So, Chapter 11 is officially the longest. It beats Chapter 5 by 700 words. LOL, not a whole lot, but still longer. Looking back, Chapter 1 was the shortest as just over 5000 words. After that, every other chapter has been between 7K and 11K words. So I'm rather proud. If this story ends up being as long as Chronology Conundrum in chapters, it could potentially reach close to 500K words.
Thank you for all your support of the last ten chapters. Reading your reviews, seeing what you like, what your opinions are, what are your guesses, etc. They mean the world to me. So thank you so much. Chaos begins to resume next chapter, so enjoy the calm and emotional stuff while it lasts.
Typical plug for The Order just in case this is the first time you're reading an AN. They announced this morning that there's another cast member. I'm hoping for Jason Narvy. LOL.
Anyway, happy reading.
Kim sighed and walked into the empty living room, a large, rounded mug in her hands. She took a long sip off the hot liquid inside, and gazed around. There were drink cups scattered around, and several photo frames had been knocked over. A few sofa cushions were overturned, and none of the pillows were in their proper places. Most were scattered around the floor. She let a gentle smile form on her lips, as she walked over to the stereo and turned it on. One of her favorite albums started to play, just instrumental, no lyrics, and she lowered the volume so that it created background noise. After all of the commotion of the day, silence was a bit unnerving. She took another sip from her mug, picked up one of the pillows off the floor, and fell into the arm chair, pulling her knees in close to her chest and looking around the room, reflecting on the evening.
She'd been grateful that Jason, Trini, and Zack had dropped what they were doing to come to the teens' rescue the day before. She was even more grateful that they'd chosen to stay, even though their help wasn't crucial anymore. She'd missed them all. And when everyone else had arrived, it felt like her family was being put back together. There were only a few individuals missing; unfortunately one of those was Tommy.
Dinner had gone relatively smoothly. Smooth was a rare word when there were thirteen former rangers, plus two toddlers, and an infant present in one location. She would take what she could get. Aside from a few small arguments between Katie and Tyler, and a few not so quiet ribbings between Connor, Rocky, Zack, and Tommy, the entire night had been nice. They'd joked and reminisced; they'd teased one another, and Rocky had determined that aside from the obvious ranger related chaos, it was a nice start to their somewhat normal reunion. Kim sipped her mug, a half-smile on her face as she realized that she had to agree with the former red ranger's assessment. She just wished the ranger related chaos hadn't been involved.
The sun had fully set about an hour before, casting the room into shadow. The only light came from the back porch through the glass door. Kim reached up and turned on of the table lamps in the room on, replacing both hands around her mug as she checked the clock. It was just about ten at night. Most of the others had left after dinner. Rocky, Adam, Aisha, and Tanya hadn't checked into the hotel yet, and they wanted to get settled, especially since Katie was getting cranky again and Luke was getting a bit fussy. Trini and Jason conceded that they should probably get Tyler to bed early if they were hitting the beach in the morning, and Zack had left with them, not having a vehicle of his own present. That had left Kim alone with Tommy and the dino thunder teenagers. She'd sent the five of them out into the backyard, citing the fact that they'd spent the day cleaning the house – she'd clean up the remnants of the group's dinner. In truth, she needed to be alone, or rather, not in a space with her regressed boyfriend.
Kim had used the alone time to think things through. She was still debating how she felt about Tommy's accident. She was angry, amused, sad, and terrified all at once. Angry because things could never go right when it came to Tommy. She wondered if he would ever be able to distance himself from Rangers and their technology. She wondered if they could ever live a relatively normal life. Amused because, well, she didn't have to waste time explaining that one to herself. Her nearly twenty eight year old boyfriend had regressed himself into a teenage boy, nerves, hormones, and all. She really hoped that he remembered this little adventure, as she was looking forward to teasing him about it for years to come. Sad was easily explained as well; she hadn't seen him in two weeks. They'd said it on the phone just the day before. It was the longest they'd been apart since they'd finally reunited and admitted that they still loved each other. Kim felt she'd lost so much time because of that damn letter and her fears. She hated that they were losing more time now. And then there was terrified. Everyone else had so much confidence in the fact that this was just temporary. That Haley or Billy would arrive and it would all be fixed. No one doubted it. Except her. She worried. What if this was permanent? What if Billy and Haley couldn't figure out what had happened? What if this was the time that the ranger chaos went beyond their abilities to fix things? She felt the tears threatening to come and she started to let them, noticing one fall from her face and send ripples through her drink when it landed in her mug.
