DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Power Rangers, please don't sue and I have absolutely no characters that are my own, I only own the plot of this story.
Katherine Hillard looked around her and she found that not much was left of the person that she had once been. There was a time in her life, when she would merely look into the night's sky and be in awe of its beauty and complexity. Now, however, she had a hard time just relaxing under the night's sky, she had other thoughts that often interfered with one of her favorite activities. She knew that out there in those stars was the planet of Aquitar, where her heart and soul had so abruptly been taken months ago.
Billy had gone there at that time, to undergo treatment for his advanced aging caused by his being able to break out of the time warp they were in and return to his normal age in order to help protect them all. He had communicated with them several times and each time he looked increasingly better, but it still had not been enough for them to release him back to Earth. He had gotten the clearance to come back to Earth at anytime that he wished, a few weeks ago, and that was when he shocked all of them. He decided he would like to stay on Aquitar for a little while longer, although to most of them it sounded like that was an indefinite amount of time. He had always been limited on Earth and it seemed that he was able to find an endless amount of possibilities there and that comforted some of them, but not her.
No one really knew what it had been doing to her up until the point when she thought he would finally come back to Earth and it had worsened since he had told them that he wished to stay on Aquitar. She'd wake up some mornings and be happy to face the new day. Then there were some mornings when she could barely force herself out of bed because of the dreams she had had. Of course, the other rangers were supportive, but they didn't know the full extent of the problem she was facing. None of them knew of the great shock that she had been dealt when Billy said those words. She was not sure anymore if she would ever be able to tell Billy her true feelings, until the day that they all received an unexpected visitor.
Angel Grove High School
"Hey, Kat," Tommy said as she walked up to her locker and then nodded him a hello. She found it easier not to talk about anything just because she might betray herself, especially after a bad night, which was what she had had the night before. "Have you heard the news?"
"What news?" Kat asked, as she grabbed her first period calculus book and absentmindedly stuffed her P.E. clothes inside her locker as well. She honestly expected it to be about some monster that had attacked or some mission that Zordon wanted them to go on, but that was not the case this time.
"Kim, Zack, and Trini are coming home today. They just called to tell me last night," Tommy said with a smile and he noticed that that only seemed to make her more depressed. "You're not happy about that?"
"Yeah, I'm really happy about it, Tommy. It'll be great to finally meet Zack and Trini," Kat said, as she turned and walked off, leaving Jason and Tommy rather confused.
They had seen her happy before, but this was nowhere near happiness, it was more like mourning. They just couldn't figure out what would make her react like that to the simple statement that some fellow rangers were coming back home. They had thought that she would be as happy as them, as she had seen the two of them complain on a daily basis about missing the three of them, plus Billy.
"What would make her that sad? We haven't done anything, have we?" Jason asked as the pink ranger walked down the hall, barely talking to anyone that passed by her. She was usually one of the most talkative out of all of them, but it seemed that everything about her had been changed over the last few months and they all could tell it, but none of them really wanted to admit that it was happening. That would mean admitting to themselves that Billy had been more than just an acquaintance to Katherine.
"I can only guess what it might be, Jason. Come on or we'll be late to class," Tommy said, although no one would ever claim he was the king of punctuality. He just did not want to have anything ruin his good mood, especially Ms. Applebee yelling at him.
"Hey," Aisha said brightly, as she walked into first period with Kat and noticed that she looked unusually grumpy this morning. She had noticed the change in Kat, ever since Billy had left, but she had never really connected it with him leaving. She just thought that Kat was having a rough time or something.
"Hey," Kat said, politely, as Aisha noticed that she did not return any bit of cheerfulness this morning.
"Did Tommy and Jason tell you?" Aisha asked, with a smile and Kat merely nodded her head. She had thought that Kat would want to speculate about what they would be like, but she was not in the mood for that type of talk. She merely wanted to go home and stay there until this day was over with.
'At least they are getting their loved ones back,' Katherine thought miserably as she sat in her calculus class, barely paying attention to the teacher or anything else going on. Mondo could have dropped right in front of her and she still would not care. She probably wouldn't even stand up to fight, considering the fact that she was barely able to get her mind to move to any subject but Billy being gone this morning. It was not fair that she couldn't have the one person she truly wanted here.
Airport
"They know we're coming, right?" Kim asked as she piled her bags onto the baggage belt and watched them be whisked away towards the awaiting plane.
"Yes, for the millionth time, they know we are coming in today. I remembered to call them last night when Trini and I arrived here," Zack said, as he was getting slightly unnerved by both Trini and Kim. The two of them seemed to be so happy to go back to Angel Grove and he could understand it, but they were annoying the living hell out of him right now. They had more questions than he could ever imagine asking and they repeated some of them, more times than he dared to count.
