Obligatory disclaimer: I own nothing of the Power Rangers nor do I know who currently owns them. Any other questions?

"I'm telling you Skull," Bulk said surveying the crowded beach deck. "Hosting this reunion was the smartest thing we could have done. Look at how many people came out for it. We are going to make a fortune this weekend."

"Yeah," said Skull. "That's you, Bulky, always thinkin'."

"Look at 'em out there, Skull," he said. "Can you believe it's been ten years since we were all in high school?"

"Yeah," Skull said. "Some of them were such dweebs then."

A couple Bulk recognized from high school pranced by arm in arm talking low. "Some of them are still dweebs," he said.

"Yeah," Skull said. "Glad we're not like that."

Tommy sat at a small table alone facing the water. He was on the far corner of the deck and could see ever color on the water as the sun sank slowly in the distance.

What am I doing here? He asked himself. He ran a thumb along the empty cup in front of him. The ice had left an uneven ring of condensation around the edge. There was now a large streak through the fog where he'd touched it.

I should have kept in touch better, he thought. I was their leader and I abandoned them. They must hate me for forgetting them like that.

"Hey stranger, can I buy you a drink?" said a low voice from behind him.

Tommy turned. "No, I have-Trini?"

Trini smiled down at him, her smooth black hair rippling across her face. "Hey Tommy," she said.

Tommy stood up and she hugged him tight. "It's so good to see you," she said.

"Sit down," he said.

They seated themselves at the table and Trini smiled.

"So, what have you been up to?"

Tommy shrugged. "I'm a teacher. I was studying paleontology but I…decided to get out of research and started teaching high school."

"High school? Really?"

"Yeah," Tommy said. "Who would have thought?"

Trini smiled again, and then she saw something over Tommy's shoulder and her smile widened. "Over here!" she said waving at someone.

Tommy felt his stomach clench, wondering who it could be.

"Look who I found," Trini said gesturing to Tommy.

He felt a hand land on his shoulder. "Well don't that beat all?" a musical voice said.

"Zach?"

He turned around and sure enough there stood Zach, wearing a Hawaiian shirt that matched the colors of the sunset. "I see you've met my wife."

Tommy turned back to Trini and did a double take. "You're wife?"

Trini held up her hand, displaying an elaborately set diamond. "Almost six years now."

"That's great!" Tommy said.

Zach came around and sat on the other side of Trini at the small table. Trini leaned into him and said, "Get this, Tommy is a high school teacher."

"Get out! Seriously?" Zach said. "Dude, that's awesome!"

"Thanks," he said. "What are you guys doing?"

Zach's smile widened. "Well, I am an assistant to the American Ambassador of Britain. And Trini here…" He gestured grandly for his wife to take the stage.

"I'm a therapist," she said. "I have a small practice in London."

"You're living in London now?"

"Too right, mate," Zach said in an exaggerated accent.

"That's awesome," Tommy said. "I'm really happy for you."

"Thanks, man," Zach said. "So what about you? Is there a special lady friend we should know about?"

"No, nothing like that," Tommy said. "Just me."

There was an awkward silence and Tommy sipped at his drink unconsciously, only to realize it was empty. He turned back to the club, hoping to catch the eye of one of the servers.

"Did you hear about Billy?" Trini asked.

"Yeah, the robot thing," Tommy said. "I saw the magazine at the airport."

"I hope you bought extra copies," Zach said. "There's not a single one in Angel Grove."

Trini laughed. "Have you seen him?"

"No," Tommy said. "Have you?"

Trini shook her head. "No one has. I saw Kimberly earlier and she said she tried calling his room and he didn't answer, but Bulk and Skull never saw him leave."

"Kimberly's here?" Tommy asked, perking up at the name. He immediately regretted it, she was the last person he wanted to see.

"Yeah, she came in this afternoon, right before we did, but I don't know if she's coming tonight," Trini said. "She's-" Trini paused and cut a look to Zach. "She's not very social at the moment."

That makes two of us, Tommy though finally spotting a server, a young man in a gold vest the large monogram "B" embroidered on the front.

"Another drink sir?" the server asked.

"Yes please," Tommy said handing him his glass. "Vodka tonic."

The server nodded, asked Trini and Zach if they wanted anything, and after they declined, disappeared into the crowd.

"So, who else is here?" Trini asked.

"I saw Adam and Tanya at the airport," Tommy said.

"I saw Adam earlier," Trini said. "He was with a woman, tall thin black woman, cropped hair?"

Tommy nodded. "That's Tanya, she was the Yell-she came after Aisha."

Trini nodded, understanding. It seemed silly to be dancing around the words after all these years, but old habits die hard.

"Jason should be here too," Zach spoke up. "He and Kat still live here."

"Kat," Tommy said. One more person he didn't really want to see. "I didn't know they still lived around here."

"Yeah, didn't you read your reunion papers," Zach said. "They bought Ernie's Juice bar after he passed away."

"They did?"

"Yes," Trini said. "It was in the brochure, right after Bulk and Skull owning Bulkmeier's."

"I guess I didn't read that far."

"Well, Jason told me they'd be here," Trini said. "Oh, wait, is that them?"

