7/1/09

Spoiler: Original PR only (no Turbo).

Disclaimer: Power Rangers belongs to Disney, which considering Disney's non-violence stance seems hypocritical, but who am I to judge?

Relationships: T/K.

-x-

Chapter 3b: Lost and Found

Trying to sleep the whole night through was proving impossible for Tommy. His head filled with visions of the last month in the warehouse. From the moment they'd been released from the cryo-chambers to now, being on the run. But mixed with that, the memories of his DNA donor kept pushing to the fore.

In his conversations with Jason and Adam, he knew that they all were having problems with memories from their previous selves. From what they could gather, the memories only went as far as a certain point; probably when the DNA they were created from had been taken. So they didn't remember certain things. Jason and Zack were missing tons of memories that Tommy and Adam had, so their DNA had to have been taken earlier. But the one thing all of them did recall was Tommy's connection with Kimberly.

Tonight was another one of those nights when past memories of him and Kim came to him; images of fights, of dates, kissing and crying. It was beyond confusing. He'd never kissed Kim yet he remembered how she felt, how she tasted. Images of her in bathing suits and tight spandex or flowing sun dresses filled his mind as his eyes were closed. Those thoughts, those memories overrode his own experiences, and his heartbeat sped up with the thoughts and feelings inspired by his past even as his former flame's copy sat feet from him.

There was no question in his mind that his previous self and the previous Kim had a relationship, but with everything they were dealing with now, being on the run, needing to figure how to be rangers and heroes, he wasn't sure it was something they should even consider looking into.

But he wasn't sure if he could fight it.

Even now, having given up sleep and sitting up and looking at her as she sat guard for the team, he found his current self subconsciously embracing those feelings. Sighing, he ran his hand across his face and levered himself up. With everyone else asleep, what better time would there be to discuss this with her…

Kimberly looked up from her position near the door to find Tommy pace to her side, his legs folding up so he could sit beside her. He gave her a slight smile and she couldn't help but respond. Her head swam and her heart thudded in her chest against her will with his nearness.

"Couldn't sleep again?"

"It's tough. A lot of memories, you know?"

She nodded.

"Are you okay otherwise? I know it's got to be stressful, everyone looking to you to know what to do, when you are in the same boat as the rest of us… lost in a time and place we don't know," Kim asked softly, her hand snaking out to touch his without conscious thought.

With the slight contact, Tommy's eyes flittered closed and a million images flashed behind his lids. He'd been tormented by these memories, knowing that the person beside him had them too, but unsure if they should be left in the past or brought up now…

"I get by. Knowing you… and Jase and the others understand helps."

Kim tried to smile, but it was lost in a sea of doubt.

"The others keep asking me what I'm going to do about you… I mean, well, us," Tommy added slowly, knowing that this was their chance to discuss the issue alone.

"And?"

"I don't know. There's so many feelings attached to my memories. I know our former selves loved one another. I just don't know if we…"

"Should follow them? If we're our own selves or just copies of them that are destined to repeat their mistakes, their lives…" Kim stated in a somewhat bitter fashion.

"What's the last thing you remember of her?" questioned Tommy seriously.

"She was leaving the team. You, I mean the other Tommy and the others had convinced her, me, to become a professional gymnast."

Tommy nodded. He had the same memories. Of course, when his mind focused on Kim's departure, he remembered her injury from the gymnastics accident that almost caused her to change her mind. How Zedd had gone after her and he'd rescued her because he couldn't live without her. Yet after all that, she'd still left and he'd let her go…

"Mine end a little after that. I was still with the team and you were in Florida… I remember missing you."

His admission made Kim's heart beat faster. Since they'd all been 'alive', their memories had been pushing to the fore. And the longer she was near Tommy, the more her current self was attracted to him. She realized that the memories she had weren't really hers, but the way he made her feel, physically, was only partially due to those feelings. The rest, well, biology was a force to reckon with on its own, since they were all aged in their teens…

"I wish I remembered that. I just remember…" Kim started, and then trailed off.

"What?" asked Tommy, automatically reaching a hand out to catch hers solidly in his grasp.

"I was afraid that if I left, I was going to lose everything that I loved."

Her stark admission caught him off guard, and Tommy gasped slightly as her doe brown eyes bore into his darker orbs. As their eyes locked, he felt as if the pieces they had – their old memories, their new bodies and that intangible thing called souls all merged at once. Past, current, future all melded, and with a sureness that he hadn't felt since being pulled from the cryo-chambers he knew who he was and what he wanted.

Tugging Kim's hand, he pulled her from her space at the door and without preamble kissed her softly but firmly on the lips.

After what seemed like an eternity, he pulled back, fearful of what he might find. What greeted him was a stunning smile on the face of the young woman whom he realized he loved, and that he'd always loved.

"That was nice," she said with a smirk before leaning into him to return the favor with another tender kiss.

Breaking apart a second time, Tommy smiled now, and then broke into a wide yawn. Kim smiled at that and stood up, pulling the former White Ranger up and walking to the far wall where Aisha slept. Leaning over, she nudged her friend's shoulder with a hand until the former Yellow Ranger woke up.

"Your shift."

Aisha nodded, her eyes glued to Tommy holding Kim's hand, or maybe it was the other way around. Either way, Aisha got up and moved to the door to take her turn guarding the team as Kim and Tommy sat down beside one another and shifted until Kim was nearly in his lap. Then for the first time since arriving in this strange time and place, Tommy was able to peacefully sleep.

