Name: Ascendancy
Chapter 4: Good nights and Goodbyes
Disclaimer: I own nothing, I am nothing. I am one with the gestalt.Sue him
Archiving: It's yours if you want it, just let me know where it's posted.
Summary: Tommy dreams, while Hayley says goodbye to Eamon.
Shoutout: To Jeannine, for writing a fic that stirred in me the desire to write again myself.

A dream has power to poison sleep
- Percy Bysshe Shelley
They had agreed to call it a night very shortly after Tommy had put the gem back in its box. Given that it was Thursday, and that Kira would be back for her second regular weekly performance the next day, Hayley hadn't wanted to make it all too late, and most of the friendly feel to the evening had vanished in the gems effect. She had extorted a promise from Tommy that he would wait till she could get there the next day before trying to examine the gem.

Tommy had said his goodbyes, staying only just long enough to agree to see Eamon off the next day, before he took off. It wasn't until he was driving off that Eamon suddenly remembered that he hadn't brought his car with him, and that it was still standing in the school parking lot. He turned to Hayley, who was locking up, having put the drinks back in the locked cupboard at the back of the cafe, and cleared his throat.

"Hayley?" he asked hesitantly. "Tom seems to have forgotten that he drove me here from the school. My car's still there."

She shook her head in bemusement. "Didn't you remember?" she asked, not bothering to point out that Tommy was supposed to be the only one of the three with a bad memory.

"Uhm, no?" he offered. "I blame the beer, and weird gemstones, and getting attacked by weird dinosaur thug things.."

She chuckled, gesturing to a car standing off to the side of the building. "In that case, hop in, and we'll go and pick up your car."

He gave her a grateful look as they walked over to the vehicle. "Thank you, I owe you one."

"Don't you forget it."

The drive was a short one, Reefside not being a major metropolis, and before long they were in the school parking lot and he hopped out. He hesitated for a second, and then walked over to the other side of the car, where Hayley was just standing up.

"You know, I really am sorry," he said without preamble, and she waved it away.

"Look, you had no way of knowing that the gem would react that way."

"Not that," he said with only a slight wince. "School, how I treated you there."

Hayley opened her mouth to say something, and then closed it, looking mildly uncomfortable for a second or two. "Oh, that." The uncharacteristically blunt comment had caught her by surprise.

"Yeah. Look Hayley, I know I was an absolute idiot, and a jerk back then, and a lot of things have changed in the last five years or so." Despite the humor with which he and Tommy had always portrayed his pursuit of Hayley, he really hadn't been a very nice guy about it to Hayley. It was to her credit that she hadn't simply told Tommy the truth, which might very well have cost Eamon his friendship with the man. "Some things haven't changed though."

She was guarded, both in the way she was standing, and in what she was saying. Almost unwilling to say much for concern about being caught out. "Like what?"

He took a chance, reaching out to take one of her hands in his. She tensed up, but didn't pull away. "Like how I feel about you."

"Eamon," she said, and there was such rawness in her voice that he instantly let her hand go.

He had always thought he'd burned his bridges, but he hadn't thought he'd burned them that badly. "I shouldn't have said anything," he said softly, and started to step back, when she reached out a hand and touched his shoulder ever so slightly. He stopped immediately.

"It's not that," she finally admitted. "I never thought you were a bad guy in college. It's just that you weren't looking to date me, you were looking for another notch on your bedpost." It came out without heat, and some part of him was glad that she had said it. It meant that maybe it wasn't too late to make amends.

"I haven't been that person for a long time Hayley. I'd like a chance to prove that to you."

She chewed her lip ever so slightly. "All right, how about next time you come through town, I'll give you that chance." She smiled as his eyes lit up; at something that wasn't even a promise of something. Just a promise of a chance of something.

"So, Tom is seeing me off tomorrow afternoon. You going to come with him?" he asked, changing the subject to something less emotionally charged.

She shook her head. "Sorry, but I've got the cafe open all day, and I've got another performance to prepare for tomorrow evening."

"Fair enough," he said. He then leant forward and gave her a hug, and to his surprise she hugged him back. It really had been to long since he had seen Hayley, he mused, and he was luckier than he deserved to have her as a friend. They parted, though they didn't part totally, and he found himself, with his faces inches from hers, their eyes locked together. He wasn't sure what he saw in them, and he knew
instantly that he was playing with fire.

"Hayley," he murmured softly, looking, listening for any sign of what she wanted.

Her response was a whisper. "Prove that you've changed." He understood the message in her voice, even though he was close enough for her warm breath on his face to make something deep within him
shiver with possibilities. He let go of her, and stepped back, and she dropped her own arms to her side.

