Disclaimer: ((Same as before- in chapter 1))

A/N:  Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing.. J  I'm glad you guys like it so far and I hope you continue to.

Story:  Just a Little Bit of Fate

Chapter 2:  Things Change

Pairing: Tommy/Kimberly

Season(s): Current Dino Thunder as well as mentions from seasons 1-3 and both movies.  (I haven't really seen much of the Dino Thunder season so bare with me on it.)

Chapter 2

            "I guess it pays off to know people in high places," Derek said to Kim as they exited their plane.  Kim giggled.

            "Yeah well when you win the Pan Global everyone wants to be your friend, or is your friend," she said.

            "Yeah all those boys you dated, before you found a winner like me," Derek joked as he swung his arm around Kimberly's shoulders.

            "Oh yes, and what a lucky girl I am to have such a great man like you," she joked back with him.  Kimberly's phone rang, "Hello?" she said into the phone.  "Hunter! Thank you so much for everything, yes the flight was great!  Thanks again so much you don't know how much this means to me… Oh yes I will thanks again! OK bye" she smiled and hung up the phone.

            "So he still straight?" Derek asked smiling.

            Kimberly giggled, "Yeah sorry," she smiled, "He was just making sure that the flight went well."

            "He must really like you to let you use his personal jet," Derek smiled.

            "He's such a sweetie!" she smiled.  "Let's go get our bags we have a lot to do."

            "Uh oh!" Derek said jokingly as he followed after Kim.

……………………………………

"I'm a reeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllll boy!  Well you reached Derek and Kimberly and we are unavoidably detained at the moment, or shopping so leave us a message because we would love to hear for you.  Ciao! BEEP"  "Hey Kim and Der, its Jase just trying to find you guys, I guess I'll try your cell Kim. Bye." Jason hung up the phone thinking to himself that if he knew Kimberly she was on her way to Reefside at the moment, and boy did he know her.  And if in fact she was, then his plan was again falling into place more perfectly then he expected, it really seemed to be like fate.  And he was more then happy to get all the help he could. 

……………………….

 "Thanks so much David!  This is perfect," Kimberly said taking the keys from her good friend David, who worked with the rented cars at the airport. 

            "Anything for you Kim!" He smiled.  "Let me know if you need anything else," he smiled at her.

            She reached over the counter and hugged him, "Thanks again, so much!" she smiled.  And waved as her and David walked away.

            "Oh me likes," Derek said as he saw the car, a new Desert Platinum color, Infiniti coupe. 

Kimberly giggled, "Yeah me too!" she said as she pressed the button to unlock the trunk and doors.  They put their bags into the trunk and hopped into the car.  "Oh this is nice," she said as she ran her hands over the steering wheel, she typed into the navigation system Reefside High and mapped out her way to get to the school. 

"Estimated time 34 minutes and 13 seconds," the system said to her.  Kim and Derek both looked at each other and giggled.

"This is great!" Derek said, "Maybe we'll even get to see the power rangers!" he smiled at her.

"Yeah maybe," she giggled at him remember her old days as a ranger.

……………………………………….

"You get a hold of her?" Tommy asked as Jason walked into his classroom. 

"No," he said, "she must be out shopping with Derek." Jason said immediately kicking himself for saying Derek's name.

"Der---" Tommy started but was cut off by Tommy's students walking into the classroom and taking their seats. 

"Hey Dr. O!" Conner, Ethan, and Kira said in unison, "hey Jason!" they said to Jason.

"Hey guys," Jason replied, they had all met last night at Hayley's Cyberspace.  "Dr. O," he teased Tommy as the students walk away.

"Man don't even," Tommy said to him slightly smiling.

"I'm gonna go sit in the back and watch the great Dr. O at work," Jason teased again.  Tommy just rolled his eyes. 

…………………………………

Kimberly and Derek pulled up into the parking lot of Reefside High.

"34 minutes my ass," Derek said.  "Try 24!" he yelled at the navigation system.  Kimberly laughed.  "My little speed demon," Derek said as he kissed her on the forehead and pinched her cheeks.  Her smile slowly faded as she looked at the school.  "It'll be ok Kim," Derek smiled down at her. 