The only thing that stopped them was the sound of the glass door sliding open, and the light turning off. She immediately wiped her eyes and looked up in the direction of the door to see Tommy entering alone. She blinked a few times realizing that of course they were alone. The real teenagers had homes to go to, and everyone else was staying at the hotel, at least until Billy got there. She composed herself, and gave him a gentle smile.
"Everyone else head home for the night?" she asked him, noticing that Tommy seemed a bit more relaxed than he had previously around the teenagers. The boy nodded, and walked into the living room, sitting down on the sofa, his legs spread apart and his hands clasped on his knees. She watched him for a few moments, letting silence over take them again, knowing that the situation was awkward. He remembered her as a perky fifteen year old girl. She wished he was her strong handsome, grown man. Neither saw what they wanted it the other at the moment.
"What are you drinking?" Tommy spoke up, asking anything to break the silence that had taken over them. Without anyone else there were no distractions. Kimberly gave him a kind smile in return, pushing her hair out of her face.
"Tea," she replied. "There's some more in the kitchen if you'd like some," she added with a slight laugh as his face clearly rejected that idea. Even as an adult, Tommy never wanted anything weaker than coffee. Heaven forbid anyone slip him decaf in the morning and they were in for a world of hurt for the remainder of the day. Silence quickly replaced their interaction, and Kim exhaled loudly. "You ok?" she asked the boy, knowing that the answer was probably a negative.
Tommy shrugged in response. He looked up and met her eyes. Something had been bugging him since he'd stormed out of the house that afternoon, but he hadn't wanted to bring it up around everyone else. They were already making fun of him enough. He didn't need them to have any insight into how he was feeling about his relationship with Kimberly. Tommy sighed and ran his hand over his face. "Can we talk?"
"Uh oh," Kim laughed slightly, trying to not show how tense she was. "This doesn't sound good," she added, giving him a hesitant smile. Tommy shook his head, clearly not allowing her to distract him. Kim sighed and sat up in the chair, setting her mug to the side. She crossed her legs in front of herself and sat Indian style in the chair, clasping her hands in front of her. "Sure, what's up?" she asked him, not knowing if she was going to like the thoughts swimming around in his head.
"I… I don't even know how to start," Tommy told her, blushing and looking back down at his feet. Talking to her when there were others around had been easy. He closed his eyes for a moment and looked back up, trying to imagine the woman in front of him as fifteen year old Kim. She smiled at him, and that actually helped to relax him a bit. She still had the same smile. The one she'd given him in the hallway of Angel Grove High the day they'd met.
"At the beginning is always a good idea," Kim chuckled, getting a slightly hostile look from Tommy in return. She sighed. "Seriously, you should know you can tell me anything," she encouraged him. "No one else is here, and I won't make fun of you," she added in.
"We've always had feelings for each other, haven't we?" he blurted out. "I mean, you obviously know I like you, even now, I mean, when I was really fifteen," he added in, his eyes darting from her face back to his feet as if he didn't want to watch her reaction.
Of course that's where his line of questioning was going to go. She'd never had any doubts he'd ask about their relationship. Part of her wanted to keep bits and pieces of it to herself, maybe save him the pain of knowing the whole truth, but a larger side of her valued honesty and knew he would as well. However, his first question was easy. "I think I've liked you longer than you liked me," she told him with a gentle laugh in her voice. "After all," she went on, "it was hard for you to notice anyone during your sparing match with Jason."
"But…" he stated, looking up at her in surprise. "You didn't even know me yet?" he questioned.
"Do you believe in love at first sight?" she asked him, knowing the answer. Tommy gave her a slight smile in return.
"So we've been together a long time then?" he asked her. "Longer than Jason and Trini?" he questioned, gauging her reaction with his eyes. There was a hidden meaning to his question, and he wondered if she'd catch it.
Kim sighed, and nodded. She knew what he was getting at, but that traitorous part of her didn't want to tell him unless he outright asked. She tried to stay as neutral as possible. "You asked me out a few months after joining the team," Kimberly confirmed for him. "You kissed me first, I might add," she put in with a bit of a laugh, remembering their first kiss beside the lake. "So yeah," she stated. "We've been together longer than Jason and Trini."
"Then," he began, and his cheeks turned bright red. He wanted to know there was something normal about his future. But he was fifteen. Talking about things normal adults did was more embarrassing than being regressed in front of his friends. More embarrassing than appearing a child in the eyes of the girl he liked. Or rather the woman he knew he loved. Tommy hesitated, unable to bring himself to formulate the words to his question. He needed to know, but he couldn't ask her. He glanced from his feet to her eyes, wondering if she could read his mind.