"What about Billy? Do they know that he is coming back today?" Trini asked, as Zack smiled at her, for finally breaking away from one of the other questions she had been asking. Billy had contacted them several weeks ago to say he was coming home, he had just not told the rangers in Angel Grove. He wished for it to be a surprise for them and they had agreed to keep it that way.
"I don't think that they know about him, but why would they not be happy to see him? Billy's been gone for awhile, too," Zack said as the other two simply smiled.
They were sure that Billy had been sorely missed by the other rangers as well. He was the only one that was able to do some things around the Command Center, even though Alpha was fully trained, they often times felt more comfortable when Billy did the work. He just assured them that everything would be all right by the things he did and not by the words he said.
Juice Bar
"They should get here in a little while. The plane was supposed to land at 3:30," Jason said, as he looked at his watch and Tommy nodded. They had missed the three of them so much and they only wished Billy could have been there as well. It would have made them feel more complete, to have the whole original group of rangers back home.
'Be nice,' Kat thought to herself as she watched Jason and Tommy become more excited at the prospect of seeing their friends again. As much as she wanted to join in, she just didn't have the heart to do so today.
Her dreams had been filled with Billy last night and it was horrible of her to live through her dreams, but that was all that she seemed to be able to do anymore. She was not herself without him here anymore and she hated thinking that she might never have the chance to tell him about it.
"How should we pass the time?" Tommy asked, as he found he couldn't sit down for a very long amount of time without standing up quickly to pace around some more.
"Homework. We've got plenty to keep us busy," Jason said and he couldn't help but think that he sounded like Billy, despite the fact that he had never suggested that they do their homework at a time like this. He would often times let Jason and Tommy run themselves out, which was most affective, but they would never allow themselves to do that.
"Hey, Kat. Why the long face?" Aisha asked as she sat down next to her and noticed that she seemed to be on the verge of tears. She had been like this a lot lately, but she couldn't imagine why that would be so. They had been living fairly peacefully lately, so why hadn't she been as happy as the rest of them about the peace and quiet in Angel Grove?
"No reason," Kat said, too quickly and Aisha looked over at her with a very suspicious glance. She might not know Kat that well, but she knew when someone was lying and Kat was doing that right now. She just wondered what Kat was trying to cover up.
"Kat, you haven't been happy in months. Why not tell us what's wrong with you?" Aisha asked, as Kat merely shrugged. How could you explain something like this to someone who didn't even know the beginning of it all? She and Billy had become friends, in ways that neither of them had ever expected and she was afraid that it was the fear of it becoming something more that kept Billy on Aquitar. That was what really made it hard for her to face each day, thinking that he didn't want things to change between them.
"It's too much to tell," Kat said, miserably as she saw Kim, Zack, and Trini walk in. She immediately looked down and away from all the others. She didn't want them to see how bad it hurt for them to be there and Billy to be far away. She knew that they would probably never guess that he was the reason she was upset, but she didn't want to take any chances.
"Where did you come from?" Tommy asked, as he let go of Kim and unexpectedly saw a fourth person had entered the Juice Bar.
He did not seem to want to have any attention called to himself, but he had managed to do that with everyone but Katherine and that worried him. She should have been jubilant to meet these people, but she didn't even want to see them. He just hoped it was not because of the reason he was thinking about. He had left her with the promise that he would come back as soon as he could, but he had not kept that promise to her. He just hoped he would be able to repair the damage he had done.
"Where do you think that I came from?" Billy asked with a smile, as Kat slowly raised her head to see if the body really matched the voice she had heard. She could not take that kind of cruel trick, but she was lucky that it was not a trick at all. "I shouldn't have stayed away so long."
"Bi…Billy?" Kat managed to ask as she found herself gripping the edge of the table, but even that didn't keep her sitting upright, as she felt herself faint from the shock of it all.
"Kat, Kat. Come on, wake up," Billy coaxed as he gently patted her face and her eyelids finally fluttered open. He didn't know if it was part of being the pink ranger that made a person faint from shock, but two out of two did not seem like good odds for the pink rangers to follow them. "That's better."
"I didn't think…" Kat started, as she sat up, but Billy simply gave her a hug. He didn't want for her to finish that sentence in front of everyone at the Juice Bar. He could tell that she was not thinking rationally, yet and he wanted to give her a little longer to recover from the shock of him being here. He got the feeling that she thought she would never see him again and if she said that, then the rest of them would know about the relationship that they had been progressing towards.
"I'll explain it to you later," Billy said as Kat nodded her head and she looked around at the faces of her fellow rangers, who seemed slightly amused by the situation, except for Kim, she looked sympathetic.
