Loop and Spiral

Disclaimer: If I owned Power Rangers, Tommy and Kim would have celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary and had 2 kids named Christian and Liz :D

:: Hi, everyone, it's me again. Thank you for the reviews; it always feels great to hear from you. I'm sorry I haven't been around to get back to you because school has been busy now that the finals are getting near, and I have an awful cold it's so damn annoying. Anyway, I'm glad that you liked the story so far. This won't be a long story; less than 10 chapters. Now on to story.

Chapter Three: Girl Talk

"How's Tommy by the way?" Trini asked from her comfortable perch against the arm of her new beige colored sofa, one arm hugging the silk cushion. Her legs were propped up on the table and her raven haired was pulled up to a high pony tail. She just finished working out when Kim came with a box of Tiramisu. Thirty minutes later and she knew she would have to do more sit ups to burn all the calories.

"He'll live," Kim replied with a shrug, her smile fading when the image of Tommy lying in the bed floating back in. Two days ago, she was startled when Jules called her in the middle of a routine and told her that there was a phone call from the Reefside High. Her poor former white knight had fallen from the stairs and broke his ankle. One of the kids had accidentally knocked him over with the world atlas and Tommy who by chance was in a wrong place, lost his balance. Fortunately, he didn't suffer concussion, but he would need to use a cast for several weeks ahead. For Tommy who simply hated to stay put, it was torture. "In fact, he's the one who told me to stop being Florence Nightingale and go out somewhere to do some girly stuff. He was sleeping when I left, so I guess it would be alright if I left him for a couple of hours," She paused and took a bite of her frosty cake. "Besides, I could use the time to talk to you. The studio closed early today,"

"Do I have to ask you what this is all about?" Trini smirked and stood up to open the wide glass door heading to her backyard. It's getting warmer inside and she knew the topic Kim was about going to start would make both of them, especially Kim, get even warmer. "What else happened?"

Kim chewed her lips and after a final bite, she pushed her plate aside. It had been exactly eight days since the visit to Tommy's lab and everything seemed to be working out greatly, minus the accident that was. Well, not just that, actually. Something did happen and she was getting too confused to think by herself. Was she starting to turn to those territorial girlfriends or she was just reacting like a normal person? Personally, she chose the latter.

Then Kim lost it.

"You know what? I don't know what happened. I mean, is it just me or everything I see looks like Kat is trying to win Tommy back?" Kim asked, frustratingly running her fingers through her hair. Her hand tapped at the table somewhat impatiently and she finally decided to get up to get some space. "Just a day before Tommy's accident, Tommy and I went out. Just hanging out with Hayley for a moment before strolling off downtown. The good news is that Kat had been good lately, but the not-so-good news is that we were actually going to meet her and have dinner together,"

"It's good to see that you're no longer a shopping addict," Tommy teased Kim and earned a playful jab on the side of his waist. "Because I don't want you to change your mind. We have agreed to buy that new computer table and a bookcase instead of your second closet," He had tried to make over his old bookcase from college but failed miserably, leaving him with no choice. Now he has his eyes on the attractive Victorian mahogany bookcase he saw in Mackenzie's Antique Store and he finally had been able to convince Mr. Mackenzie not to sell it to anyone and keep it for a moment longer.

"I just don't understand why you want a computer table in our room," Kim said with a pout although she had already known the answer. Tommy often spent many late hours at his sort-of study room downstairs and it would be much easier to move it upstairs. His room has some space and with the distance between the bed and the location of his new table, she wouldn't get disturbed with all his typing.

"Why, I thought you were going to be happy since now you could be there to see if I was browsing porn or chatting with a British chick instead of making quizzes," Tommy said with a wiggle of his eyebrows and Kim giggled. It felt nice to be able to spend some time with him. Doing nothing, but being together.

"Just tell him to get a laptop," Trini suggested with hilarity lacing her every word. "Then he could do all his work in bed and you won't miss his body next to you every night. I think Apple has a special offer this month…," Her mouth clamped shut when she found Kim staring dagger at her. Raising her hands in surrender, she said, "You may proceed,"

Kim looked at the pictures Trini had put on the living room and giggled at the silliness of some of them. They were mostly old photographs from the old days. Billy still had that braces though still looked cute nonetheless. She always thought the genius was okay, in a nerdy-geeky kind of way. Especially now, with all the money he had gained from his NASA exploration and research, it wouldn't be hard for him to get himself a life partner. And it always helped to know that Billy spoke less 'Billy' nowadays. She had thought he would have gotten worse, but she had been wrong about that. "When was the last time you called him?"

"I thought we were talking about the love triangle between Tommy Oliver, Kimberly Hart and Katherine Hillard?" Trini shot back without mercy and returned Kim's glare whole heartedly.