Kimberly sighed, and shook her head slightly. She knew exactly what he was asking her, and she didn't relish the thought of telling him the answer. "Why aren't we married as well?" she added, purposely leaving out the addition of Tyler. The teenager was already beat red at the mention of matrimony; she hated to see what would happen if she added in reproduction.
"Is it because I was still a ranger?" he asked her, nodding in response to her question. He looked up at her, and she saw both hope and fear. She honestly wasn't sure what he wanted her answer to be. At that moment, she wanted to throw the honesty card out the window and tell him that was exactly it. That they were waiting until he was no longer a ranger. That they'd never been apart. That they hadn't lost all that precious time.
"Partially," she finally replied, looking away from his eyes and down at her lap. She wrapped her arms around her torso and looked up to see that he was frowning at her. His response didn't surprise her. He wanted more. "We broke up," she admitted, although that was putting it mildly. "I… I broke up with you. I was afraid you'd get hurt trying to rescue me one day," she explained. Tommy looked down at his lap. He was terrified of asking her out. And now he knew that when he did, she would eventually break up with him. His insides were screaming in pain; he felt his heart break. He ran his hand over his face, brushing away any tears she might have seen. This Kimberly expected a grown man. He was not going to embarrass himself by crying in front of her.
"When you stopped being a ranger and gave your power coin to that Katherine girl in the video?" Tommy asked looking up at her frowning, determined to understand. He didn't take his eyes off Kimberly. She nodded once, reluctantly. "There's more to her than just another ranger, isn't there?" Tommy asked, his eyes showing concern. His gut told him Kat was important, but the hesitant look in her eyes, said that Kimberly might not want to tell him. Still, Tommy instinctively knew, Kim would be his only source of information on this front. He knew none of the others would talk to him about it.
"Yes," Kimberly told him, forcing a weak smile, and wondering if she actually had the emotional strength to answer his question. She'd already resolved that she wasn't going to lie to him. But beyond the one word, she didn't know what to tell him. How to tell him. He was fifteen. He was clearly already in love with her, and well, at fifteen, you tend to think things are going to last forever. Break ups, growing apart, other relationships are not typically part of the equation. Still, he hadn't broken down when she'd told him that they would break up. She looked up to meet his eyes, for the first time since Friday night feeling like the shy reluctant one in the relationship at the moment. Tommy raised an eyebrow, clearly asking her for more of an explanation. Kimberly sighed. "You'll date her too," she told him.
"Do I love her?" Tommy asked. For a fifteen year old, it was a simple question, which in his mind should have a yes or no answer. You date someone usually because you're really like them, or probably even love. Well, a fifteen year old definition of love. To Tommy, at the moment, love had one definition, while for Kim, and most of the other adults, it was a multifaceted term with so many different expressions.
Kim exhaled sharply and shook her head, unsure where she should even start. She looked up again and met his eyes. He seriously thought his question was easy. She gave him a small smile. "Honestly," Kim told him. "I don't know. It's a question you'll have to answer yourself when we get you all grown up again," she added, her smile clearly not reaching her eyes. But Tommy studied her for a moment, a deep frown on his face as he processed her answer.
He wondered if she was telling him that it was possible to love two people at the same time. However, he wasn't an adult. His mind wasn't capable of thinking that way. Instead, he asked the only question that mattered at that moment. "Do you hate her?" Clearly he and Kim were together when he grew up, even though they'd broken up. That confused him a little bit. He didn't completely understand how you could decide you didn't love someone and then decide you love them again. Fifteen years was not a lot of time for mental growth. Still, if he and Kim were together, it only made sense that Kat wasn't in the picture. It made sense why everyone of his other teammates was at the reunion; Justin didn't count because Adam had said he was back packing through Europe. So there had to be a reason Kat wasn't there. However, he suddenly thought, what if it wasn't Kim who hated Katherine. What if it was him? "Do I hate her?" he added in before Kimberly could answer his first question.
"Oh handsome," Kimberly stated, seeing the look of panic in his eyes. "No," she told him gently. "Neither of us hates Kat, I can assure you of that," she told him, letting a small smile grace her lips.
"But I dated her after you?" Tommy argued. He was pretty sure he would hate anyone who dated Kimberly that wasn't him, even if it was Jason, Zack, or Billy. Kim chuckled slightly, shaking her head. He'd just reminded her that he definitely, one hundred percent, was a young teenager.
