A/N: Hey guys! Thanks so much for the reviews; it really means a lot to me. As I've mentioned earlier this will take place during Zeo, but imagine my surprise when I found out Zedd/Rita were actually still alive. So instead of using the monsters that I know nothing about I'll stick with what I do know and that will be some Z/R/and putties. This will definitely be a Kim/Tommy story. Nothing will happen between Kat/Tommy besides friendship and I won't bash on anyone either, but fights will ensue between characters. If you wish to have a favorite pair coupled let me know. I'll also do my very best and update once or twice a week.
Chapter Two: Home
Tommy Oliver might seem like your average and newly single teenager, but hidden underneath the soft exterior of shyness and forgetfulness was a young man who even though becoming recently broken manages to save the world on a weekly basis as the leader of Angel Grove's superheroes, the Power Rangers. He used to loath whenever Zedd would send down a handful of his clay putties and a conjured up monster to ruin his actives, but nowadays it seems that he welcomes it, even hopes for it, because than only when he's fully morphed does he forget. He forgets all about his days that seem to slow at a snail's rate, his mind doesn't solely concentrate on his new status in the dating world or how he got there, his brain forgets about the girls trying to vie for his attention to try and become his new girlfriend, and most importantly his heart forgets for a short time about the girl who shattered his even though she's 3,000 miles away; yes only when he's morphed as a White Ranger does he get his solace.
Though that peace is only momentarily and Tommy soon is brought back to reality when he walks into Ernie's to celebrate another victory for defeating Zedd's creation.
"It seems to me that Zedd's losing his touch." Billy walks up toward the group of six. He may no longer be an active blue ranger, but he's still an important part of their team. Billy's there techno whiz and resident brain of the group and no one would be able to take his place.
Rocky, the food enthusiast-slash-funny man, and Adam, the shy yet humble one, knocked fists in agreement; Tanya, who is outgoing, and Katherine, the pink soft-spoken ranger, high-fived; while Tommy, the one who is slowly yet angrily creeping back into his shell, and Jason, who had returned to ranger duties with a wider view of the world, nodded their heads in agreement.
"After all that work I'm starved!" said Rocky making his way up the steps toward the counter to order his usual which consisted of a slice of pizza, a cheeseburger, fries, and a chocolate shake. "Let's grub down."
"Most guys think with one of their two heads, but not Rocky." Jason shook his head trying to think of a time whenever he hung out with the new blue ranger and food wasn't involved. There hadn't been a time of course.
"The only part he thinks with is his stomach." Adam laughed trying to sneakily steal one of Rocky's fries, but failing when Adam's hand was slapped away by said friend.
"Get your own." Rocky mumbled swallowing the last of his pepperoni pizza. "You guys still coming over for dinner? Mom's making her famous chicken enchiladas with the works."
"Wouldn't miss it for the world Rocko." Tommy had put his hand on his teammate's shoulder with the thought of the Mexican dish making all his friend's mouths salivate.
"Dinner's in an hour." Jason pointed out. "Won't you be full?" He may have transferred his powers over toward Rocky, but at the time Jason had had only a couple of chance meetings with him that lasted for no more than ten minutes. It wasn't until three months ago when he was appointed the new Gold Ranger that he actually got to know the former red ranger. "Wait-"Jason stopped. "You'll probably just be twice as hungry." Yes, Jason got to know Rocky fully in the last three months.
"So that means you're coming right?"
"As much as I'd like to man I can't."
"Why not Jase?" Tommy inquired.
"This morning my mom told me that we're having a family member come stay with us for a while. Apparently it was a surprise visit."
"It can't be much of a surprise if you know about it." Katherine softly mentioned with a smile. "Now can it?"
"I guess not." Jason scratched his neck. "It was just we didn't know we were going to have company and I'm not exactly sure for how long."
"Do you know who it's going to be?" Tanya spoke.
