Disclaimer: I do not own the Power Rangers or Keith Urban's song, so do not sue, I have no money.
AN: Thanks to those that reviewed the last chapter. I know that it has been awhile since I have written, but I hope that you will enjoy this chapter and however many more there are to come.
Now, on with the story!
A Rough Landing"What the hell," Kim muttered as she landed in a dark cave and she managed to collect a mouthful of dirt, which she quickly spat out in the most ungraceful manner that she could imagine. She quickly began looking around, trying to find anyway that she could out of there, but all she could see was a dim light, several feet further along the caved walls. She had been in situations like this before as a ranger, but she couldn't understand why she would have been brought here like this, as it had only happened one time before in her life.
She quickly walked towards the source of light, hoping that it was an exit out of this place and that she would be able to find her way back to Angel Grove, quickly. She knew Tommy and the others would be worried and that little Tommy was sure to start asking questions that they could not help but lie about. As she neared the opening, it suddenly became clear that this was not an exit out of this place. It was more like an entrance to some unknown cavity in the cave, although the cavity seemed to be eerily familiar to her. She couldn't quite figure out why until she go the full view of the space and was shocked to see a space that looked almost identical to the Command Center, except there was no Zordon and no Alpha from what she could see. This really did not look all that good for her.
While looking at the room, she tried to remain calm and think of reasons other than the most obvious in her mind that she was there. Tommy had been wearing a communicator, so it was fairly obvious he was a ranger again, which was something that she was going to have to have a serious discussion with him about later. The room looked like something one of the first rangers would construct, as they were comfortable with a certain system of things, however the room was not uninhabited. As her eyes fell upon a female with red hair, she burst out in rage, as she was sure that this was someone who Tommy should have told her about, from the very beginning.
"Holy shit. I can not believe that he tricked me into thinking he is still single after all of this time. I should have known better. Tommy has a wife for Christ's sake and he didn't even have the balls to tell me that. Well, I was the bitch that broke up with him ten years ago, I think that I should have expected this but I was so dumb and hopeful. Damn him!" Kim yelled, as she paced around the room, having not noticed the four startled teenagers that were staring so intently at her. They had no clue how she had just dropped into the command center, but it sure as hell scared them now that she was ranting, about Dr. O of all people.
"Hello, miss. I'm Hayley. I help Tommy," Hayley said terrified as she extended a hand, as she thought that Tommy should be the one to tackle the marriage thing, as he was certainly stronger than she was.
"Hayley, that's your name, is it? The son of a bitch. I can not believe that he invited me back out here to live with him and he is married to you, actually I can't imagine him marrying you, but that is beside the point. No offense, you're nice looking, but I never thought you would be Tommy's type. I'm going to kill him the next time I see him," Kim said, as Tommy teleported in behind her and heard everything that she had said. Hayley looked scared to death and possibly a bit hurt, but he knew that Kim was lashing out in anger, although that would soon have to be controlled.
"Well, I guess maybe you're not our new pink ranger then, are you?" Hayley asked, backing up against the work station as she saw Tommy behind the mad woman and knew that he would carefully try to take her away without too much of a problem.
She, personally, wanted to do harm to the woman, but that could wait for another time. They had to get this figured out tonight and they would probably have to try to change her memory or something, which would just be loads of fun for her to do. She had obviously picked the wrong person to come in as a ranger, but Tommy just seemed to be slightly shocked by the woman's reaction.
"Yes, she is Hayley. It's just been an exciting day already," Tommy said, firmly as Kim wheeled around on him and started stalking towards him, fists balled up, prepared to make good on her threat. He had seen that look in her eyes a few times before and it was never good for the person on the other side of that look. He, however, might be able to talk her out of what she was thinking of doingto him. "Kimberly."
"Why does that name sound familiar?" Conner asked loudly, looking down at Kira and he suddenly had the eyes of the enraged woman on him, while Dr. O restrained her rather well from taking out her wrath on him. She seemed to be able to shift her anger from one person to the next with ease and he knew he did not want to have anything happen to him.
"She's the one that dumped him, Conner," Kira said, frankly and she honestly could not believe that Dr. O had not dumped her first, but her teacher was not like that, most of the time. There just had to be more to her than they thought, but what was it?
"Shit, time really was nice to her," Conner said and he immediately got punched in the chest by Kira as she was now close to becoming a mad woman herself. "Well, it was."