"I have butterflies in my stomach Der," she admitted biting her lip.

"Well you shouldn't have eaten those caterpillars," he teased.  As a smile appeared on Kimberly's face and she let out a laugh.  "I'll be right here with ya, let's go," he said grabbing her hand.  She sighed deeply and they walked up into the school, she went to the main office.

"Excuse me can you please tell me what room is Mr. Thomas Oliver is in please?" Kimberly asked. 

The women looked up at her, "Dr. Oliver?" the women corrected, Kimberly stood there in shock, "Dr?" she thought to herself.  "What is this about miss?" the woman asked raising an eyebrow at Kimberly and Derek.

Kimberly looked petrified, she didn't know what to say, "We have some very important test results that Dr. Oliver asked to bring over right away," Derek chimed in.  The women looked at them, and shook her head as she reached into her desk.  She handed them both visitor passes, "These are your visitor passes, Dr. Oliver's lab is at the end of the hallway on the right, he is in class right now but--," she looked at the clock on the wall, "Class should be ending in a few minutes."

"Thank you," Kimberly said.

"Yes, Thank you, Dr. Oliver will be so pleased," Derek continued not being able to help himself.  Kimberly grabbed his hand and pulled him out into the hallway.  "You didn't tell me your Loverboy was a Dr. Loverboy." He joked.

"I had no idea," Kimberly said, "no one told me either!  Just that he taught here."  They walked to the end of the hall looking in the windows, "wait a minute," Kim said backing up, "Oh My God, its Jase," she said looking in the back door to the classroom as Jason sat at one of the lab desks.  Kim laughed.

"Oh he's cuter then I remember," Derek said to her. 

"Shush!" Kimberly said holding back a laugh at the exact moment as Jason looked over.  She waved at him as his face turned to shock and all the blood seem to drain from his face.  This made Kimberly laugh even harder.  She blew him a kiss and he smiled at her and shook her head.  At that moment the bell rang.  And kids began to flood the hallway. 

"Let's go!" Derek said like a little school girl, pulling her along.  They walked into the room as Jason was walking up to Tommy's desk and Conner, Kira, and Ethan were talking to Tommy.  Jase looked at the door and Tommy's eyes followed dropping the coffee cup in his hands as he saw her. 

"Ahh!" the 3 teens screamed jumping backwards. 

"You ok Dr. O?" Conner asked.

"You sure have and effect on him," Derek whispered into Kim's ear, as she stood frozen.

Was it really her? Was he dreaming, making it all up in his head.  Her, the one who no matter how hard he tried could not get over her, the one whose voice had been ringing in his head saying his name over and over since her heard her this morning.  

"KIM!" Jason said running over to her giving her a hug and a kiss. 

"Hey Jase!" she said returning the gestures.

"Hey Derek," Jason smiled at him shaking his hand.

"Jason, wonderful to see you" Derek returned. 

"I didn't expect to you guys," Jason said to them.

"Yes well after you lovely performance this morning we just thought we would stop in, you know being in town and all." She said to him raising an eyebrow.

"Who is that?" Kira asked Dr. O.

"Yeah she looks so… so familiar," Ethan said. 

"And she's hot," Conner said.  Kira and Ethan looked at him and shook their heads.

Kimberly, Derek and Jason walked over to Tommy and the teens.

"Tommy," she smiled at him.

He looked at her, "Kimberly?" he said more as a question then a statement.

"In the flesh," she winked, remember the day that she fainted when she found of Tommy was the new white ranger and he said those exact same words to her.  She was shaking trying to hide her nervousness.  Tommy let out a small nervous laugh, and looked at her to see Kimberly and Derek holding hands, the smile faded a little and Kimberly quickly dropped her hand with Derek and in almost an out of body experience  went over to give Tommy a hug.  Tommy was a little reluctant to hug her but did; he was still mostly in shock.  "Tommy this is my good friend Derek.  Derek this is Lov--Tommy," Kimberly corrected her self from almost saying Loverboy, Derek's fond name for talking about Tommy as she introduced the two.

"Nice to meet you," Derek said extending his hand and holding in his laugh from noticing Kim's not so nice cover-up.