"That's the surprise part. Anyway as much as I'd enjoy going with you all for dinner I told him mom I'd be home like two hours ago. She's going to kill me."
"I'll have my mom wrap up some food for you and the family. She always makes enough to feed a small village anyway." Rocky added waving goodbye to their friend who was almost out the door.
"I'll bring it over later on." Tommy added.
"Thanks man! See ya later."
Making it home in less than ten minutes, but two hours too late, Jason tried to quietly open the front door hoping that whatever family member was over would be entertaining his parents. However, luck wasn't on his side.
"Jason Lee Scott!" He cringed hearing his mother's voice ring through the den as she made her way toward the foyer. She had to use all three names. Boy, was he in trouble. "Where have you been? We'd agreed for you to be home at 3."
"Sorry mom, I lost track of time." He replied looking past the foyer into the living room anxiously hoping to see who was here, but only caught sight of his father reading the newspaper.
Melissa Scott watched her son's frantic eyes search out the downstairs level before Jason gave her a questionable look. "There's someone upstairs in the guestroom waiting to see you."
Taking the stairs two steps at a time he wondered which aunt or cousin it could possibly be before he reached the top and walked toward the guest room, located across from his room, and which happened to be on the opposite side of the house where his parent's bedroom was at.
Holding his ear up toward the door Jason tried to hear if he might recognize a voice, but when all he heard was muffled sounds he knocked each time his knuckles sounding louder against the wooden door.
He waited patiently for a couple of minutes before the door opened. To say he was surprised by the person leaning against the door's frame the understatement of the year. "Li'l Sis?"
"Big brother!" Kimberly jumped into his arms burying her head into the crook of his neck waiting for him to wrap his arms around her. She remembered the last time she'd seen him. He'd stopped in Florida for a few days before heading home after his stint in Switzerland.
"Kim, what are you doing here?"
"It's good to see you too, Jase."
He hadn't spoken to her since his visit and even if it had made him sad seeing as that had been four months prior he noticed she seemed so much happier at that time. That's when he felt her wet lashes brush across his neck. Slowly letting her down Jason looked at her, really looked at her.
"Have you been crying? Why have you been crying?" His brotherly instincts kicking in instantly.
She couldn't tell him why she was here. Not the real truth anyway. Surely everyone would find out in a few months when it would be evidently clear and hard to hide, but Kimberly herself hadn't come to terms with the idea of what her future would be turning into. So she told him a different reason that still held truth because there were only two people in this world who could read her like an open book and one of them happened to be standing in front of her.
"I tore a ligament in my arm." Her bottom lip quivered at the idea of a broken dream. "I can't do gymnastics anymore, Jase."
"Oh, Kim, I'm so sorry." Wrapping an arm around her shoulder he brought her into a hug. "Does this mean-"
"It's all over." She cut him off.
Leading her toward the full size bed that sat in the middle of the bedroom the two sat in silence each thinking of what was next to come. Jason's mind wondering to Kim and how much she had badly wanted to be part of the Pan Global Games before it was stolen away quickly, he then thought of his mother who said their family member would be staying for them for a while. How long was a while? Next, Jason thought of the others and how Kim's presence might affect the close group of friends especially after her breakup with- Damnit. How would Tommy, his best friend, take it when he found out Kim was back in town.
Kimberly sat next to Jason letting her tears cascade down her cheeks not bothering to wipe them away as she felt small circles trace the small of her back. It was an automatic response for Jason leading back to when the two were mere children in grade school and Kimberly needed comforting; sometimes he didn't even realize he was using the tips of his fingers to draw circles along his little sisters back. It had become a sort of defense mechanism for the two of them; she needed it and he supplied it.
"Kim, what are you doing here?"
"I already told you why I'm here." God, she hopped that this one time he couldn't read what she was trying desperately to hide.
"I know the reason why you're not in Florida anymore, but why are you here and not with your mom back in France?"
"I don't know French."
"You could learn it. You were always talking about wanting to learn a foreign language and now's your chance."