"You have to at least try to contact him,"

"Yeah? Why don't you go to your boyfriend and tell him that you are having doubts about Katherine," Trini fired back and threw Kim the cushion she had been hugging. The petite gymnast coach caught it swiftly before it hit her. Once she saw a light blush fall over Kim's face, she said. "Why don't you resume your story?"

Kim threw the soft stuff back to its owner before continuing. "We walked passed a toy shop that sold a complete Power Ranger action figures…,"

"I can't believe they still have those things," Kim murmured in slight awe. It was the original six with their Megazord and all. She still kept her collections and seeing this made her want to take them out from the basement when they got home. She used to play with the white and pink ranger when they're still teenagers. Of course, almost a decade and Tommy hadn't known that, and she would keep it that way. He wouldn't live it down if he knew she loved playing house with their figurines together as husband and wife.

"I never knew Jason's spandex had that super abs," Tommy joked and laughed. "But they're cool though. Brought back many memories,"

He gava her a light tug and they continued their window shopping. Playfully swinging their intertwined hands, Kim looked up at him and whispered. "I've always loved you in white. Not that I don't like you when you were green, but white is my personal favorite,"

"You loved it so much that you fainted at the first glimpse of my new uniform,"

"As if!" Kim protested with a blush. She hadn't asked to be charmed by Tommy's presence that much. It's still a mystery of the universe as to why she had fainted that time. But when Tommy returned as the white ranger… he brought hope; not just for the team, but for their relationship as well. "I know that you gave the impression of a loner once you're transferred. Being a new kid and all," Kim couldn't help but teasing him a little, amused when he rolled his eyes. She squeezed his hand. "But I had to disagree with that. I thought white suited you better because in my eyes you mixed well with just about anybody.

"It was not a secret that you and Jason were the best of friends. You still are now. You two shared the same passion for martial arts and I guess it helped you a little to know him since he was practically my big brother. You know… so he could tell you all things you wanted to know about me. A Kimberly Hart 101 you might say,"

Tommy burst out laughing and pulled her closer to kiss her head. "Please, with all due respect, continue, Milady,"

"While you were a bad dancer, still is actually," She quickly corrected and grinned cheekily at him. "You went along really great with Zack. I personally thought he's a good influence for you. He taught you not to be afraid to become a little bit crazy and just enjoy your life, loosen up a little. And not to mention he's the one who encouraged you to ask me to the dance. He earned an extra bonus for that,"

"I know that you're going to say I was a good friend with Billy—with him tutoring me mathematics and geometry every Friday after school?" Tommy remarked. He loved biology and chemistry, but math and geometry were his weaknesses. Being a ranger who was on call 24/7 hadn't helped him either. Rita wouldn't have cared whether he had a math quiz to study when she sent down her monster.

"And just like Zack had given you some of his craziness, you had done the same to Billy. I knew that he didn't pay that much attention to karate before you moved to Angel Grove. Even being a ranger didn't tempt him to leave his textbooks and learn some new moves to beat those creepy monsters. I remember seeing him reading a book about karate and martial arts. He was trying to learn all the theories," Kim finished with a chuckle.

"Yeah, that guy…," Tommy shook his head. "Who's next on the list?"

Slipping an arm around Tommy's waist, she snuggled closer and inhaled his aftershave. As always, he smelled so good. A middle aged woman walked passed them and Tommy gave her a polite nod. Kim recognized her as his student's parent. "Trini's wisdom helped you a lot, didn't it? And my girlfriend could kick your ass good. That's good enough for me. It's the same with Rocky, Aisha and Adam. You made great friendships with all of them," She spoke again.

"And how about you?" He asked softly, his warm chocolate eyes gazing down at her fondly.

"You and me?" Kim stopped, her free hand lifting up to trace his jaw line. She tip toed to press a short but meaningful kiss upon his descending lips. "We made a great team," As simple as that, but both knew it was the truth. "And you're cute. What's not to like about that? Even Trini used to harbor a crush for you when she saw you for the very first time. But of course, she knew right away that you belonged to me,"

"Seriously?"

"I'm dead serious,"

"And I'm seriously going to kill you," Trini croaked, throwing two cushions at Kim at once. The blue one smacked her right on her face while the red cushion knocked a photo frame down. Thanks to the carpeted floor, it didn't break. "What the hell did that mean?"

"You said he was gorgeous and good looking," Kim defended herself after picking up the fallen frame and put it back to its place. Next she blew a strand of hair off her eyes and smoothed down her caramel tresses.

