Julie was saying.

"No. No way. Julie, I'm really not that crazy about blind dates. I have nightmares about the last one I still can't believe I agreed to," Kimberly said- causing her friend to laugh. "Seriously! He was such a freak! I mean, he wore a cape."

"Come on, Kim. Give this guy a chance! I'm sure he's really not that bad," Julie said. "You might really like him. Who knows?"

"I don't know. I really-" the former pink ranger began.

"Kim, it's only one night. One. night. You're gonna be leaving in a few days, so, you'll never have to see him again," Julie said pleadingly.

"That's true. But-" Kimberly began.

"Again, only one night. Come on. I know you can take a blind date- even if it turns out to be Prince Not-so-Charming. If ya could handle Schmidt's insanity, I know you can handle this," Julie said with a smile.

Kimberly looked at her friend for a few seconds, then, sighed and rolled her eyes. "All right. I'll do it. But if it's a disaster, I'm sending you back to Schmidt."

Julie laughed.

'I can't believe I let him talk me into this. There're are about a million other things I'd rather be doing right now,' Jason thought as he glared at Stan Landry. The two men were sitting at a table in an Italian restaurant that'd just opened a couple months earlier. Stan looked up at him and sighed.

"Jase, come on, man. It's really not that big of a deal. Think about it this way, she might be hot," he said.

Jason laughed dryly. "The chances of that are less than slim, man."

"What makes you think that?" Stan asked.

"It's a blind date, Stan. This girl could be-" Jason began.

"Hot," Stan said.

"I'm gonna take a shot in the dark and say that you haven't done many blind dates," Jason said.

"Not really. But don't shoot the girl down before you even see her," Stan said. "You just might turn out to be dead-ass wrong."

"Or dead-ass right on the money," Jason said. He was dreading this big time. Suddenly, Stan sat up straight and a grin lit his face. Jason, who knew what this meant, groaned and closed his eyes- unable to help it. They were here. 'Great. Just freaking great. I might kill Stan right here in this restaurant.' This night had to end soon. It had to. It had to. 'Please end soon, please end soon, please end soon, please-'

"Jason!? Oh, my God!"

His eyes flew open and his jaw dropped when he saw none other than Kimberly Hart standing at the table with a redhead he'd never seen a day in his life. What was Kimberly doing here? Jason stood slowly, his mouth still agape. He knew he was probably looking like a fish, but, who cared? Before he could attempt to say a word, she ran around the table and hugged him tightly. He instinctively hugged back.

"So, you're Jason. Wow. This is incredible," the redhead said with a laugh.

"You're telling me. Never crossed my mind that you two would know each other," Stan said.

Jason's voice finally decided to work. "Yeah. This is Kimberly Hart."

"Oh! The Kim from Angel Grove. She's the mystery date. Outta sight," Stan said.

"No kidding," Jason said with a short laugh. "Kim, this is Stan- the guy I co-own the dojo with."

Kimberly pulled away from Jason and flashed a grin at Stan. She stuck her hand out and he shook it. "It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise," he said with a smile.

"Jase, this is Julie. You guys know about her. We trained with Schmidt," Kimberly said.

"Oh, right. Yeah. Good to meet you, Julie," Jason said, extending his own hand. The redhead smiled and shook it.

"You, too," Julie said.

Jason refocused on his petite friend. "It's great to see you, Kim, but-"

"What am I doing here?" she finished. "Well, I decided to surprise you and Julie with a visit. I got in a few hours ago and I'll be here for a few days."

"I'm really glad to hear that," he said with a smile. No more dread about the blind date- naturally.

"Nice place. It's so you," Kimberly said a couple hours later. She and Jason were sitting on his couch, having a drink. Stan had dropped them off at Jason's apartment after dinner, then, he and Julie had gone off somewhere else. Jason chuckled at Kimberly's comment.

"Thanks," he said.

"Mm-hmm. I gotta tell ya, Jase. I was expecting the worst of the worst tonight," she said with a laugh.

"Same here. Blind dates don't exactly thrill people," he said.

"Tell me about it," she said. They fell in a comfortable silence. Kimberly grinned after several minutes. "You know, Rex... I really had a great time tonight."

"Yeah. Me, too," he said seriously.

"And, well, the truth is... I'm not that surprised that tonight ended up happening. Okay, the way it happened is a shock, but, the fact that it happened really doesn't blow my mind. I kinda thought it would," she said.

"It doesn't blow mine, either. Maybe we thought it wouldn't have -or shouldn't have- because we're supposed to have a family-type relationship," he said.

"Yeah. But, to be honest, I seriously haven't thought of you as my brother in a long time. Since Maligore. Actually, I think I stopped thinking of you as family when puberty really kicked in," she said.

"Me, too, Pinky," he said.

"Before Tommy moved to Angel Grove, a part of me wondered if you and I would ever... well, you get it," she said.

"More than you know," he said. Since this was a woman who knew him better than he knew himself, he knew he didn't need to elaborate.

She smiled. "And it did happen. Jase, maybe tonight was some kinda sign, you know? A sign that it's time we give it a shot."

"You might be right," he said.

"I really believe I am. Tonight just confirmed that an "us" was unavoidable," she said, sitting her wine cooler down on the table.

He sat his beer down and looked into her eyes. "I'm definitely not against an "us", but, what about Florida? I mean, you-"

She cupped his face. "I love it. I love the life I've lived there. And I'll miss it. But it's not my home. Like I said, tonight was a sign. I really think I belong here, Jason." She'd never been more certain about anything. Her tone and the look in her eyes was all the assurance he needed.

"Then, we're an 'us'," he said with a half-smile.

"Right on time," she said before sharing a sweet kiss with him.