Tommy turned in the direction Trini was looking, and sure enough, there stood Jason, as tall and lean as ever. Katherine stood next to him, her hand casually entwined in his. They were both scanning the room and hadn't noticed them yet. Trini was holding an arm up, waving to get their attention, and finally Katherine's face lit up as she recognized the group. She pulled on Jason's arm and led him to their table. Trini and Zach stood up immediately to greet them. Tommy forced himself out of his seat as they went through the obligatory hugs and greetings. Kat hugged Tommy without hesitating while Zach and Jason maneuvered a second table and more chairs to their little corner of the deck.

"It's so good to see you," Kat said.

"You too," Tommy said. "What's this I hear about you owning Ernie's?"

"Oh, that!" Katherine said taking a seat that Jason set up for her. "Well, you know when Ernie died he left the place to his nephew, but the nephew didn't know much about running a business and couldn't keep it up on his own. He was going to close the place, but-" she threw a glance at Jason then looked back at Tommy- "we just couldn't let it go. So we scraped together some money and borrowed the rest and took the place over."

"Wow," Tommy said.

The waiter appeared then with Tommy's drink and took orders from the new members. Then Trini called out, seeing Adam and Tanya across the room. More chairs were shuffled and greetings were made. Tommy sipped the bitter vodka and forced himself to smile.

"Where are you living now?" Kat asked. "Every time I try to write or call whatever address I have is vacant."

"I just moved to Riverside," Tommy said. He gave his story about quitting traveling to teach high school and Jason had a good laugh over it. "I was moving around a lot before that. There didn't seem to be a point in keeping a permanent place when I was never in the same place more than a few months."

"What were you doing?"

"I was studying paleontology, going around to different dig sights, doing studies, things like that." Until I screwed up and trusted the wrong person, Tommy thought.

"I'll be right back," Tommy said getting up. Despite the fact that they were outdoors, he was suffocating. He went to the bar and ordered a fresh drink, then stepped around to the back stairway and went down to the beach.

The beach was nearly as crowded as the deck. The last remnants of sunlight were disappearing in the ocean. Men in gold Bulkmeier staff uniforms were already running up and down the beach lighting the Tiki torches for the evening festivities. Tommy walked out to the beach, past the crowds, near the water. He stood there just out of reach of the surf for several seconds, watching the last rays of gold and red disappear over the water.

I'm here, he thought. I've seen them and it hasn't killed me yet.

He still couldn't shake the guilt. He'd been gone so long. He always meant to call or write, or something. It was what he should have done. But he didn't. True, he had other things on his mind, other things that were still going on. It shouldn't bother him so much, he knew that. This is what happens, he told himself. People grow up, they grow apart. That's what these events are for, a chance to reconnect. That's what he should be doing, he thought. He should be up there getting to know his friends again, not here wallowing in his own misgivings.

He drained the last of the gin and tonic and turned to head back to the deck. He stepped inside the line of tiki torches and hit a patch of loose sand and lost his balance. He stumbled to the side and hit something hard before going down in the sand, dragging whatever he'd his along with it.

"Oh, man, I'm so sorry," he said trying to get up. He saw a blur of pink and black silk in front of him. He'd run into some woman. Wonderful Tommy. Great move there.

"It's okay," she said. "I'm alright I-"

She stopped talking and Tommy found himself looking into a pair over very familiar brown eyes.

"Kimberly." He could barely say the name out loud. He wasn't even sure if she'd heard it.

"Tommy."

They sat there in the sand time standing still for both of them. Tommy just stared at her until he realized his chest was burning because he forgot to breathe. He took a deep breath and let it out, feeling some relief in his chest, but not in his stomach.

Kim was moving slowly in the sand now, trying to disentangle her legs from his.

"Oh," he said quickly. "I'm sorry, let me help you up."

"Are you guys okay?" came Jason's voice out of nowhere. Tommy felt several firm hands on his arms, pulling him to his feet. His eyes were still on Kimberly, who was receiving similar assistance from Trini and Tanya.

"We saw you go down," Jason said. "That looked like it hurt."

"I'm okay," Tommy said. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Kim said dusting herself off. "I just got sand everywhere."

"I'm sorry."

Kimberly shrugged. "It'll be fine."

"We should get back up before someone steals our table," Jason said. They all nodded and trooped back up the stairs. Tommy followed Kim and when they reached the table she slid into a seat next to Trini and Zach, putting her directly across from him.

Conversation started up again immediately, but he barely heard a word. His eyes were on Kim. She was listening intently as everyone else talked about their lives and jobs and families, but she didn't talk. She just sat and listened, every once in awhile asking questions or making comments.

She's changed, Tommy thought. The old Kim would have whined about her dress getting covered in sand, and would have been excited to tell everyone about her life and what she'd been doing the last twelve years.

She's not very social at the moment, Trini had said. Tommy had thought this was an exaggeration, but he realized it wasn't. Kim had always been the life of the room in high school, but now, she may as well be part of the deck they were sitting on.

What happened to her? He wondered. He watched her sit, the light from the newly lit torches giving her pale skin a beautiful copper glow, and reflecting off the bits of sand still stuck in her scarf, giving it a glittery appearance. She never smiled, he realized. Apparently he wasn't the only one still fighting monsters.