He grabbed his bag, going over to his car, unlocking it and tossing it in, then turned around to what he considered to be one of the most beautiful women he'd ever seen. "I'll be back in a week or so. I've got some business in Los Angeles, but after that I've got nothing planned for a while." He left the sentence open, letting her make the next move if she wanted to.

"See you in a week."

Five little words, but he wanted to grin like a loon as he nodded his head and got in his car, even as Hayley walked back to hers. As he drove of the school lot, he thanked fate for giving him a second chance.

Tommy meanwhile, drove straight home, and after making himself a quick drink, took the box containing the gem down to the lair, the lair, as Conner had dubbed it, and put it on the desk. He opened the box, the gem looking like it had when he had first seen it, and turned and straddled a chair.

Sitting down comfortably, his arms crossed on the back of the chair, and his chin resting on his arms, he stared at the gem, trying to recall the vision he'd had earlier. Trying to understand it, and trying to find meaning in it.

He wasn't sure how long he sat there, but eventually he sighed. Just sitting there wasn't doing anything, and he didn't have the technical know-how to examine the gem properly. At least, not without reading Hayley's instruction manuals that she'd written when she put the computer system together. He knew he wasn't stupid, but aside from the actual use of technology, he'd never been very good with it. One of the reasons he'd gone into paleontology, he supposed, was that he could actually get his hands dirty doing it.

He made his way upstairs, then across the house to his bedroom and got ready for sleep. He'd never had a fascination for dinosaurs until he'd become a Ranger, and gained control of the Dragonzord. The fact that the original Zords were based on dinosaurs had interested him, and it had slowly developed into something he enjoyed reading about until he finally decided that if he was going to get a PhD, it might as well be in something he enjoyed.

He smiled at the thought, even as he fell asleep.

He woke to find himself standing on a building near the edge of what he recognized as Angel Grove. As he looked around, he sighed to himself. "This has got to be a dream."

Even as he said it, something caught his eye. He saw the Dragonzord, climbing out of the water, and heading for the city, and he shuddered as the titanic machine began to demolish the first buildings it came across. Just like his vision in Cyberspace, he seemed to know innately when he was, and where, and once again, an indefinable sense of wrongness filled him as he watched as in the distance the Rangers came to fight the Dragonzord.

Surprise smashed through him as he understood what was wrong with this scene. There were only four Zords coming to fight the Dragonzord. He saw the Sabretooth Tiger, the Triceratops, the Mastodon and the Pterodactyl, but he didn't see Tyrannosaurus anywhere. He looked around frantically, for Jason's Zord, but all he saw was the four others. They slammed into the Dragonzord, obviously intent on battle, but without the Tyrannosaurus, and thus without the Megazord, they stood no chance against their enemy, and the Dragonzord soon sent them running in defeat.

As he heard a hideous laughter of victory, a laugh made in his voice, echoing through the air, he snapped upright in bed, covered in sweat, and with his breathing ragged. He wiped an arm across his face to clear the sweat, and then froze, as a hand reached up to his shoulder.

"Tommy?" a voice asked, and his heart seemed to double it's already frantic pace. It couldn't be, but as he turned his head, he saw Kimberly Hart, the one woman he'd truly loved lying in the bed beside him. Her beautiful brown eyes concerned, as she sat up, holding the cover with her other hand.

"Kim?" he asked, confused. "This isn't possible."

"Tommy, calm down. It's okay," she said as she leant over to him, and put an arm around his shoulder. He looked at her face, and suddenly the room took on a pale grey cast. "It's not as if you murdered one of my best friends." He was horrified when her hair suddenly changed to a short crop, and a scar appeared on her left cheek, reaching up past the eye. He looked at the eyes of the woman he loved, and recoiled from the betrayal he saw there.

He suddenly opened his eyes again, and was lying, tangled up in his sheets. His head snapped round fast enough to be painful as he looked at the side of his bed where Kimberly had been mere moments before, but found only the empty side of his bed. He felt physically exhausted, as if he had just gone ten rounds with the Tyranno drones without his powers. He let his head fall back on the pillow as he put a hand over his face, and tried to regain control

"A nightmare," he said to himself. "Just a bad dream, nothing more." He kept muttering that, as he got out of bed, and pulled on a robe. No matter how often he said it, he wasn't willing to chance sleep again tonight.