"Tommy," she told him. "People grow up, and sometimes they drift apart before they find their way back together. While they're apart, other people come into their lives. There's no reason to hate anyone for just being there and living," she told him, although when she looked up and met his eyes, she could tell he didn't understand. "Kat was there for you during a time when I wasn't. She was good for you. She made you happy, and that's what matters to me. I could never hate her. I chose her to be a ranger," she added, stressing the word 'I'.
"So why did I break up with her, if I don't hate her either," Tommy asked, frowning, trying to figure out the adult concepts. He wasn't succeeding so well. Kim's words didn't make a whole lot of sense to him. He wouldn't tell her, but he was pretty sure, that even when he was pushing thirty, he'd be trying to discover a way to summon the dragonzord to destroy anyone who had ever so much as looked at Kimberly – whether they were together at the time or not.
Kim laughed again lightly and shook her head. "I don't know that either. Only you and Kat do," she told him. "If I had to guess," Kim continued, "I'd say you weren't meant to be forever, just for a little while."
"So why isn't she here?" Tommy stated, and Kim sighed. She hated that question, because the answer wasn't unique to Kat alone. Kat was missing for the same reason that Jason, Trini, and Zack hadn't been invited to the reunion. Kat was missing for the same reason that four months ago, Rocky, Aisha, Adam, and Tanya weren't in his life. Kat was missing for the same reason that Tommy and Kim hadn't spoken in eight years.
"Do you really need me to answer that?" Kimberly asked him, knowing the answer would hurt him. She wouldn't lie to him, but she didn't want to purposely hurt him. However, Tommy just fixed his eyes on her and nodded once.
Kimberly sighed and shook her head, searching for the right words. Fifteen, she reminded herself. He was only fifteen. What could he handle? Granted, none of them had been ordinary fifteen year olds. Tommy was already battling the mental scars left over from having been the evil green ranger, but still. He didn't need anymore. "You saw in the video how you were a ranger the longest? How the teams changed around you?" she asked him, and Tommy nodded once, letting her know he was following her. "And we told you how, Jason and I, powerless, were kidnapped?" she asked him.
"I didn't want that to keep happening, did I?" Tommy asked, and Kim gave him a gentle smile, realizing that Tommy had figured it out. "If I'm a ranger, and no one else is, they could get hurt."
"That's how you felt, yeah," Kimberly stated. "You just started letting everyone else back in. You haven't reached out to Kat yet," she told him, watching as he wrapped his mind around what she'd just told him.
"Ok. When did we start dating again?" he asked, calmly, though his insides were in chaos. He needed this answer. If he'd just started letting his friends back in, what about Kimberly? What did that mean?
"Four months ago," she replied, her voice barely above a whisper. Tommy blinked. He was still in high school when Kim left the team. His mind raced as he did the math. They would be apart almost ten years. He felt a pit form in the center of his stomach as he watched tears well up in Kim's eyes. He fought hard to keep them out of his own. He shut his eyes, and turned away from her, inhaling and exhaling slowly as he fought to get himself under control. They were both silent for a while before Tommy looked back over at her. She'd managed to compose herself as well.
"Do you regret it?" he asked her, unsure of the answer. It was a simple, yet loaded question, and Kim knew that she needed to give him the right answer. Again, she wondered, how much of this adventure Tommy would remember if (no, when, she chastised herself) they got him back to normal. She looked up from studying her lap and made eye contact with him.
Her mind went over the last ten years of her life. Living in Florida alone save her gymnastics team and her coach. Being kidnapped by Divatox with Jason. Returning to Florida, true feelings unspoken. College and three years of trips to Reefside searching for him. Being kept away from him by Haley, who knew the hurt and pain she'd once been the cause of. Being kidnapped by Mesogog. Stabbing him with a shank while rolling on the floor, lust seeping through every vein of her being, while feeling nothing stronger than hate. All while Jason had gone on to admit feelings for Trini and married her. Kim had been maid of honor at that wedding. She'd been a bridesmaid at Aisha's to Rocky. She'd been present the day after Tyler was born. She'd met Katie only a few days after Aisha had made it home from the hospital. She'd sent a celebratory text message when Adam told her he had proposed to Tanya. They'd all had their milestones. "Yes," she told him, watching his eyes flicker with recognition. "And no," she added, reluctantly. Tommy frowned in response. "I regret the pain our break up caused both of us," she told him, trying to elaborate on her answer. "I regret the amount of time that passed without you as a part of my life."
"Isn't that enough?" Tommy asked her with all the wisdom of a fifteen year old faced with the prospect of losing his first love.