"You too," Tommy returned.

"I'm Kira, this is Conner and Ethan," Kira told Kim and Derek. 

"It's nice to meet you all," Kim and Derek both said in unison.

Jason looked at them, "Wow that was scary, you guys spend way too much time together," Jason laughed as well as everyone else, everyone except Tommy.

"You guys better get to class," Tommy said to his students.

They looked disappointed, "ok see you after school Dr. O," Conner said to him.  Everyone said there goodbyes to Jason, Kim and Derek.

"Hopefully we'll see you guys after school too!" Kira said to Kim and Derek as the boys pulled her out. 

"You know I'm really thirsty, want to show me where I can get a drink Jason?" Derek asked him.

"Sure, you two have fun catching up," Jason said and he and Derek walked out of the room. 

Panic struck both Tommy and Kimberly's faces as the two left them.

"So…" Tommy started.

"So…" Kimberly said looking down at her feet.  He still made her feel like a little girl giving her butterflies in her stomach.  She smiled thinking about Derek's joke from earlier about eating caterpillars.

"What brings you here?" Tommy asked.

"I-I-I wanted to see you," Kimberly stammered out. 

"You wanted to see me?" Tommy asked in shock.  "Kimberly it's been years."

"I know," she said sheepishly. "I'm sorry."  Tommy didn't say anything, "I like your hair," she said quickly trying to change the subject not wanted to relive the past. 

"Yeah, we'll I thought it was time I cut it," he said.

"Yeah, well it looks really good, I guess it goes well with that PhD," she smiled at him.

"Ha!" he let out a little laugh, "yeah that."

"I never pegged you as the doctor type," she said.

"Yeah well, people change, Kimberly," He said more bitterly then he wanted.  Kimberly's face faded a little, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it to sound like that," he said reaching a hand out towards her.

"It's ok," she said giving him a smile, "I guess we all have said things that we didn't mean," she said playing with her fingers.  "You know there is a reason I came---"
 she was cut off by Derek and Jason walking into the room.

"We're Baccccckkk," Derek said as he and Jason entered the room.

"You two ok?" Jase asked.

"Did someone die?  Kim did you crush one of the dino eggs or something?" Derek joked.  As both Derek and Jason watched the flushed faces of Tommy and Kim staring at each other as Kim sat in a desk in the first row and Tommy stood behind his desk.

Kim let out a little laugh, pulling her eyes away from Tommy's, "so funny Der," She said.

            "You're no fun when you don't have any sleep," Derek said immediately regretting it.

"Yeah, well…" that was all Kim could get out, "I need to… I-I gotta…" she sighed loudly and ran out of the room.  She located the girls' restroom and went in.  She went over to the sink and wash cool water on her face.  Why did she come back?  What was she expecting to find after all these years?  That he would be welcoming her with open arms.  YEAH RIGHT KIM!  She thought as she remembered back to the letter and thought about how she would have felt if Tommy had sent her the same letter, she almost broke down into tears.  She grabbed the sand-paper like towel and dried her face off.  She reached down into get her purse realizing she didn't have it on anymore, "Shit," she said out loud.  She tried to fix her makeup, thank God for water proof makeup.  She ran her finger under each eye to clean up a bit, gathering herself together she walked out of the bathroom and back down the hall to Tommy's classroom and walked in the room to see the three boys standing there.  "Well we have to go," Kim said quickly latching onto Derek and pulling him towards the door.  "I guess well see you guys later or something," Kim continued as she felt like she was once again in high school. 

            "Actually, we'll see them tonight," Derek said.  Kim stop flat in her tracks and turned around to him, shocked.  "We were invited to dinner at Tommy's house tonight.  You know for old friends to catch up and I get free food, because I love food and free food is even better!" Derek winked at her.   It looked almost as if Kim would faint.  "I have directions and everything, not that we need it with that fancy machine in your car, but you know, just in case." He said.

            "Well I guess that we'll see you guys tonight then," she said as she pulled Derek out the door.

            "Bye Jase, Bye Tommy it was nice meeting you," Derek yelled to them.

            "Bye guys, be careful!" Jase yelled back.