-x-

When morning arrived, Tommy announced in a clear, assured voice that they needed to find a way to get to Bakersfield today. Splitting into two groups, they made their way back to the area they'd gotten food at and started to ask around for someone who might know of a way to get there. After a while, an older woman suggested they go to the fuel depot and look for a man called Dre, who had a flatbed truck he rented rides on.

Once they made their way to the depot, they found Dre, a dark skinned man, hanging out next to his truck. His clothes were torn in spots, but they were made of more durable materials; jeans, flannel, leather. Approaching carefully, Tommy and Jason started with introductions.

"I'm Tommy, this is Jason. We're looking for Dre…"

"You found him," he replied in a Southern drawl.

"We and our friends are looking for a way to Bakersfield. Perhaps you…"

"You get rations lately?"

Jason nodded worriedly. They hadn't got a lot and they still didn't know how far they had to go past Bakersfield to get more food and water.

"Half of what you've got," Dre stated firmly.

Tommy made a move as if he was going to balk, but Jason laid a hand on his arm to still him. Losing half their rations left would put them in a bind, but they needed the food less than the ride if they were ever going to find out what they needed to do to save themselves and Earth too.

"Okay."

Turning, Jason motioned to the others, who had overheard the exchange, and they quickly opened up the bags they'd scavenged and parsed out half of everything. Adam walked over with the second bag and handed it to Jason, who in turn handed it to Dre. Once he opened it and reviewed the contents, he nodded and waved towards the truck.

"Get in and we'll be off."

The group moved to the back of the vehicle, each member of the team getting on and finding a small space of the truck bed to sit on. Tommy watched the way Dre stared at Kim and Aisha as they climbed in the back of the truck with a dark look. Even without the rations, he guessed the guy would have given Kim and Aisha a lift. As it was, Tommy's protective instincts were in full force, especially since he and Kim had… well, started up. Again. But they needed to get to Bakersfield and getting into a fight with the guy over ogling the girls wouldn't help matters.

Once they were all in, Dre climbed behind the wheel and started for the road. It seemed to take forever to get where they were going. Besides driving along the mostly deserted highway, Dre stopped the truck several times along the way to put gas and water in it, as well as to pick up several more people, who crunched in with them in the back. At one point, Dre offered Kim, Aisha and another woman the chance to sit in the cab with him. None of them took his offer though.

After what seemed like a whole day, the truck passed a long battered sign for their destination. When the truck arrived in the city of Bakersfield, Dre drove to the center of town and let them pile out before quickly driving off.

"Where now?" asked Zack as he looked around what seemed a less than robust city, some of the buildings crumbling and boarded up.

"It looks residential. Based on the map," Tommy started, as he pulled out the cloth map and spread it over his hand as he and some of the others looked at it, "I would guess we go North for a mile until we see houses."

After a break to drink some of their water and eat a few ration bars, they headed out towards the North end of the downtown, walking past mostly deserted buildings and junked cars. Right as the sun was starting to set, they found themselves in the residential area they were looking for. Splitting up briefly, Zack and Adam hollered that they'd found the street name – Valencia.

Quickly, they'd set off down the street, scanning the dilapidated homes for the house number they were looking for. Finally, just as the streets were getting to dark to see, they found the house. It was a non descript ranch style home, but fairly well kept up compared to the others in the otherwise run down area.

Tentatively, the group moved towards the door. Knocking loudly, they all waited, but no one answered. Tommy exchanged nervous glances with Kim and Jason. If their contact was gone, like Sarah and Samuel, they had no way to know where to go and what to do.

Then the door suddenly opened, and Tommy jumped back, his arm whipping in front of Kim as the sudden movement startled him. An older man, well into his sixties swung the door open. His chiseled features were marred with wrinkles and steel grey hair. He looked at Tommy intently, and then at the others.

"Come in, quick. Close and lock the door behind you."

"Are you James?"

"I am."

Tommy motioned to the others, who slowly came into the home, Adam closing and locking the door behind them. The followed him through the entryway to a larger room filled with mismatched chairs and a threadbare sofa.

"Sorry about accommodations. It's not easy to find decent furniture these days," James explained as he levered himself in to an overstuffed armchair. Once he was seated, he waved at the others to do the same.

"You're a member of the Center, like Sarah and Samuel?" Jason asked pointedly as he sat in a hard wood chair and looked around the cluttered room, filled with knick knacks, old photos and dust.

"Indeed. I have been a member all my life."

"Why?" questioned Aisha, curious why anyone would put themselves into harms way at this James' age.

"Because my great-great-great grandparents were rangers."

There were stunned looks on everyone's faces. They'd never considered the idea that the original rangers they were cloned from would have had real lives after they had been rangers. The memories they had only had gone so far, and thinking past the end of those memories had never occurred to any of them.

"And you two look just like your picture," James said, turning away to an old wood box, where he proceeded to pull out an old, discolored photo, which he handed to Tommy.

Tommy tilted the picture so he and Kim could look at it where she sat beside him on the couch. It was clearly a picture of themselves; Kim and Tommy – except that it wasn't them, it was their previous selves.

And they were holding a baby.

-End-

Sorry for the LONG delay between chapters. I'll try to do better.