"I don't know anyone there. My whole life was here before I left."
"Kim your life is where you want it to be." He soothed.
"My friends are here."
"There's nothing wrong with making new friends."
Quirking an eyebrow up in the air she spat. "Geez, Jase, if you didn't want me here all you had to do was say so." She grabbed her empty duffle bag from the closet and began to throw a pair of jeans into them.
"Come on don't be like this." Jason replied taking her jeans out of the bag and placing them inside the open drawer.
"I came back because Angel Grove is my home." Going back toward the closet she ripped the shirts off of the hangers and tossed them inside in the same manner she did her jeans. She ignored Jason who took her shirts out and placed them back onto the hangers while she tossed her hair brush and toiletries in the now empty bag. "Will you stop that! I'll just go to Paris." When had she become so angry? She could have sworn she was sad ten minutes ago, and happily relieved only three minutes ago, and now all of sudden she was filled with anger? Boy oh boy these mood swings were coming faster than what she had read in the pamphlets.
"It's just that now that you're back I'm going to want to keep a closer eye on you and with being the gold ranger-"He was always able to keep an eye on her before and during the time they both served as rangers, but now that only one of them had the power Jason was afraid that something might happen to Kim while he was away defeating a monster and wouldn't be able to protect her because he had to run off and protect the world.
"What did you say?" She asked letting the blow-dryer slip from her hands as it almost missed crashing onto her foot. "Did you just say you're a-"she whispered the next part looking around the empty room cautiously. "-Power Ranger?"
Her eyes widened in shock when Jason looked down smiling while rubbing the back of his neck. And just like that she was no longer angry, but ecstatic.
"Oh my god!"
"Shhh. They'll hear." Jason motioned toward the door.
"Jase, we're upstairs, your parents are downstairs, and the door's closed."
"This coming from the girl who just whispered power rangers after looking around the room suspiciously even though it's just us."
"Force of habit." She waved off. "And a hard habit to break at that."
Jason laughed at how true her words were.
Suddenly Kimberly gasped. "Zordon is going to kill you for telling me that. Or worse! He'll take away your power. You like broke one of his holy rules."
"Neah. Zordon will be fine with it. You're not exactly a civilian."
"Jase, that's exactly what I am. I have no power seeing as how I passed that along to Kat."
"You know what I mean. Once a ranger always a ranger."
"Don't forget I'm also thee original, not a copy." She smiled proudly at the accomplishment.
"Yeah yeah yeah." Jason rolled his eyes. "I'm glad your back."
"Me too."
"So mom says you'll be staying a while. How long is a while?"
"Uhm. Actually-"She bit the bottom side of her lip, a nervous tick of hers. "Till college."
"Does that mean you'll be enrolling at AGHS?"
Kimberly had tried to read into the way Jason spoke, but he didn't sound excited or disappointed which had confused her. "Yeah. I uh, start Tuesday."
"That's great Kim! We always did talk about senior year together!"
"And about the mischief we'd get into."
"It's going to be an interesting year."
Kimberly nodded, too bad Jason nor anyone for that matter could actually fathom just how interesting the year would be.
Jason thought back to his teammates. As if Kimberly read his mind she began to ask about them and he answered every question he could. She didn't ask about the leader of the team or mention how it seemed ironic how Jason and Tommy seemed to switch places. Jason had once been the leader of the Power Rangers while Tommy, who was part of the team, managed to do his own thing while he was the green ranger and now the roles were reversed. The one time Kimberly did mention Tommy she had mentioned him part of the group and how it was still strange for her to see Rocky no longer wore Red, Adam wearing mostly green, Tommy discarding practically all of his white clothing, and watching Jason sport mostly black as his original color only a distant memory. It was something Kimberly was having a hard time getting used to seeing.
"Well it's pretty weird seeing you and not having an ounce of pink on." Jason motioned toward the lavender summer dress that stopped 2/3 above her knee.