"Yes. So? I never knew it would automatically make someone harbor a crush for a person just by calling that person good looking," Trini borrowed Kim's expression, her fingers making a quote mark in the air. "That explained the funny look Tommy gave me a few days ago when I visited,"

Grinning widely, Kim plopped down on the sofa. Taking in a deep breath, Kim tried to keep her voice even. "And now for the main event,"

"Hey guys,"

Kim swirled around to see Katherine standing behind them, all decked in a dark pink sundress. "Oh hey, Kat," Her eyes drifted to the watch around Tommy's wrist. They had agreed to meet up in front of Kristin's Kitchen twenty minutes later, but here she was. Her blonde curly hair was pulled up with a silver clip with some of the golden strands framing her face. Kim eyed her clothes that she had chosen a bit hastily—a plain violet blouse and jeans, a bit self consciously and swallowed hard when a passerby walked by but not before scanning Kat from head to toe. Acting on impulse, Kim tightened her grasp around Tommy's hand. "How about the practice?"

"It finished earlier that I thought," Kat answered and she looked at Tommy who's still smiling from their previous conversation. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, we were just talking about my ranger colors and how Kim's favorite was white," Tommy explained with a grin.

Kat's head tilted to one side, as if she was reconsidering something. Kim suddenly felt a knot forming in her stomach… "White looks good with pink," The fact that there were one former white ranger and two former pink rangers there and only one had a pink dress on made Kim heart sink. "Though I have to admit that I like seeing Tommy in red. There're so many things happened when you were the red ranger,"

Including the letter, the break-up, her turning evil and tried to kill the rangers, Tommy's relationship with Kat… Stop it, Kim! There was a pause before Kat let out a throaty giggle. "What are we doing here? Let's go,"

"Why did she have to make that white-looks-good-with-pink comment?" Kim desperately asked Trini who couldn't provide an answer while trying to keep her emotion in checked. "You know that it's not in my nature to easily get jealous, but why it feels like there's a red light flashing in my mind every time Kat and Tommy are around together? This is getting ridiculous,"

"What happened after that?"

"We were walking to the Chinese food restaurant when someone tapped my shoulder. It was a mother of one of my students. She informed me that her daughter was sick that she couldn't come to practice. The competition is in two months and it's a busy time in the gym. But of course, I told her that I understood," Her face fell and she dropped her head to her hands. "We were talking in private, so that means I had to leave Tommy and Kat alone. When I finished, I walked up to them. They were standing in front of that new chocolate house next to the bookshop? Yeah…,"

"Chocolate house! We sell all kind of chocolates," The clown in a blue and green polka dot suit shouted in a loud, cheery voice and gave a bright yellow flyer to Kat. "Come on, young man. Girls adore chocolates and I'm sure this beautiful lady of yours here wants to come inside and see what we have! You two make a very lovely couple,"

Kim's heart successfully sank even further to the bottomless pit of her stomach at that invitation. She wasn't sure if Kat heard it since her gaze was firmly locked onto the colorful display. Tommy let out an awkward laugh and was about to say something, Kim thought, when Kat slipped her arm around his and gave him a pull. "Let's check it out," Katherine said in her thick accent.

"You alright?" Tommy asked Kim once he spotted her walking towards him. Most of the customers were high school girls and Tommy did look a bit out of place standing rather uncomfortably next to a huge teddy bear made of chocolate with two equally big pink hearts encased in its arms. Thankfully, Kat had released him and now was busy exploring the other section of the place.

She reluctantly received his outstretched hand. Her mind was still numb and she felt like a zombie walking around the shop. The place was small and cozy; done in warm chocolate and golden colors. Normally, she would be tempted by the delicious smell of all the chocolates and sweets, but now it made her stomach lurch. "Yeah,"

"You look a little pale," Tommy observed. He probably didn't know that she had been there to hear the misunderstanding. And yes, she realized that what it was a misunderstanding. But still, it hurt.

"No, I'm fine,"

"And that's the end of the story," Kim said feebly, hearing her voice rising. "Nothing happened for the rest of the evening but I still can't forget that scene, you know. It's engraved in my mind and refused to leave me in peace," She had looked forward to seeing Kat again when she received her phone call, but now she was ready to mark her pocket calendar every day until they day Kat would return to Australia. In twelve days, everything would come back to the way it was supposed to be. "Alright,"

"What?" Trini asked, confused when Kim suddenly got up and clapped her hands together. She could almost see the fire burning in Kim's eyes.

"Kat said Tommy missed having me around the house and so he would get that. I'll call Jules to come earlier tomorrow to the studio so I can give her some instructions," A faint smile touched her lips. "Then, I will go home and be what he wanted me to be. I'll stay and accompany Tommy at home so he won't, I quote, miss having me around,"

"Are you sure you're not doing that just because Kat doesn't have class tomorrow?" Trini squinted her eyes, sensing there's something off about her new found determination. She didn't want to jinx it, but she didn't have a very good feeling about Kim's plan.

"Positive,"

:: Things are going to heat up in the next chapter and that's why I entitle it 'Boiling Point'. Thanks for reading, please let me know what you think. No flame though.

- Yuuri ;)