Kimberly shook her head and stood up, walking over to him. She sat down on the sofa beside him, taking his hand in her own. At this age, he was only just slightly taller than she was. His eyes showed her his innocence to the world. Sure he'd been the evil green ranger, but he hadn't experienced much else. "I don't regret how my life has gone," she told him gently. "There's been a lot of good in the middle as well," she added in. "And things happened for a reason."
"Like what?" Tommy stated. "What could possibly be worth us not being together?"
"I didn't say that I thought us not being together was a good thing," Kimberly told him as gently as she could without being too soft. She needed him to understand that she was serious "I said there might have been a reason for it. If we'd been together, you might never have gone to college; might never have become a teacher; might never have discovered the dino gems that made Connor, Kira, Ethan, and Trent into rangers," she told him. Tommy frowned, removing his hand from hers. He was fifteen. He didn't care much about that. He cared about her and him, and their friends. "They're a part of our family, and I couldn't imagine life without them."
"You couldn't?" Tommy asked her, letting her words sink in. Kim smiled and shook her head. She turned to face him.
"As much as I wish we'd never been apart, Tommy," Kimberly told him. "I wouldn't change how our life turned out. Things don't always go according to plan," she explained. "But that doesn't mean they're wrong. Everything happens for a reason, even if its unexpected." she added, "Do you understand?"
"I guess," Tommy whispered. He wasn't entirely sure from the look in her eyes that Kimberly was talking about their break up. She seemed like she wanted to tell him something, but couldn't find the words.
"Good," she stated, a slight smile on his lips. She pressed her forehead against his for a moment, before placing her hands on either side of his face. She kissed his forehead gently and then when he was stunned, smirked and stood up, stretching. She walked back to her seat and grabbed her now much cooler mug of tea, before moving toward the stereo and turning it off. She then proceeded to the hall that led to the house's two bedrooms. "Don't stay up to late," she told him calmly. "Tomorrow's going to be a long day," she added, leaving him sitting alone on the sofa, still surprised by her actions.
The day promised to be another hot one in Reefside, although maybe not entirely scorching. It was already over eighty degrees and it wasn't quite ten in the morning when Kira, dressed in a black and yellow bikini, a beach bag slung over her arm, walked beside Trent, clad solely in white swim trunks and a tank top, toward a spot right at the center of the beach where three umbrellas were already set up forming three corners of a square. Beneath the umbrellas, several blankets and towels had been spread out. A few beach chairs with occupants had sanctuary beneath the shaded canopy as well. "Hey guys!" Kira called out when she and Trent reached a respectable shouting distance so that they wouldn't disturb anyone else nearby.
"Tent!" the small girl wearing a one piece red bathing suit with yellow and black polka dots that had a picture of Minnie Mouse on the front, shouted back, dropping the hot pink pail she'd be holding and raced towards the teenagers, Rocky, wearing a pair of red and orange swim trunks, shirt already discarded, and a pair of black sunglasses over his eyes, followed behind her. "Up! Up!" Katie demanded when she reached Trent. Rocky laughed at his daughter's antics and took the fourth beach umbrella and two beach chairs that the teenager was carrying from him so that he could obey the commands of the toddler.
"Hi Katie," Trent laughed when he'd gotten the small girl to eyelevel, following Kira and Rocky back over to the rest of the group at the umbrellas. Kimberly and Trini occupied two of the beach chairs. Both had their flip flops off, resting off to the sides. Kim wore a bikini in a pale baby pink with a few white accents, and a white straw beach hat with a pink flower on it, while Trini wore a one piece in yellow that was mesh across her stomach. Her hair was pulled back and braided down her back. Beside them, in a shaded spot on the beach towel, Aisha sat, legs crisscrossed, five month old Luke in her lap, leaning against her stomach and chest. She wore a two piece tankini suit that had a yellow top and black bottoms. Luke wore a pale blue pair of swim trunks over his swim diaper, and a matching swim top. He had a matching sun hat on his head, despite being in the shade, which fastened under his chin. Aisha was holding a flat sand and water toy in her hands that was filled with water. The baby was happily splashing in it. Standing off to the side, digging through the cooler the group had brought with them was Zack. He'd discarded his shirt like Rocky, although he still wore a pair of sandals on his feet. His suit was a deep purple in color with black accents running through it. "What are you doing?"
"Go in wotew," Katie told him happily, clapping her hands. "Tent come?" she asked him, a quizzical look on her face.
