Rumours of Thunder Chapter 7

by Mintaka14

It had been a late night catching up with his old team, and the litter of bottles and empty pizza boxes scattered around the kitchen brought a reminiscent smile to Tommy's face, but he was definitely feeling the worse for wear by the time he made it to work.

The glare of the fluorescent lights in the classroom was offensively bright, and his students seemed louder than usual. There was a string of texts on his phone from the old team, teasing him about being at work on such a nice day, and a photo that Jason had sent him of the five of them sitting on the motel balcony, surrounded by a late breakfast.

Zack had sent a message that made Tommy swear, and burst out laughing, and one of the kids in the front row looked up, startled.

"Just pretend you didn't hear that," Tommy whispered to the kid, and he quickly texted back a rude reply to Zack.

He didn't have the senior class for science that day, and didn't see any sign of the Dino Thunder team until he made it to the Cyber Café after school to get some work done before meeting up with the old team that night.

Tommy settled into the ratty old couch with his laptop. He could see Ethan already glued to one of the computers in the corner, and Conner on the other side of the café, laughing with some of the soccer team. There was quite a crowd there to listen to the band that afternoon, and the constant chatter and clink of glasses died down a little as Kira struck the first chords on her guitar.

Then she started to sing, and Tommy leaned back to listen, the senior exam he was supposed to be writing forgotten.

By the time the set finished, and Kira dropped into the sofa opposite him, still a little flushed with the buzz of performing, Tommy hadn't made much progress.

"It's sounding good," he told her, and a tentative smile flickered at the corners of her mouth.

"Really? 'Cause I thought that the phrasing in the second verse was a little awkward." Kira started fiddling absently with the frayed armrest of the couch, and Tommy waited.

"I'm sorry about yesterday," she said eventually. "It was just getting a bit crowded in the Batcave."

She was still focused on the couch, her finger moving over the faded piping. "It must be nice to see your old team again."

"It's always good to see them." He tilted his head to catch her eye. "What was going on with you and Kim? It's not like you to overreact like that."

Kira grimaced.

"It's not just Kim, though, is it?" he asked.

"Not entirely," Kira admitted reluctantly. "Stuff at home, stuff at school. It's been a rough week."

"Anything I can help with?"

Kira gave a strained smile.

"It's nothing I can't handle, but -" She broke off, her smile fading out, and he wasn't entirely surprised when Kim rounded the corner of the couch.

"There you are," Kim said, sinking down elegantly beside him. "Of all the gin joints in all the world, and you have to hang out in the most teenage dive in town. Something's come up, and I have to head home, but I've been trying to find you before my flight."

Kira pushed herself to her feet.

"I'll leave you to it," she said expressionlessly, and Kim looked up at her, giving the younger girl a dazzling smile that Tommy recognised from their teenage years as her 'get-out-of-jail-free' smile.

"Hey, Kira, I caught part of your set. You've got a lovely voice."

Kira gave her a small, unfriendly nod of recognition, and stalked away to the bar.

"Oh, dear. I don't think your Yellow Ranger likes me much," Kim said a little ruefully. Tommy sighed, shifting his gaze back to the woman at his side.

"I don't know what was going on yesterday," he said, "but Kira doesn't tend to react like that unless she's got good reason. We're all under more than a bit of pressure right now."

"You really think Mesogog's going to play his end game soon?"

"It's looking that way."

Kim was watching him with a small frown. "Are you going to be ready?"

"I hope so. I think so. As ready as we ever were." He shifted, running a hand through his hair. "Hayley's pulling off her usual miracles, and she and Billy seem to have something worked out now. And this team… Kim, they're good. They're amazing, and this team works together in ways we could only dream of back in the day."

"But?" she asked gently, and Tommy frowned at her.

"What do you mean?"

"Look, I know it's been a while, but I do know you. And I know that look in your eyes. What are you worrying about?"

Tommy dropped his gaze to his hands, his frown deepening.

"Maybe I should have quit while I was ahead," he confessed quietly. "Mesogog, all his minions… it's all come from my research and my experiments. If I hadn't been so caught up in trying to build something to give the next Rangers the advantage, maybe Conner and Ethan and Kira wouldn't have been called into action."

Kim's hand closed over his.

"'Maybe' is a pointless game to play," she said. "Maybe if you hadn't been there, these kids would have been called anyway without you to mentor them and give them the edge they're going to need to survive this. Who knows?"

Tommy squeezed her hand gently, and his mouth lifted in a smile. "I've missed you, Kim."

"Of course you have," she teased. "I'm unforgettable."

There was a long pause while she stared down at their linked fingers.

"Do you ever wonder what might have happened if we'd, oh, stayed together? Got married?"

Before he could stop himself, Tommy gave a smothered snort of laughter.

"Seriously? Kim, we would have strangled each other within the first month."


Kira looked back over her shoulder just in time to see the former Pink Ranger bend down smoothly to kiss Dr O's cheek.

"I really don't like her," Kira muttered into her milkshake, but Hayley heard her.

"Who, Kim?"

"She's too damn perfect. And she makes me feel like such a kid."

"Well, technically you are still a kid."

Kira ignored Hayley. "I've worked hard, haven't I? I've earned my stripes as a Ranger. So how come as soon as she walks in the door I just want to stick out my tongue and make rude noises? I really don't like her."

"And she was Tommy Oliver's first love." Hayley tilted a knowing eyebrow as Kira groaned and buried her face in her arms.

"So not relevant," she muttered, and Hayley's eyebrow climbed higher.

"Isn't it?"

"Oh god, is it that obvious?"

"Well, I don't think Tommy's figured it out yet, but then he's a bit slow on the uptake sometimes," Hayley teased, but when Kira made a muffled noise of despair she took pity on the younger girl, patting her on the shoulder. "You hide it well, Kira, but don't forget it's my job to know things. I've seen how you look at him, and I knew it wasn't going anywhere with you and Trent."

