Disclaimer: Saban Brands owns Power Rangers, of which this story is a non-profit derivative work.

Author's Note: Well, I have to eat my words! For completion's sake I wanted to show Tommy talking with Trini and Billy, even if this was in a totally different context. But I decided to make it a separate story because I think that Tommy's more intimate interactions with Trini and Billy would not be related to his "initiation" into the group.

Continuity: This part takes place right after "Welcome to Venus Island."

Refinishing the Green on the Portrait
Part I: First Component of Green
by MegaSilver

Trini waited outside the Youth Center after Hallie's mother drove off. Just her luck that Kimberly had already left for her father's house: now she could catch Tommy by himself when he emerged.

"Hey, Tommy?" Trini said shyly, stopping her comrade in his tracks. "Really, thank you so much for today."

"Oh, hey." Tommy shrugged and smiled. "You would've done the same for one of my siblings."

Trini nodded. "I hope I would. But now that I've thought about it… I almost let you go back there alone. I can't believe I did that."

Tommy sighed. "Trini, if we hadn't found out about the heat it would've been the only way!"

Trini shook her head. "I can't accept that. I don't know how… I mean… never mind." She sighed. What she had been thinking was just a bit too heavy.

"No, what?"

Trini hesitated. "I… I don't know how I'd answer to Kimberly if I let you go in like that." She bit her lip.

Tommy seemed slightly taken aback. He blinked a few times. "Kimberly? Trini… how could I ever face Kim again if I let anything happen to her best friend?"

Trini shook her head. "She's done way more for me than I've ever done for her." The pair sat down on the curb and Trini drew a deep breath. "My dad's from Hong Kong. He met my mother on a business trip to Laos; I was born in Hong Kong and we moved to San Francisco when I was two. Then back to Hong Kong for two years when I was eight, then up to Portland for a year, then Dad decided he wanted something more 'American' and so we went to San Diego… then finally Angel Grove in eighth grade. I got along with everyone, but… never really had any playmates, hardly ever saw my cousins.

"But then right away I met Kimberly when I came here and then started to make friends with her friends and now I know what I was missing all along. Honestly, Tommy… I really think Kimberly brought us all together. Jason kept us all together but Kimberly was the one who started it all."

Now it was Tommy's turn to shake his head. "Trini… if only you knew. Kimberly thinks the world of you. The way she told me about you and the others… I don't know that she ever would have attracted this group if you hadn't inspired her."

Trini twirled a piece of her hair nervously. "Really?" That seemed to surprise her. Kimberly seemed just so… full of energy. Why would she need the concentrated, introverted Trini for inspiration?

"Yeah! I mean… I dunno…" Tommy seemed to be hesitating, and Trini picked up on the awkwardness of it all.

"No, it's okay," she said. "You don't have to tell me about a private conversation or anything."

Tommy chuckled. "Well… look, I know you're all really special to Kimberly. She's really special to me, too, and… you've all become really important to me in a way I don't—really think you can know." He folded his hands and looked down at the pavement, anxious sadness filling his eyes.

"No, Tommy." Trini shook her head and then nodded. "We do know." She covered his hand with her own. "Kimberly's really worried about you, Tommy. We're all worried about you."

On hearing those words, Tommy felt a certain warmth inside that overrode, at least momentarily, that agonizing sensation of imminent loss. Perhaps, after all, his fears of losing not just his powers but also this wonderful life he'd found and the people in it were premature, or misplaced altogether.

Still… worry did not translate to action, or even to ability to act. Inevitably, Tommy would fall to the edges of this circle once his powers faded, short of a concentrated effort on the part of the others.

Was it too much to hope for that they valued him so much as to fight to keep him "one of them," though he no longer be a Ranger?

"I've got to go," Tommy said suddenly. Without another word he arose and headed home, these terrible unresolved questions pressing heavily on his heart.

TO BE CONTINUED…