"Not a smart thing to say Conner," Ethan said, as he was hit another time, but before he could make a smart ass remark the woman yelled out at Dr. O again and it was much more violent than they had expected.
"Get your hands off of me, Tommy! Just because I liked it ten years ago does not mean… shit who am I fooling, it feels great, but you're married now! Or did you manage to forget that as you did almost everything else in your past, mister?" Kim yelled at him, as she allowed tears to stream down her face, while he stared at her in disbelief.
Yeah, he had heard the part about him being married, but the things that were coming from her mouth now were worse than he had ever imagined. She was angry for something that he had never done with someone else and was perilously close to revealing the facts about his sex life as a teenager, which was not a good example for the kids. They had thought that he was still a virgin, although he had barely made it out of his junior year with that being true and the only girl that knew that was now thoroughly pissed at him. If she was anything like the woman he had known ten years ago, then every single one of them was about to find out, no matter how much he disliked the idea.
"I didn't forget you, I could never do that. It was more like you wouldn't let me love you anymore and I don't think it is wise to bring up why now. And Kim I hate to break it to you, but…" Tommy said, as he was cut off by the feisty brown haired woman, as she backed him into a wall.
There were several other women that had attempted to do this to Tommy in their mindless rampage against him, but he had never honestly been scared of them. Kim's body had not seemed to change much since they had been in high school, except for things that made him uncomfortable to think about it in such close proximity, as his body would still betray him if he was not careful. If it had been any other woman, he would have simply, gently, pushed her out of the way, and made a dash for the door to his house, but she would not so much as let him get out of arm's length. She knew him too well to let him do that, as she had caught his glances towards the stairs.
"Well, well Tommy, looks like you weren't a virgin when we first had sex, although you are going to have a lot of explaining to do. That looks like four other women that you had sex with and got pregnant," Kim said, pointing towards the rangers and all of their eye's widened.
They knew that they had, had to hear this wrong, but they were not sure how it would be best to go about helping their fellow ranger. He was by no means weak, but he did look much closer to having a break down and just letting this woman beat him to a bloody pulp. They had never understood how he could have patience with some people, but this woman was pushing all of them over the edge, except him. He looked like he just wanted to kiss her to make her be quiet and then cry for a few hours to get her to understand.
"Damn it, Beautiful! I'm not married and there has never been anyone but you! I thought that you would have trusted me when I said that I wanted you back!" Tommy bellowed, as she backed away from him and was horrified at what she had just said in front of these kids.
She had screwed things up between the two of them several times before, but this definitely had to be the most awkward of them. Things were now registering in her mind that should have registered with her from the first instant that she stepped foot into the command center that he had obviously built. Tommy had never been a real whiz at things like this, so he would need some help, and that was probably who the woman was and the teenagers. Oh God, she had probably just revealed to his fellow rangers that he had at one time had sex with her and it seemed had gotten her pregnant, although she had not said it directly to them. They could not be very dumb and they were sure to have picked up on it by what she had made him say.
"Tommy, I'm sorry. I'll go," Kim muttered, as she looked for away to get the hell out of that place, but the only exit she noticed, besides the one she had entered was a set of stairs and the teens had moved themselves in front of it. Her only hope was to make a dash for the door, but there was no guarantee that Tommy would not catch up with her before she got to it, if he even wanted to anymore. Boy, had she screwed up this time.
"Kim," Tommy whispered, reaching out to grab her hand, but she dodged out of his way and headed straight for what must have been the entrance that she had landed at. He immediately went to set the door to where it would not open, no matter how hard she tried to pry it open. She would either have to come back and face the music quickly or she would be hurtling at him another slur of expletives very soon. "She'll be back, eventually."
"Damn it, Tommy! Let me out of here, I don't deserve your pity or your love for that matter!" Kim yelled as she banged her fists against the cold, steel plating that was on the back of the rock façade. Her hands quickly began to ache and she split one of her knuckles open, which caused her to sink to the floor and cry, knowing it was useless.
She desperately wanted to have Tommy's comfort, but that would mean going back in there with all of the people that she had just embarrassed him in front of. Hell, Jason hadn't even known that they had, had sex until she told him that she was pregnant. That was just something that Tommy never really talked about, although most of the rangers had been sure that he and Kat had probably had sex, just so he could get Kim off of his mind. That, however, had never happened and he had made it more than clear to them lately.