"Give him a minute Katie," Rocky laughed at his daughter as he set the chairs down. Kira began setting them up near Kim and Trini, while Zack moved to help Rocky with the fourth umbrella, holding the bottle of water he'd retrieved in his mouth so he could have two free hands. "He just got here," he told his daughter, while Trent nodded, casting a look around for everyone else, as he set the toddler down near her mother.
Jason, wearing black and red checkered swim trunks, and Tommy, clad in an olive green pair were down near the surf, watching Tyler attempt to jump over waves as they broke on the beach. The boy was squatting down low, the bottoms of his blue swim trunks touching the sand before he launched himself into the air, laughing each time. Tanya and Adam were laying on their stomachs on beach towels out in the sun, propped up on their elbows, talking quietly to each other while they watched. Adam's suit was a dark hunter green with black abstract accents running through it, while Tanya's bikini was a muted gold color with copper metal circles on the hips and in the center of her chest. Both wore a pair of black sunglasses over their eyes. Connor and Ethan hadn't arrived yet, but that didn't surprise him.
"Wotew now?" Katie asked impatiently, looking out towards Jason, Tommy, and Tyler, envy clear in her tiny face.
"Ok, ok," Trent laughed, offering his hand to the girl. "Kira coming?" he asked his girlfriend who shook her head. Katie latched onto his hand and began pulling on it.
"Nah," she laughed, noticing that Katie was struggling with all her strength to get the teenager to move. She'd dug her heels into the sand. "I think your girlfriend wants your attention," she teased him, sliding a fly away strand of hair out of her face and settling into one of the beach chairs she'd just set up, as Aisha, Trini, and Kim laughed along with her. "Isn't that right Katie?" she asked the small girl. "Is Trent your boyfriend?"
"Bofend," Katie giggled, giving up pulling and latching onto Trent's leg. Trent chuckled nervously, running his hand over the back of his head, as Rocky shot him a look.
"Over my dead body," the former red ranger stated, a bit too loudly, so that his voice reached his best friend and his fiancé, reaching down and pulling his daughter off of the teenage boy. He tossed her in the air once, caught her and tucked her under his arm.
"What happens over Rocky's dead body?" Adam called out, twisting so that he was looking over his shoulder back at the group under the beach umbrellas. He had his sunglasses raised with one hand and had cocked one eyebrow in question. He was slightly concerned that they were talking about rangers dying, but seeing as there weren't any monsters (or salon looking chairs in Tommy's case) he wasn't immensely worried.
"Katie has a boyfriend," Kimberly called out to him, and Adam's amused expression changed to a frown as he studied the group, eyeing Trent carefully. Trent shrugged his shoulders, while the four women began to laugh.
"I concur with Rocky," Adam stated simply. "She's not allowed to date. She's going to be a nun," he concluded.
"Sounds good to me," Rocky replied, chuckling. He looked down at his daughter who squirmed in his arms. He tickled her with the other hand, causing an eruption of giggles.
"So glad you two have decided my daughter's future," Aisha stated, a smirk on her face as she rolled her eyes. Luke continued to splash in the water plate she was holding. "Not all guys are horrible; some us decided to marry you guys after all," she informed them.
"Ok," Rocky stated, reluctantly. "She can marry a power ranger," he laughed, lifting Katie up so she was eye level and rubbing his nose against hers. "Got that. You can find and marry a power ranger," he told his daughter. "But no one else. Don't even bring them home; and you are still not allowed to date."
"Pow Ranger," Katie mimicked, giggling, and clapping her hands against Rocky's cheeks. "K," she added, knowing she needed to provide her father with some type of answer that showed him she was listening.
"Preferably red," Rocky added on, grinning over at Aisha who just rolled her eyes at him. She shifted Luke so that he sat on one of her legs, and wrapped one arm around him, holding the water toy with the other so that he could continue to splash.
"Wotew now?" Katie whined getting restless. "Tent come!" she added.
"Alright, monkey," Rocky conceded. "Water now," he added, looking over at Trent. "You can come, but only because I don't want her to cry," he told the teenager, giving him a mock glare. Trent laughed in response and nodded.
"I'll come too," Zack stated. "Someone's gotta show Tyler how to jump the waves better than that," he added, nodding toward the surf. "Adam, coming?" he called out as the three men and one giggling child passed the two on the beach towels.
"Nah," Adam replied. He'd gone back to laying down beside Tanya who had her head on the towel, turned towards him. "I'm good here," he added in, as Tanya gave him a slight sleepy smile and reached her hand out to grasp his.