"Class, I told you yesterday that I'd be asking random questions about the reading you've been doing," Tommy said as he paced in front of them. "What I didn't tell you, was that the questioning will be in the form of a pop quiz." A groan ran through the class, as he picked up a stack of papers, and handed them out to the kids in the class.

"You know the rules for these, and as this is your last class for the day, when you're finished, you can leave early." He fixed the entire class with his most intimidating teacher-stare. "That wasn't an invitation to do a sloppy job, just to get out a few minutes early."

With that, he sat back down behind his desk, and busied himself going over one of his text books while the scrabble of pens and pencils sounded in the otherwise silent class. It didn't take more than a few minutes for him to grow restless, not to mention drowsy. After his aborted attempt at sleep last night, and the nightmare that convinced him not to try again, he'd stayed up doing research on gem. He'd even read Hayley's manuals, and tried some basic scanning equipment even if it had taken him half the night to set it up properly.

He hadn't got anywhere by the time his alarm buzzed, and only the fact that Hayley had wired his alarm to the computer system downstairs in case of midnight Ranger activity which threatened to make him late for class had reminded him that he needed to get going. She was going to be upset that he'd started to examine the gem when he'd promised her he'd wait till she arrived, but he could live with that.

Without consciously registering it, he got to his feet and walked over to the window, clasping his hands behind his back, as he stared out across the lawn, past the houses nearby, and towards the bridge in the distance. The classroom seemed to fade away behind him, as he took in it's tranquility, and for a brief moment, he just enjoyed the quiet. The moment didn't last however, and his eyes widened, as the gorgeous day began to take on a red and orange hue. Disbelief was written on his face, as he saw huge pillars of flame, and cloud erupt from the buildings in Reefside, as if they had been hit by energy weapons.

He knew he should be helping, he was a Ranger, and the city he was sworn to protect was being destroyed, but he couldn't move, even as the city seemed to crumble infront of him, leaving nothing but a decaying ruin, under a blood-red sky. He looked into the remains of the city, and like a whisper of a voice that sounded so familiar, soft and feminine, he heard someone speak.

"Your fault."

"No," he said vehemently, as he took a step back and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the world was seemingly back to normal, and the blue sky and sunshine was shining down on an otherwise tranquil Reefside. He looked into the class, and saw that a number of the students, including his Rangers, were looking at him with barely disguised worry in their eyes. Others looked just as worried but were hiding it better, but there didn't seem to be anyone who hadn't noticed.

Moving very slowly, and very quietly, he walked back to his desk, and sat back down again with his textbook, and tried to pretend like everything was normal, even as that maddening voice kept ringing in his mind.

"Your fault, Tommy Oliver. This is all, your fault."

An hour after class, Tommy was walking down the stairs of a hotel with Eamon, and yawned as he stepped out into the late afternoon sun. He closed his eyes for a moment, enjoying the warmth of the sunshine on his face, before he shook himself and kept moving.

"You look tired Tom," Eamon noted. "Please tell me you got some sleep last night rather than spending it examining that gem."

"I tried to sleep," he said with a nonchalance that fooled neither of them. "I just kept having bad dreams so I finally decided that if I couldn't get any rest, I'd get busy."

"I guess I should be grateful I've never had any trouble with insomnia," Eamon said with a smile as they walked to the carpark lot. He dropped his bag into the back of his car and sighed. "Been too short a visit this time round. How would you feel about me coming back to Reefside in the not too distant future?"

He smiled, "I'd like that. I hadn't realised just how out of touch I've been with the world outside of Reefside till recently, and I've got to admit, it's nice to have a non-Ranger related perspective from time to time."

He reached out his hand, and Eamon clasped it in an old warriors-handshake. "Then you'll have it. I'm not a Ranger Tom, and lord knows I'm not sure I could be, but you've made me realise that sitting on the sidelines while my friends fight the good fight, just isn't in my nature anymore."

"I appreciate that Eamon, but one of the reasons we keep our identities secret is to make sure that innocent people don't get caught in the crossfire."

"I can see why you'd do that," he admitted. "Still, I've got access to resources, different resources, than you might usually want or need, but I want you to know that they are available. If you need, well, anything that the owner of a serious multinational can offer, you call me, okay?"

Tommy smiled at that. Looks like Eamon really had changed after all. "I will. Only if it's an emergency mind you, but I won't forget."

"Good, and I'll try and keep in touch more than once every five years from now on."

"I'm sure Hayley will be pleased," Tommy said dryly, and was rewarded by Eamon blushing violently and he laughed at that. "Something I should know about?"

The blush turned even darker, but there was a smile lurking on Eamon's face. "Hayley, has decided that maybe I'm not total scum after all. I get to come back in a weeks time and prove it. I know it's not much,
but it's a start, and it's good enough for now."