"Why would we want her back?" Hayley asked viciously, as she was about as mad as Kim was right now and Tommy knew he could not deal with the both of them being like this.
Kim, in some ways, had the right to be emotional about things, but her reaction to Hayley had been completely uncalled for. Hayley, however, had not helped things any by not telling her that she was not married to him. He was going to have to ask her about that one, but it could wait for the time being. He had things that are more pressing on his mind right now, like making up some explanation for TK.
"One, she's the only one that the pink dino gem will take to, obviously and two, we have a son," Tommy said quietly, as the rangers strained to hear what was said, but did not pick up on it. Hayley, however, heard it loud and clear, which caused her to wonder exactly how long Tommy had known about it, but she didn't have to ask him that question at all. "I just found out and I want her with me, but we have some things to resolve before we can really think about going back to what we were in high school. You can tell from the way she reacted to you. I'm sure that she's sorry about it."
"Let me get all of this straight, Tommy," Hayley said, setting her hand on top of his head and causing him to tilt his head down towards her. "You're telling me that what she yelled at you was true? And you think that you still know her well enough to tell me what she thinks."
"Yeah, I'm not a saint, Hayley and I do love her, crazy as that seems, so I know her better than anyone here," Tommy said, as he walked away from Hayley, but he now found himself faced with the rangers, who were thoroughly stunned, but they did step out of his way. They didn't want to talk to him right now and he seemed to think that that was a good idea, as he headed upstairs. "Whenever she comes around, send her upstairs."
"Tommy, you're leaving the five of us to deal with her?" Hayley asked, as he merely nodded his head and continued on his way out of the command center.
He was about to have a very long telephone conversation with Jason, seeing as he might not be able to return to Angel Grove for several more hours. They would have to figure out someway to tell TK that he had, had an emergency and that his mom had went with him. The boy probably would not believe it, but at least it would keep him from asking too many questions or so he hoped.
"Hayley, did we just hear what I thought we heard come out of his mouth?" Kira asked, tentatively as they heard a sob echo through the tunnel that led to the path in the woods, knowing what was going on. The woman was emotionally drained and probably scared, although they could not believe that she went off like that.
"Yep," Hayley said, as she could not think of a more appropriate word for the time being. "And I think that he is actually still in love with her. I thought that she was going to kill me for a few seconds there. Thank God Tommy does have some control on her."
"You did?" Conner asked, as he could remember very well what it was like when her eyes landed on him for what seemed like an hour, but was more like a second or two at the most. "Something about their story just doesn't add up. Why would you wait to tell your boyfriend that you were pregnant?"
"She could have been scared that he wouldn't want the baby," Hayley said, although she found that very hard to believe. Tommy had never seemed like that type to her, quite the opposite really.
"She could have thought he was interested in someone else," Kira said, but that did not seem very believable to any of them. When he became interested in something, it took over his life and they could imagine that it would be the same way for someone.
"Or she could have not wanted him to feel as if he had to choose between being a ranger or being a father," Kim said sadly, as she walked into the command center and noticed that Tommy was no longer there. If he had already gone back to Angel Grove, then she might as well try to explain herself to them. If not, she was going to go tell him what she thought would be best for the two of them. "Did he go back to Angel Grove?"
"No, he's upstairs," Hayley said, coolly as Kim looked over at her and had the feeling that it was going to take a lot more than one apology to get her to trust her.
"I'm sorry, Hayley, it's just I didn't think I would ever have him tell me that he wanted me to come stay with him. Not after what I did to him, I overreacted," Kim said and then turned towards the steps and quickly jogged up them. Hayley stood there, dumbfounded, and the rangers could not believe what she had just said.
Hayley couldn't help but feel about two inches tall. Yes, Kim had just been the one to accuse her of being married to Tommy, but there were times when she had wished that it would have been that way. He just never showed any interest, in any woman, except for the one that she had seen him become so mad at. For several years, she thought that he might have been gay, but it never made sense, there was just always that thing there that made it seem like he had been really hurt and now she could what it was.
"Jason, just tell him I had an emergency," Tommy said into the receiver, as he heard the door open from the basement and an 'ouch' be muttered, as it was obvious that Kim had hit her head on the trap door, as he had several times while he was there.
"Tommy, he's not dumb," Jason said, as Trini had been trying to convince him that they had just stayed outside and were talking for a little while, but he was not buying that one, either.
