DISCLAIMER: Not mine. Just borrowing.

SUMMARY: Kim and Tommy are finding their way back to each other. Can they make it last?


September 15, 2001

Jason pulled up in front of the dojo. Before he even had the key out of the ignition, the passenger door opened and Tommy was lifting Kimberly into his arms.

Looking over at his friend, he nodded. "Thanks, man. I owe you."

"No. You don't. Just take care of her." Tommy walked into the dojo.

Jason just watched from the car as Tommy unwrapped Kim from the blanket and stood back to let her father envelope her in a bear hug. He sighed as he watched the family reunion.

'I need some space.' Jason started his car back up and pulled out without turning on the headlights. As he drove away, he never saw the worried look that crossed both Kim and Tommy's faces.


A few minutes later, Jason pulled up at the cemetery. Without even looking around, he walked straight to Trini's grave and knelt down in front of it.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. I'm sorry that I didn't find you sooner. I'm sorry I didn't tell you how I felt sooner. But I promise this. I'll keep an eye on them. I know that's what you'd want since you can't be here to do it." He wiped the tears from his face. "I'll never forget that day. The day my whole world changed twice."

He smiled. Trini and he had been so happy that fateful day. He had proposed and she said yes.

Her mother had decided to take an active role in planning the wedding and they started planning that day, even though the wedding wouldn't be for at least another six months. Trini had laughed at her mother's enthusiasm.

September 3, 2001 early day

Trini and Jason were sitting in the kitchen with Trini's mom. "Mom, the wedding isn't for six months!"

"So? If everything's already planned then, on your wedding day, you can just focus on the biggest day of your life." Tasha Kwan was thrilled; Jason had finally proposed to her daughter. "I know the perfect place. It's just up the highway and we can go right away and see if it suits you. We can make the arrangements today to have it reserved."

Jason laughed. "Don't argue with your mom, Trini. It's about as useless as me arguing with mine."

"Don't bet on it." Trini was laughing too, even though she was already exasperated with her mother's enthusiasm for the wedding plans.

"We'll go right now. They should be open by the time we get there." She turned to Jason. "I'm sorry, Jason. You can't come with us. We'll also be picking out the wedding dress."

"I'll tell you what. Why don't we all meet up at that little Italian restaurant downtown at five thirty for an early dinner? I'll bring my parents and we can discuss everything then."

"Okay. We should be back well before that. We'll see you there." Trini leaned over and kissed Jason briefly. "Until later?"

"No doubts." Jason was on cloud nine. The only thing that could make this day even more perfect would be if it was a double wedding with Tommy and Kim. As he walked out of the house, he didn't know that his world would come crashing down around him just hours later.

September 3, 2001 7:00 pm

Jason and his parents had waited at the restaurant for almost an hour before ordering dinner. Suddenly, Jason's cell phone rang. He picked it up after an apologetic look at his parents.

"Hello?"

The tearful voice on the other end drove a knife in his heart. "Jason, we crashed. Trini's – oh god! So much blood!"

Jason stood up and ran out of the restaurant. "Where are you? Mrs. Kwan, tell me. Where are you?"

As soon as the woman had managed to spit out their location, Jason had jumped in his SUV and drove toward the site, calling for help on the way.

When he got there, he saw the mangled remains of the car his fiancé had been traveling in with his soon to be mother in law. He ran to the car to find Mrs. Kwan half out of the car. She was semi-conscious. Trini wasn't in very good shape. Jason ran around to the other side.

"Trini! Trini, talk me, honey, please!"

"Jason?" Trini's voice was so weak. She had lost too much blood. Jason knew by looking that she didn't have long to live. "I love you, Jason."

"I love you too. Don't leave me, Trini. I need you."

"Promise me something?"

"Anything, sweetheart. Anything."

"Bring them back. Make them see." Jason didn't need to ask who she meant. She had always talked about locking Kim and Tommy in a room alone together until they had talked things out.

"I will. I swear. Just don't go." Tears were flowing freely down Jason's face as he held Trini's hand.

"Hold me until ---" Her voice was fading fast. He gripped her hand tighter not knowing if she could feel it. He pressed his lips against her bloody forehead.

"I love you, Trini. I promise I'll make them see." Trini turned her head toward the man she had come to love after all these years. Her eyes lit up one last time as she gave him one more smile.

"At least, I got to see you one last time." The last words she said to him had been happy ones. She died, smiling because he had been there with her at the end.


September 15, 2001

Tommy pulled up behind the familiar SUV. He had known where Jason had gone. No one had told Kim that Jason and Trini were engaged but he knew that sooner or later she'd find out.

He stood beside his jeep for a moment, allowing his friend the privacy to grieve. He was only here to make sure that he made it back home without a problem. He waited about five minutes and then stepped toward the young man.

"Jase. Jase, you okay, man?"

"Just needed a little space, bro." Jason looked up at the former White Ranger with tears streaking his face. "Things were pretty intense out there. Kim, she just about fell apart. She seemed almost numb when I found her out there on that bluff. She was so close to the edge. I think, for just a moment, she wanted to fall. She was so torn up about you being mad at her for loosing track of time. I tried to convince her that you weren't mad, just worried."

"I always worry about her. You weren't here when we went to Phaedos. While we were there, there was this dino skeleton. It attacked Billy first. But when it turned its attention on Kim, I felt my heart skip a beat. I was so scared."

"I heard all about it. Billy told me. So did everyone else but Aisha shed the most light on the situation. This was one of those things that I just ---"

Tommy nodded, knowing his friend had things that he wanted to say but just didn't know how to say them.

"Kim asked me if I'd ever told you just how close you came to losing her for good when she was in Florida." Tommy's head jerked as he realized what he thought Jason was saying to him. "Never to another guy. She never had eyes for any other guy than you. It was after the hotel. She had been back for four days. I had left her with Trini and Zack in order to report back to Zordon as he had asked. She went into to take a bath and, when I was heading back to the hallway, Zack and I heard Trini scream. Kim had slit her wrist. She almost died that night." The anguish that flashed through Tommy's eyes nearly killed Jason. "She should have been the one to tell you about this but she wouldn't because she knew how much it would hurt you. She still feels guilty about it because she kept telling us that she didn't want to hurt you more than she already had and then attempted the one thing that would have completely destroyed you."

"Destroyed? That would have been the mild way to put it. I think I would have died shortly after her."

"I couldn't have dealt with that. Not burying two friends back to back like that." Jason took a deep breath. "It was a song that triggered her back then. The song was 'All Cried Out' by Lisa Lisa. She sang it out there on that bluff." He looked seriously at his friend. "We need to get her off those pain pills. She told me that the doctors told her she could quit taking them almost two weeks ago." He stood up.

"Are you ready?"

"I'll never be ready to be completely without her but as long as I can come to see her I never will be."

The two young men left the cemetery to go back to the dojo and check on Kim.