"Good morning," Tommy whispered as he rolled over on his side to find that Kim was already out of bed and throwing things out of her trunk. "Are you all right?"
"None of my clothes fit," Kim said as she ran her fingers through her hair and let out a frustrated sigh. "I…I was sure I'd last…they fit yesterday!"
"Calm down, I'm sure we can find something…there are other girls close to your size," Tommy said as he walked over to her and placed a hand on her stomach. "It's okay, we'll be fine."
"Tommy, let's not go in today, call Billy, get a charter out of here immediately and let's go home," Kim said, desperately, as he stared at her. He had not seen her this close to hysterics in a very long time and it worried him, it honestly worried him that whatever it was, was making her feel like this.
"We should act as if everything is normal, because we won't be able to get out of here today or tomorrow for that matter. I called Billy once you got to sleep last night, the earliest that we can leave is next Thursday, he's got replacements coming then," Tommy said as she gave him a curious look. They had never been replaced in the past when something went wrong, they just moved onto another cite and abandoned the entire crew at the last one. "I've asked that we have a leave of absence. We've paid our dues, I want to be around to raise our family."
"Billy's fine with this?" Kim asked as he nodded his head yes and she then threw her arms around him. "Going home with you, we should celebrate."
"Tonight, I've got to find you some clothes so that we can work, we'll leave unannounced Thursday. Andros and Cassie will be here," Tommy said as Kim smiled and he gently tugged at the sleeve of his oversized shirt and placed his hands on her hips. "Who do you suggest I hit up for some clothes?"
"Carla, I should have enough room to be comfortable in her clothes," Kim said as Tommy nodded before pulling on a shirt and exiting the tent.
"I'm worried about them," Billy said as Hayley nodded. She had heard the desperation in Tommy's voice , known in that moment that things were going wrong and not in the usual sense. They often had difficulties with obtaining the powers once they had been discovered and they would call to help work out the game plan, but this was not that kind of call, this was something else.
"We could set up a teleport on demand," Jason suggested as Billy and Hayley looked over at him. They thought that things were serious, but not quite that serious. "He called me as well, although it was only to tell me that they're expecting."
"Expecting? He only told me that Kim had a bad feeling and he agreed that they needed to leave. Then he asked for a hiatus to start a …" Billy trailed off as he realized what Tommy had been telling him, without saying the actual words. "No one knows there."
"Some must, but only a very few, those that they trust," Jason said as Billy looked over at him.
"Those that know their true identity and why they have to be on all these digs, the ones that have things to use against them," Billy said as the realization hit all of them. This could only mean one thing and it was something that none of them liked to think about it. "They're going to use Kim to get Tommy to give up the gems."
"Tommy, what are you doing here?" Carla asked as Tommy walked up to her in silence.
"Do you have some clothes Kim could borrow?" Tommy whispered as Carla nodded and then went to scrounge up a pair of cargo pants and a t-shirt. "Thank you."
"No problem. Where do you want to work today?" Carla asked as Tommy looked over at her. She seemed far too eager to get to work and he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Something was not right here and he had a feeling that he knew what it was.
"The north area, the cavern has been making Kim sick the last few days," Tommy said as Carla and he left the tent, forcing himself to look casual and walk at a normal pace. He knew, knew that she was involved in whatever was about to happen and could only hope that leaving Kim for these few moments had not doomed her. "Kim…"
"What's wrong?" Kim asked as she took the pants and shirt from him. To anyone else he would look normal, but she could see that he had found something out and that it disturbed him greatly. "Tommy…"
"It's Carla," Tommy whispered as she looked up at him and he gently grasped her hand. "If not more people, we need to get you out of here."
"I'm not leaving you!" Kim yelled as she stood there clad in a bra and cargo pants. Most other men would have gotten distracted by the sight, but Tommy was more concerned with the fact that she was now yelling at him. "Do you understand me?"
"Kim, you are the only leverage they have over me here, you and the baby, whatever they want they'll go after you to get to me," Tommy whispered as she looked up at him and he gently placed a hand over the small bump of their child. "I can't lose you."
"What makes you think that I can live without you either?" Kim strangled out as the tears rolled down her face and he pulled her in tight. "I can't lose you…I'm worthless without you."
"We've got to stay together , everything will be fine if we just stay together," Tommy said as Kim nodded and he held both of her hands in his. "I'm sorry."
"For what? Not using a condom? For us being here in the first place? Tommy, I married you knowing what I was up against, exactly what could happen. You have nothing to be sorry for," Kim said as his hands gently rubbed up and down her sides and she let out a sigh of contentment. "I'll…I…"
"Don't worry, okay? We'll get through this," Tommy whispered before he kissed her. "They'll be watching and they'll get us out…I know that they will."
"I love you," Kim whispered against his lips as he felt her smile.
"I love you too, come on, we've got to go," Tommy whispered as he took her hand and then looked up at her. "But not with you half dressed. No one else gets to see my wife like this."
"My shirt or hers?" Kim asked as he looked at her in confusion. "They know I'm pregnant or I hide it just a little bit longer."
"Let them know...Carla…it might stop it," Tommy said as he looked at her and could not help but smile. "Come on."
"Can we even go in to get them?" Andros asked as they congregated at Billy's firm later that day. It had been a long time since they had had a meeting like this and after hearing the news he was not thrilled at what they faced.
"No, Andros and Cassie will have to go as planned, but what I can do is keep an eye on them, their surroundings, teleport them out if things get too hectic. They're doing this for us and we need to protect them," Billy said as Andros nodded. "In all likelihood, whoever it is won't go after the two of you. They have leverage over Tommy to make him do things he doesn't wish to."
"Such as?" Cassie asked as Billy shrugged his shoulders. They could only assume that it had something to do with their ranger abilities.
"Do we know exactly how far along Kimberly is?" Andros asked as Jason shook his head no. Tommy hadn't really explained and now he was beginning to understand why.
"I can assume several months. There is a strictly enforced policy on sex over there. Kim and Tommy are an exception to this, they give up enough," Billy stated as they all gaped at him. None of them knew of the policy and they could barely imagine Kim and Tommy giving up their marital rights for entire searches. "I'm not saying that it doesn't happen, but preventions are made."
"I don't want to know what those are," Andros said as he looked over at Cassie. They had agreed to do this because they knew just how much Tommy and Kim deserved a break. This, however, did not sound like a break; it sounded like a retirement.
"Who will take over after we get this set of powers?" Cassie asked as he let out a sigh. He had hoped Andros and Cassie would be willing to take it over full time, but that seemed to be too farfetched. Someone else would have to do that.
"Conner and Kira would be my guess, they've worked closely with Kimberly and Tommy in the past and they are young enough to have a couple of years before they wish to settle down," Billy said as they all nodded that that sounded reasonable and he hoped Conner and Kira would agree. If not, he'd find someone, somehow.
"You really think they'll go after Kimberly?" Cassie asked as the others exchanged glances. "No! They deserve a life without this. They deserve to be free of it."
"There's not much that we can do to change, we just have to get them out of there when the time comes. Kim and Tommy will be able to hold out," Billy said as the others looked over at him. "If we don't do that…I can't bear to think about it."