"I still wear pink." Kim interjected. "I actually have more pink garments than any other color."
"You just don't wear it everyday like you used to."
She shook her head. "Nope, My closet looks more like a rainbo than cotton candy now."
The two lifelong friends and honorary siblings caught up with each other over the next two hours talking and laughing while childhood stories were retold and things that could have been embarrassing during the time they had occurred was now being seen through older eyes as a funny moment in their history.
"Remember the time we got pulled over by the cops for making a right turn at the stop sign without stopping and we got lectured for ten minutes about safety?"
Kimberly nodded laughing at the memory. "Weren't we on our bikes when that happened?" It was a rhetorical question, but Jason nodded anyway. "You know till this day we still don't stop at stop signs."
"I'll admit I've done a lot of stuff in my life that I'm not proud-"Jason paused while Kimberly gave him the 'go on, continue' look. "No, no that's not true, I'm proud of most of them." his response earned him a playful slap to the chest with the back of her hand.
"Jase!" Kimberly and Jason could hear Momma Scott holler up the staircase for her son. "You've got company."
"Go." Kim shooed him out of the guest bedroom turned hers. "I have a few more things to unpack and they're pretty private."
"Like a diary?" Jason raised an eyebrow. "You might want to find a place less obvious. The first place people think to look is in the pillow case."
"Get out." Kim pused him out the door before closing it.
Once Jason was out of sight she threw herself on the bed. All the unpacking had been accomplished and everything was stored in its proper area. So why was she upstairs one might ask? Kim had clearly seen the way his eyes flicked from excitement to dread in quick seconds at the mention of company and knew it had to be one of his teammates. Sighing she rolled off the bed and looked around her new room. A vanity setting to the far right and on the opposite side a floor lengthen mirror was perked up on the wall.
Walking toward the long mirror she turned to her side gazing at her flat stomach wondering how long it would be before she'd have to stop wearing perfectly fitted blouses and dresses and start wearing loose t-shirts. Sighing Kim was thankful for the baby-doll style dresses that would help hide a growing belly for a short period of time. She just hoped she still had a couple more months before she'd have to resort to that.
Downstairs Tommy handed over the plates full of Mrs. DeSantos' home-style cooking.
"This smells great!" said Jason walking into the kitchen.
"It tastes even better, bro." Tommy smiled patting his back.
"You know I'm going to have to call Maria and ask her for her recipe." Melissa smiled taking the foil off each of the three plates: chicken enchiladas, beans, and Mexican rice.
"After Rocky told her about your house guest she insisted on sending some food right over." Tommy replied sitting down one of the stools by the island.
"That's very kind of her."
Turning his attention to Jason Tommy was about to ask who their house guest turned out to be.
"Don't be silly-"Preston's deep voice echoed through the dining room from the living room as he made his way into the kitchen with said guest. "You haven't eaten since you got here. You and I both know how your mother is and she would have my head if she called and found out you haven't been fed. And besides I have no idea if you even ate on the plane."
"Tell her to come in and eat. It's authentic!" Melissa chirped.
"Really papa Scott-" Tommy heard the voice say causing him to turn his head so quickly he could have gave himself whiplash. "I'm not all that hungry and-"That's when she saw him, their eyes meeting for the briefest of seconds.
"Kimberly?" She could hear Tommy call her name, but she had already turned her attention toward the kitchen sink. The sound of one of the stools screeching across the tile floor caused her to look back at him. "Enjoy the food. I uh, I have to go and um, walk the dog."
Too bad everyone in that room knew that the Oliver's in fact did not have a dog.
A/N: There you have it. Let me know what you think! I know it's been pretty slow, but I hope to get more emotions evolved as this story is explored further. If you would like to see anything in particular happen in here let me know and I might just put it in. Readers always have great ideas for the authors and as one I'd like your input because it's not just my story, but yours as well.
Name of Chapter: Song by Michael Bublé