            "You made dinner plans?" Kim said to him as they walked towards her car.

            "No we were invited by Tommy," he corrected.

            "Are you serious?"

            "Yes, so we need to go get you a sexy outfit to wear." Derek said as Kimberly stopped looking at the jeep next to her car.  This is his car; she thought to herself, I know it is.   "Umm this is our car, Kim," he said stand next to the little coupe.

            "Oh yeah, sorry."  They got into the car.

            "Oh and we were invited to stay at Tommy's too," Derek said with a slight smile, "So I accepted, on our behalf."

            "WHAT?!"

            "Yeah he said that he had a lot of extra rooms and we could stay in them, see he asked what hotel we were staying and I told him that I didn't know we didn't have one and then he say that we should stay with him, to save the money and all" Kimberly sighed. "I thought you would be happy," Derek continued.

            Kim rolled her eyes and shook her head.  "No you wanted to be close to Jason hoping to see him in a towel or something," Kim said.

            "Yes that would be nice," Derek said dreaming about it.

            "He is straight, all you'll be is friends," Kim said setting him straight.

            "I can live with that as long as you and Tommy are together."

            "That will never happen," Kim confirmed.

            "You should never say never, all things are possible my little love muffin," he winked at her.  "And after he sees you looking all hot and what not there will be no stopping him from ripping off your clothes and making love to you right on the table."

            "Please with the visuals."

            "Oh you liked it!  I bet you were wishing he would just do you right there in his class room," he joked.

            "Oh my gosh, no way!" she said as they both laughed.  "Just one glitch in your plan there Mr. Perfect."

            "Oh yeah?  What's that?"  Derek asked.

            "You say I'm gonna look all sexy for him, but how am I going to get ready with out him seeing me if we don't have a hotel."

            "Honey I have already got that covered."  Kim looked at him, "You see we go shopping, Jason calls us when they get to the house Tommy has stuff to do in his lab or something, we come in get showered and then we have dinner.  He'll be in his lab till dinner. We have nothing to worry about."

            "Yeah we'll see," Kim said.

………………………………………………………

Kim's phone rang as she and Derek were walking out of the mall.   "Hey Jase" she said into the phone. 

            She heard him clear his throat, "Actually, this is Tommy," he said.  "I just wanted to tell you that I am home and you guys can come over whenever I am going to be in my lab so just let yourself in and your welcome to use any of the rooms and showers or anything."

            "Oh ok thanks," she said into the phone.  "Where's Jase?" she asked.

            "Oh he's running to the store to get some stuff for dinner so he asked me to call before I started working, so I-I-I-I'll see you soon then." He said to her.

            "OK bye Tommy, see you soon." She said clicking her phone off.

            "Tommy?" Derek asked smiling.

            "Yeah we can go over there not and get ready," Kim said.

            "Perfect," Derek smiled. 

…………………………………………..

They made there way to Tommy's house through the woods.  "I never knew your man was such a woodman," Derek said.

            "Well he's not my man, but I didn't either really.  I guess things changed." Kim said.  Finding his house and pulling up.  "He said to just let ourselves in, so I guess that's what we do," she said to Derek as they grabbed their bags out of the car.  "We really need to start packing lighter," Kim said.

            "Yeah right, like we could do that!" Derek teased. 

            They walked into the house, "wow this is amazing!" Kimberly said looking around at the house.

            "Loverboy is quite the decorator." Derek said raising his eyebrows, "Look at all the little dinosaurs."

            "Yes, it would appear that his is." Kim stated as they made their way up stairs.

            "You should take that room, look its pink!" Derek said to her.  "I'll take this one and use this shower I guess you can use the one in that other room." Derek said.

            "Why do I feel like you setting me up for something," Kim asked.

            "I don't know darling!  Just give a holler if you need any help!" he said making his way towards his room.