"Poor Katie," Kimberly laughed once Rocky, Zack, and Trent were out of ear shot. "She's going to have it rough when she grows up," she added in, shaking her head, and removing her sun hat. She set it next to her on top of her flip flops.
"I count at least six body guards," Kira laughed, holding up six fingers. Aisha gave her a quizzical look. "Rocky, Adam, Dr. O," she listed off. "Connor, Trent, and something tells me Lukey's not going to let anyone near his sister," she laughed, leaning over and holding the baby's hand. "Isn't that right handsome boy?" she asked the baby who giggled. Aisha lifted him off her lap and held him out to the yellow clad teenager who gladly took him. Kira tickled his belly, before accepting his toy from Aisha, who stood up and stretched, before going over to the cooler.
"I dunno," Aisha laughed, as she reached inside and pulled out a bottle of water. "They'll deny it if you ask them," she stated quietly so Adam wouldn't hear, "but Katie's got them wrapped around her pinky. If she wants to date, I don't think even they would stop her," she laughed, taking another of the beach chairs and stretching out her legs, as the other ladies laughed in response, before dissolving into small conversations.
"Kira," Kim suddenly asked, her eyes going wide. The guys had taken Katie to the water almost thirty minutes before. "I just remembered, there was something I needed to ask you," she stated.
"Hmm?" Kira responded, looking up from where she was playing with Luke on her lap. She frowned slightly, unsure of where this was going. She didn't think there was anything about the current situation that she knew and Ethan, Connor, and Trent didn't. "What's up?"
"After I told Connor he could live yesterday," Kim chuckled, "he said something about you wanting to kill him. Tommy knows why, but they didn't tell me. What else did Connor do?" she asked, raising on eyebrow at the girl. Aisha's expression was questioning as well, while Trini looked confused for a moment, before breaking out into a grin. "You know too?" Kim asked her first female teammate. She wasn't sure she liked that there was something Connor should die of that involved Tommy, Kira, and Trini. Granted, her mind wasn't finding any possible scenarios.
"Oh that," Kira laughed, although she made a strange face that sort of resembled disgust. "I'd really rather not say. It's kind of disturbing really," she added in, shrugging her shoulders at the same time as she shuddered at whatever she was thinking about.
"I'll tell," Trini laughed, while Kira just shook her head with a sigh. Trini seemed a bit too entertained by the idea. If she didn't know any better, she could have sworn the first yellow ranger was enjoying her misery slightly.
"Go on," Kim replied with a giggle. She took a sip of water from her own water bottle that she had in her lap.
"Well, after meeting us Friday evening," the Asian woman explained, unable to keep herself from grinning. "Connor decided there was a particular pattern among former red and yellow rangers," she laughed. Kim frowned for a moment, puzzled, before laughing hysterically.
"Oh god," the only individual present clad in pink stated, through giggles. "He didn't!" The thought was hilarious, although she realized, that for Kira, it would be like someone suggesting she was destined to end up with Jason or Zack or Billy, but mostly Jason. While now, the idea was completely off limits for obvious reasons (one of which was that polygamy was illegal), as a teenager, she would have been completely freaked out by the idea of dating someone that had been like a brother to her. Tommy had never been her brother figure, despite the lie she'd added into her letter. It had been easy to pull that one into the script as she actually lived that relationship with Jason, Zack, Billy, Rocky, and Adam. Kira had a similar relationship to Ethan and Connor. They were like her brothers, and then again, Connor was extra special, in a not to be dated by Kira kind of way.
"Didn't help that Zack thought it was a good idea to bring up Andros and Ashley as well," Trini laughed, nodding as she noticed Kira had a slight grin on her face, though it was kind of a pale green color.
Aisha seemed to have caught on to what the teenage former red ranger had been thinking as well, and her mouth hung open. "That boy has a death wish for sure," she laughed, shaking her head.
"You poor thing," Kim laughed, patting Kira's arm. Kira sighed and shook her head, laughing with the other girl. She had to admit it was funny, even if the idea grossed her out to extreme levels. Possibly vomit in the ranger helmet levels, had she still had the ability to morph.
"Girl," Aisha stated with a laugh. "I'll help you kill him if you need to. Pretty sure Tanya would to, considering he'd be implying that Tommy should have ended up with her." Kira frowned for a minute, not catching on to what Aisha meant. "Red and Yellow Zeo, and the first Turbo," she stated, purposely leaving out the word ranger in that context. She wasn't concerned about Rocky's quite loud proclamation about Katie's future husband earlier. She doubted anyone would think twice about a father telling his daughter she was only allowed to marry red power rangers.