"Argh!" Kira muttered into her sleeve.

They were interrupted as Kim came towards them, and Hayley turned to the former Pink Ranger. Kira looked back down at her glass, and tried to pretend that she wasn't listening in.

"You're heading out?"

"I have to leave earlier than I'd planned. My flight's in two hours."

"It was good to see you again, Kim. And thanks for the morphers."

"Well, they're not much more than souvenirs to us now, so if they can help you – "

"Oh, they will."

Kira saw Kim shoot a look back at the couch where Dr O was staring blankly at his laptop, his hands steepled in front of him.

"Just… look after him, Hayley. I don't think I've really got to the bottom of what's bothering him, but I've never seen him this stressed out."

"Well, impending doom, end of life as we know it, Mesogog bringing back the Age of the Dinosaurs… it's making all of us a little tense, Kim."

"Yes, but he's done all that before. This is different." Kira caught the look that Kim turned in her direction, and pretended that she wasn't listening. "Something's different. I know a big part of it is that he's feeling guilty about what happened on the island, but it's more than that. It's like he's lost his focus."

"You know, it might not be a bad thing if Tommy's learning to let go a bit," Hayley said drily. "He's a bit too driven, when it comes to Ranger business. It used to drive me crazy at MIT, how single-minded he could be."

"And he's always been like that, the dedicated Ranger," Kim agreed, "which is probably why he keeps getting called back into action over and over again. Tommy's always going to be there, doing the right thing for everyone else until the end of the world. If I'm honest, that was sort of what broke us up – he's just too damn noble for words. He'd never have left the Rangers to be with me, although for a while I kind of hoped he would come after me. It was never going to happen though. He's always been the consummate Ranger in thought, word and deed."

Hayley made a sound that might have been agreement.

"I'm just hoping he's not going to do anything stupid," Kim shrugged helplessly, and Hayley levelled a look at her.

"Well, if anyone's earned the right to be a bit selfish, it's him. And it's not like you have a say in it anymore, is it?"

Kim gave a half-laugh, half-sigh. "Not except as a friend who cares. That ship has long sailed, even if I ever wanted anything else, and it's probably just as well. Tommy was right about one thing – we would have strangled each other within a month if we'd ever been foolish enough to get married."

Kira let out the breath she hadn't realised she was holding as Kim leaned across the counter to hug Hayley goodbye. She refused to admit, even to herself, that what she was feeling was relief.

She looked up to find the older, auburn-haired woman watching her, and Hayley must have seen something in Kira's face, because she reached out a sympathetic hand to the younger girl.

"Oh, Kira, honey, you've got it bad, haven't you?"

"Yeah, well, there's no point thinking about it. It's not like I've ever thought he'd look at me like that."

"Are you so sure about that?"

"Seriously?" Kira shot back incredulously. "Have you forgotten? He's my teacher. I don't think Dr O needs any more drama at school, without me adding to it. Cheryl's already making his life difficult without another student crush to add to the collection."

"You're not going to be his student for much longer," Hayley pointed out gently.

"Yes. But I'll still be the same snarky, stupid freak in yellow." Kira gestured hopelessly at the door that Kim Hart had just walked out of. "You've seen the kind of women he falls for. Beautiful, smart, talented. Someone who knows the right moment to faint," she added derisively.

"You know Kim's not that helpless," Hayley said mildly.

Kira sighed. "I know. It'd be easier if she was. It's just, even for Dr O, I couldn't do the damsel in distress thing."

"I'm glad to hear it," Hayley responded tartly. "Tommy doesn't need more people to rescue in his life. He needs someone to save him from his own overinflated nobility."

"And you think that's me?" Kira asked incredulously. "Why?"

Hayley opened her mouth to say something, then closed it as if she'd changed her mind.

"That's for you to decide for yourself," she said eventually.

Kira's gaze dropped back to the counter.

"It's not like it matters. It'd never happen," she said hopelessly.

There was silence while Kira stared at the glass between her hands, and Hayley wiped down the counter.

"So, Hayley," Kira asked with a painful nonchalance, "at college. Did you and Dr O ever… date?"

"Tommy and me? God, no! That would have been way too weird."

"Weird?"

Hayley avoided eye contact. "Are you done with that glass, Kira?"

"Hayley?"

"You should check your morpher," Hayley said brightly, and Kira narrowed her eyes.

"You're avoiding the question."

"No, really." Hayley pointed to Kira's wrist with the tea towel she was holding. "Looks like something's happening."

As her morpher lit up again, Kira could see Dr O get purposefully to his feet from the couch. In the corner where the computers were, she heard Ethan swear, and the faint sound of explosions as he pulled his headphones free.

Kira swung around and dropped off the stool she was sitting on, as Hayley added a soft "Stay safe!" She gave the red-headed woman a half-hearted smile, and dodged between the tables to where Dr O was holding the door for her, watching her with that lopsided grin that always did things to her. Time to go to work.


"So they've all gone?" Hayley asked, not looking up from the microscope.

"Trini and Zack and Billy flew out this afternoon," Tommy said. "Trini's got a connecting flight in LA, and Billy's… not saying where he's going after this. So it's probably going to be a while before we manage to get together again."

"It must have been nice to see the old crew again. Kim's looking well."

"What are you up to, Hayley?"

"Me? Nothing. Just a perfectly innocent observation. Have you talked to Kira today?"

"Why? Is something wrong?"

"Oh, no reason."

Tommy fixed her with a flat look, which she refused to acknowledge, and eventually he gave up and turned his attention to the old morphing cuff under the microscope.

"Have you found the key yet?" he asked.

"Still looking," she responded distantly.