Chapter Two
Dr. Oliver; a tall, muscular man with short, spiked dark brown hair and chocolate eyes; needed to get away from the chaos in his living room, so he stepped out on to the porch. At first, he didn't notice the figure on the steps, but a car passing by shown light through the trees and illuminated the spot where a petite figure in a gray suit with pink pinstripes and long, curly, caramel hair sat, shivering from the cold breeze.
"Kimberly," came a voice that she would have recognized anywhere. She still didn't move. He couldn't see it, but her eyes got wide with fear and she suddenly felt the urge to run and cry at the same time.
"What are you doing out here?" he asked.
"Just not ready to go in there yet," she managed to mumble.
"Well, in your position, I wouldn't want to go in there either," he said, coldly.
"Thank you, I feel so much better now," she said sarcastically, looking at him for the first time.
"It wasn't meant to make you feel better, Kim," he said, looking at her as well, "You screwed up a lot. If we didn't need everybody, we wouldn't have called you." Both of them stood now and she did her best to mask the pain and fear in her face from him.
"We're supposed to be family, Tommy. That is unconditional, or at least I thought it was," she snapped.
"Don't be naïve, Kim. You can't cut us out of your life for nine years and come here and expect everything to be okay," he all but yelled.
"I don't expect that, Tommy. I'm not stupid. Do you honestly think I wanted it to be this way?" she yelled, causing faces to appear in the windows.
"Nobody ignores family for nine years, I don't care what the reason is," he yelled back. Tears sprang to her eyes and she took a step down.
"Of course you wouldn't," she said softly, "I should have known that."
"Kim, I…"he began.
"No," she interrupted, "You know what, it doesn't matter." She pulled out a pen and a Post-It from her purse.
"Here's my cell and the hotel where I'm staying," she said, writing down her number and the first hotel name she could remember from the drive, "You can reach me there, if and when you need me." She turned and began walking toward her car. He followed her.
"Kim, wait," he said. She turned to face him unexpectedly and stopped him dead in his tracks.
"Wait for what," she asked, tears falling down her cheeks, "For you to make me feel even more guilty? Or to go in there, with all of them, and listen to the criticize me for how horrible I've been all these years? Do you think I don't know? Huh?!"
"Kim, I'm…" he began.
"No," she interrupted again, "Don't, because I don't need it and I don't want it. I know how I've been, but how many times did somebody pick up the phone and call after I stopped?" Her yelling was causing the people inside the house to come out and observe the ongoing fight.
"Did anybody even worry or wonder what happened? Huh?!" she yelled and when he didn't answer she added, "I didn't think so." She opened her car door and composed herself a little before turning to him again.
"You can reach me there," was all she said.
Tommy stood there and watched her drive away. He wasn't sure how to react to the situation. Before he knew it, the occupants of his house were surrounding him.
"What was that about," asked Katherine Hillard, the tall, blonde haired, blue eyed, Australian that took Kimberly's place as the pink ranger and stayed on them team to become the first pink Zeo Ranger and the first pink Turbo Ranger.
"I don't know," Tommy said, "But I'm going to find out."