"I'm pleased," the Ranger said. "Don't look so surprised. Hayley gave up a lot when she came here to help me build the Morphers, and take care of the Zords and the equipment. She's sacrificed as much as any of us has in terms of a personal life, to run the Cyberspace and keep me and the other Rangers alive. I'll admit, you're not the first person I would've picked for her, but she could do a lot worse."

"Great way to boost my ego Tom," he said sarcastically. "I'm not the worst person in the world for her."

"I didn't mean it like that," was the response and they both fell silent again for a second, before Eamon opened the door and got in, starting the engine with a practiced motion.

He looked up at his friend, whom he had come to see in a totally new light recently, and tapped his head in a two fingered salute. "You take care of yourself Tom. It's a dangerous life you've picked, and I want to be able to hear all about it when we're doddering about an old people's home half a century from now."

"I will, safe journey," he responded, as Eamon put the car in gear, and got moving. Tommy watched him go, and hoped that Eamon's prediction of the two of them in an old folks home was an accurate one.

"I tell you Hayley, it was creepy," Conner explained as he leant up against the bar in the cafe, as Hayley was making the drinks Trent was serving to people. Ethan was over at one of the PC's, and Kira was in the back, by the stage with her band, going over their list of songs for the evening, leaving him by himself, and worried.

"Are you sure you're not worrying too much?" she asked as she passed a drink to Trent who took it and vanished towards one of the tables to deliver it. "I mean he could just have been tired."

Conner shook his head emphatically. "It wasn't just that. He just zoned out staring out of the window, and then he looked scared. Not just tired. Like he'd seen something from his worst nightmare." The soccer star brushed a hand through his hair. "I've never seen him look scared Hayley, it just isn't right."

She looked at him sympathetically. "He's human Conner. He has bad nights, same as everyone else, and if there was anything else wrong, I'm sure he'll tell us when he gets here."

Conner frowned at that. He didn't know what was going on, but he was sure it wasn't as simple as a bad night. He tapped the bar with his hands for a second before coming to a decision. "Hayley, I'm just going to head out for a while. I'll be back." He turned and sprinted out the door before Hayley could respond, and she paused in her drinks-making, then sighed. She hoped that Conner was just worrying over nothing.

It didn't take Conner long to get to Tommy's place in the woods, and he trotted up to the front door and knocked. There was no answer, and he tried again, and after a few moments, fished the spare keys that Dr. O had given the Rangers and Hayley out of his pocked and used them, unlocking the door and going inside. He walked over to the Dinosaur skeleton and pulled it's jawbone down, opening up the trapdoor and walking down. If Dr. O. wasn't here, then maybe he could find him using the scanner.

It might have surprised all of the others that he knew where the scanner was, and even more that he knew how to use it. But ever since he'd seen the videotape their teacher had left, and it had given him an inkling as to how far and deep the Ranger legacy stretched, he'd found himself spending a fair amount of time going through the archives on the computers. Apparently after a mission to the moon, the thought of which still made his eyes bug out slightly, Dr. O. had convinced the other Rangers he had met there that what was needed was a central database, of histories, and missions and monsters and powers and Zords, so that new Rangers could learn from the lessons of the old teams. Even for Conner, who was not a bookworm at heart, it was fascinating reading.

He chuckled to himself as he thought about how Kira and Ethan might react to the idea of him voluntarily sitting down and reading. Somehow he didn't think it would surprise Dr. O, or Hayley for that matter, and he hardly cared what Trent thought. And it wasn't as if he'd been keeping it a secret, he'd just found it easier to concentrate when the others weren't around, and the fact that Dr. O. had told them they could come to the lair whenever they wanted, meant that he had been able to study in peace.

He got to the bottom of the stairs and looked around. The computers looked like they were on standby, the Raptor cycles and the other equipment looked fine, but there was no one there. He was about to turn and go back upstairs when something caught his eye. On one of the side desks there was a little jewelry box, with a folded piece of paper beside it. He wandered over to it, and opened up the paper.

"Make sure this gets into the hands of the Rangers," he read out loud, then carefully picked up the box. He opened it with a click, and looked at the item inside. He put the paper down, and used his free hand to pick up the gem to get a closer look at it. The dark smokey interior seemed to shift, like dust caught in the wind, just as he heard someone behind him yell,

"Conner, don't!"

But it was too late, and as the gem lit up in his hand, his eyes widened at what he saw.

"No," he breathed heavily. "Way!"

tbc...