"Just tell him that, Jason," Tommy almost screamed and then hung up the phone, knowing that Jason would eventually figure out how to get to the boy or he would be calling back in a matter of minutes, cursing at Tommy.
"I'm sorry," Kim muttered, avoiding Tommy's eye contact as she saw him standing next to the phone. She didn't want him to see what she was thinking, but she knew that he would not let her continue to avoid his persistent gaze.
"Yeah, I know Beautiful, I understand," Tommy said, but she still did not look at him and he felt that she was trying to pull herself back inside of the safe shell she had been living in for the past ten years, with him not knowing about TK. He did not want her to take herself away from him again and was prepared to do anything to make her understand. "Come on, why don't we sit down and talk?"
"No, Tommy. I'm going back. I can't put you through this, not now. You have so much that you have to do, it's just not right," Kim said, as she turned to head back towards the command center.
She was going to ask Hayley to teleport her back to Angel Grove, but with how mad the woman was at her, she mind wind up on Aquitar or some other foreign planet. Right now, that didn't even seem so bad, as she was sure to have plenty of time to think about what had happened. That was until Tommy came and got her, then something would happen to Hayley for doing that and they would start all over again.
"Kimberly Ann Hart," Tommy said, carefully, as he reached out and grabbed her hand. She did not struggle to get free of his grasp, but she still did not face him. She could not stand to see the anger that was surely in his eyes. "Look at me. Please look at me."
"No, Tommy," Kim whispered, as she allowed him to pull her towards his chest, knowing that her heart was overriding what the logical side of her had just told her was best. He quickly engulfed her in a hug and she couldn't help but settle her head in its normal position, as it had been years ago. Damn it, she knew she was never going to be able to go through with what she said and so did he, at this point.
"Why aren't you trying to get away from me then?" Tommy asked, as he heard the command center door open and he knew that the rangers and Hayley were coming upstairs; probably to make sure he was still alive after having her come up there to see him.
Great, he was now going to have to have an audience while he tried to convince her that he was not furious at her. Sure, he was aggravated with her, but he would get over it. She had just told a bunch of his students that she was someone that he slept with, once upon a time and that he had gotten her pregnant. The thing was, if he knew her, she had probably went and told them the other half of the story just a few seconds before she appeared in front of him. That would make it a little more bearable when he did have to confront them.
"I should try, you wouldn't follow me," Kim muttered into his chest and then she gasped at what she had just said to him. She really needed to just quit talking, but it seemed that he always pulled out of her every feeling that was imaginable, just so he would get answers.
"I've changed. If you went back to Florida this time, I would come after you. He's my son, too and I want him to know who I am," Tommy whispered, although it was loud enough that his audience was able to hear it and they froze in their spots. They could not have possibly heard him correctly, although Hayley had taken a seat and was carefully trying to keep from saying anything. "Don't shut me out."
"It's best for you. You have to be a ranger, Tommy and he wouldn't understand why you were always having to leave," Kim said, not knowing about the audience that had gathered behind them. She just wanted to stand there in silence and let him hold her, until he choose to let go, which was something that he did not seem to want to do.
"So, does that mean that you're not going to be a ranger yourself?" Tommy asked, as she finally looked him in the eyes. She could vaguely remember Hayley saying something about her being the new pink ranger, but it had not hit her until jus then what had been said.
"I want to, but this for the best. I need to go and get back to Florida. I should have never come out here. Our son hates me now and so do you. I can't lose both of you, I've got to try to repair things with him. Let me go, Tommy, please," Kim said, as he looked down at her and saw that this was not what she wanted.
He strengthened his grasp on her and picked her up off the floor and carried her up the stairs, not caring what Hayley and his rangers thought about him. Some of the things that he was about to say to her did not go along with anything that they needed to hear. They had learned far too much about him tonight and he did not plan to let them know anymore, yet.
"No, Beautiful," Tommy whispered in her ear, as she realized that they were moving, but she still did not struggle against him. She had forgotten what it felt like for Tommy to have his arms around her and she never wanted to forget that again.
AN: I know that I am evil for this cliff hanger and I expect that I will have some people that are quite agitated with me. I will try to write another chapter soon and I have an idea for what will be in it, but I am desperately trying to get out the rest of one story, so I can begin another. Feel free to review, even if you are mad at me!