            Kim walked to the room that Derek told her she thought she should stay in, it wasn't pink it had one pink pillow on the bed that was the only pink thing in the room.   She put her bags down and went into the other room; it had to be Tommy's.  She walked into it and immediately a wave of his cologne over took her senses, it smelled wonderful and then she knew for a fact that it was his room, the master bedroom was huge, and everything was nice and neat except for the bed the covers were everywhere.  She smile, at least some things didn't change.  She ran her hand over his bed and turned to see the enormous bathroom, Wow he really worked hard to get all this.  She smiled and went into the bathroom she opened the linen closet and pulled out a towel she turned on the water and got in.  After about 15-20 minutes she finally turned the water off and stepped out of the shower, she dried herself off and wrapped the towel around her small body.  She saw his cologne on the sink and went over picked it up and smelled, "mmmmm" she smiled, so many memories flooded her mind of when they were younger and in love and together.  And she smiled until she thought of the day she sent the letter, he smile faded and she clipped the cap back on the bottle and placed it back on the sink.  She took a deep breath and sighed.  She opened the bathroom door, "AHH!" she screamed to her shock Tommy stood directly in front of her, she pulled her hand to her mouth, "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry you scared me." She said to him while thinking that he looked great.  He looked her up and down and smiled. 

            "I'm sorry," he said, "I didn't realize you were in there." Gosh she looked beautiful, standing soaking wet in a towel in his bathroom, in his bed room, in his house.  Like it was fate, like it was meant to be, she was beautiful, his beautiful. We'll she was. 

            She smiled, "Yeah sorry Derek was in the other."  Tommy smile faded a little.

            "What no shower together," he said with a small hint of bitterness in his voice, almost unnoticeable.

            Kimberly burst out laughing, well at least she thought it was funny he thought to himself.  "Tommy you are too funny sometimes," she said to him putting her hand up to his chest trying to catch her breath.  "Too funny."  Tommy looked at her oddly and she looked down realizing that she was still in her towel hair dripping wet, "Oh well I better go get dressed!" she said smiling at him, thanks for letting me use your shower, she said walking out of the room.

            "Anytime," he called after her, "beautiful," he said barely even in a whisper.  She still was as beautiful as ever, with her dripping wet hair and tan petite body, in his towel.  He remembered the day when he had first come to school and everything had gone wrong for her and she was having the worst day and she got caught in the rain, and she was so upset because she thought that she looked awful but he thought that she looked so beautiful so pure, it didn't matter what she wore, he liked her because she was her, and she made him feel things he never knew he could feel, she still did that too him, and it scared him.  He wished that she would have stayed there all day in the towel with her hand on his chest.  That is what he wished. 

………………………………….

Wow he looked soooo good Kim thought as she went into her bedroom, sing a song that was stuck in her head from the car ride over, "bounce baby out the door, I ain't gonna take this no more, bounce baby out the door, get up and move don't make me act a fool," she sung as she put her makeup on.  As she started to apply her eyeliner she smelt Tommy's cologne she sniffed her hand there it was probably from touching the bottle, and from touching him.  His muscles had gotten tighter in his stomach, if that was even possible, and he seemed taller to her.  She sighed; this sure was going to be an interesting trip she thought as she continued to get ready.  There came a knock at the door, and she jumped, what was with her lately, why was she so jumpy she thought to herself, she was never like this.  She went over to the door and opened it a little, still in her towel she peeked out.  "Derek!  What are you doing?" she asked laughing.  Tommy watched from his room, unnoticed.

            "Well besides standing here listening to you sing 'Bounce', and you know, wondering why you are still in a towel, I just came to let you know that I was going to the store with Jase, so we'll be back," he told her with a smirk on his face.

            "Out with Jase?  But aren't we suppose to be eat in like a half hour?" she said thinking there was something up.  Didn't Jason just go to the store? She thought.

            "Oh yeah, we'll we should be back for dinner and if not you and Loverboy can just start without us," he smiled.  Kimberly hit him playfully.

            "You better stop that!" she said smiling. 

            "Oh yes I know, I better, hmm don't want our little secret to get out now do we?" he joked. Kimberly raised an eyebrow at him.  "well you have fun," he said leaning down to hug her, she reached up and hugged him back, her towel can up a little, and he planted a huge kiss on her check.  "Goodbye darling." He said starting down the hallway.

            "Bye have fun," she said after him.  She looked towards Tommy's room as she swore that she saw someone watching her, she shrugged and closed the door, drying her hair and finishing up.