"Now, since you have scared the living daylights out of everyone here, will you please tell me what is wrong with you," Aisha said, as Kat stood up with Billy's assistance. She hadn't planned on Aisha continuing that subject once she felt herself start to faint.
"It's nothing Aisha," Kat lied as Billy took a good look at her and decided right then that their talk couldn't wait until later. They must be able to get everything out especially if him being away had affected Kat so much that Aisha was asking her questions about it.
"Come on," Billy said, pulling her away, leaving several of the others completely dumbfounded. Since when had the two of them become friends?
"Billy, I didn't want for all of them to get suspicious," Kat said as Billy situated his arm around her shoulders and shook his head in agreement. He hadn't wanted that to happen, either.
"I didn't either, but I think that us talking right now is much more important than any of them becoming suspicious," Billy said, as she nodded her own head. "I missed you."
"I missed you too Billy, but why didn't you come back when you first could?" Kat asked, him as they sat down on the grass in the park, which happened to be right across the street from the juice bar, although it went on for several acres.
"I needed some more time to think things through, Katherine and I'm not proud of it. I didn't know if I could risk the friendship that I have for something that I'm not even sure will work," Billy said, with as much composure as he could manage.
"Do you know what you've done to me?" Kat asked as the tears fell freely and he brought her into a strong hug, which she melted into.
"I think that I can guess what I've done to you and I'm sorry I've put you through that pain, but I had to make sure that I was doing what was right. I've seen the ups and downs of relationships and I didn't want to lose the best friend that I have ever had," Billy said, as Kat pulled back from his chest and looked into his eyes.
"Why do you think you'd lose me?" Kat asked, as she had told him when he left that she'd be waiting for him when he came back. "I know that I was the one that insisted that we just remain friends, but I didn't realize how much I depended on you until you left. Billy, I can't say that I was all right with you staying."
"I know that, Kat, but let me explain something and if you get mad, I'll be all right, but you need to know. I know you aren't happy with me because I stayed as long as I did, but I had to make sure," Billy said, as Kat now gave him a look that fully comprehended what he was saying to her and then he continued on. "Celestria, was the person that helped me heal and she will always be special to me because of her helpfulness. I thought that my feelings for you might have changed, but they hadn't. I realized it about a week ago, but it took me this long to get a teleportation back here."
"But you feel absolutely nothing for her, besides friendship?" Kat asked, as Billy knew that if he answered this question wrong, she would surely stand up and leave him where he was. He didn't want that to happen, he didn't want to have to talk her out of a ranting state on his first day back on Earth.
"Absolutely nothing, Kat. If you need time to search, I'll let you. I would have never done that if I hadn't gone to Aquitar," Billy said as Kat nodded her head. She felt slightly betrayed, but they hadn't been dating when he left and they still weren't dating now. She just hadn't run into anybody that interested her in the way that Billy did.
"So, I'm…" Kat said not being exactly sure how to explain what she felt that Billy meant by his statement.
"You are it," Billy said reassuringly as she threw both of her arms around him in a happy hug.
"But, Billy, is that really the only reason you stayed there?" Kat asked, needing the extra reassurance. She couldn't really face it if he hadn't come back because he felt pressure to change their relationship.
"Of course. Why would I waste my energy to make up that extravagant of a lie, Kat?" Billy asked, as he leaned over and gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek.
"Well, I guess that I accept your apology for not coming back right away. But you haven't asked me one question that I thought you would have asked earlier," Kat said pointedly as Billy gave her a rather confused look.
"What haven't I said? I thought I had managed to cover everything…oh that. I have to be formal about this?" Billy asked as Kat nodded her had. He had barely scrounged up the courage to talk to her about everything that he had managed to spit out so far. "Katherine, will you?"
"Well…"Kat said, as Billy's face fell and she smiled at him. He was going to have to pay a little bit for the pure hell that she had put him through.
"Kat, don't play with me," Billy said, as she continued to just smiled and then he pinned her to the ground with very little effort on his part. "Kat."
"I will," Kat said as she kissed him and he started to move away from her, but she held him in place. That was when they both hear the faint sound of clapping and whistling.
"Great," Billy said looking up at the others and Kat blushed a shade of red that rivaled Tommy's shirt, as she buried her face in his own shirt.
"About time you two, we were beginning to wonder if either of you would ever get the courage to ask," Rocky said, as Kat continued to try to compose herself.
"Oh be quiet," Kat mumbled as Billy laughed and gave her another hug.
"To think you thought this day would be absolutely horrible," Billy whispered as Kat looked up at him. She finally had her heart back and she had never felt better.