"Actually," Tanya laughed, walking over, having heard the last portion of the conversation. "I'll help when I'm done gagging; no offense Kim." She'd left Adam out in the sun. He'd apparently fallen asleep.
"None taken," Kimberly stated, as she let her laughter die down into light giggles. "Oh man," she stated, "I needed that laugh. You still going to hurt him?" she asked the teenager.
"Only if he brings it up again," Kira confirmed with a nod. "Or if he continues to harass Dr. O too much," she added in and the other women nodded. Luke chose that moment to spit up slightly and start to cry. "And on that note," Kira stated, grimacing slightly. Aisha chuckled, and Trini reached her arms out to take the baby from the teenager. "All yours guys," Kira laughed, standing up and heading out onto the beach. Tanya fell into her vacated chair, reaching toward Aisha and taking the spit cloth she was holding, offering it out to Trini who gave her a smile of thanks as she cleaned up the baby boy.
"Up and at'em, frog boy," they laughed when Kira's voice reached them from not far away. She was nudging Adam awake with her foot.
"Why?" Adam replied, groaning before pushing himself to his knees and tilting his head up towards the teenager who stood with her hand on her hips, grinning at him. The other four former female rangers were pretty sure that he was glaring at her.
"Because you're coming with me down to the water," she replied simply, shaking her head as if it was the most obvious thing in the entire world.
"I don't want to go in the water," Adam retorted simply, frowning at her. "You're a grown up. You can go on your own. Besides, aren't your friends down there?"
"Just Trent," Kira laughed. "Come on! Your spirit animal is an amphibian, isn't it; you're supposed to love water," she argued with him, grabbing hold of his wrist and pulling on him, reminiscent of how Katie had been tugging on Trent earlier.
"That's freshwater," Adam told her, stumbling forward, as he placed one foot under his body to start to stand up. As much as he was protesting moving, he wasn't all that reluctant. Additionally, she wasn't your ordinary eighteen year old girl, and he hadn't been expecting her to put that much strength into her pulling.
"Same difference," Kira laughed, smirking at him, and pulling on his wrist again. "Now come on!"
"Alright already," Adam sighed and laughed. He cast a helpless look back over his shoulder at the other girls sitting in the shade. Trini and Kim were giggling. Aisha and Tanya, each smirked at him and gave him a taunting wave goodbye. They all broke down laughing when he muttered "traitors," before falling into step beside Kira.
"Katie's not the only one with body guards," Trini laughed, raising her eyebrow as they watched the two walk off, joking as they went. Kira shoved Adam's shoulder, and he shoved her back before taking off at a bit of a run, Kira chasing him.
"Nope," Tanya laughed, a dreamy look on her face as she watched her fiancé with the teenager. She turned to the other women with a smile on her lips. "It's sweet really. He treats her like a little sister," she added in.
"Heaven help Trent if he ever hurts her," Kim laughed. "He'll have to deal with both Tommy and Adam," she added in, getting nods and winces in response from the other girls.
"You think she has any clue how protective they feel towards her?" Aisha asked Kim, who shook her head.
"Not at all," Kim replied, with a giggle. "That girl is so independent, I doubt she even realizes that there are guys in her life he would protect her with everything they have," she explained. Her expression suggested she wasn't exactly thinking about Kira. Instead, her mind was on a certain individual had had often gone above and beyond to protect her. And if she were honest with herself, she had more than one individual in her life that would.
"We're all pretty lucky in that department," Trini laughed, "Aren't we?" she cast her eyes down to the beach where all of the guys were, minus the missing teenage former blue and red rangers, were playing with Katie and Tyler.
"Absolutely," Kim, Aisha, and Tanya stated at once, before dissolving into a fit of laughter.
Ethan and Connor had shown up, not surprisingly, as the group was sitting down to a lunch of cold cut sandwiches around lunch time, wearing swim suits and t-shirts in their respective colors. Ethan apologized for being late, citing his parents requesting he start packing some of his belongings for MIT in the fall. While Adam, Rocky, Tanya, and Aisha all began to congratulate the teen, they noticed the slightly dejected looks on Connor, Kira, and Trent's faces at the mention of the topic, and quickly dropped it. College, while an amazing opportunity, was apparently, a sore subject for the recently depowered rangers. Connor's excuse was much less forgivable, as he'd just decided to sleep in, and had woken up hungry.
As lunch finished up, Rocky fell into one of the beach chairs, rocking Luke who was starting to cry. "Shhh, buddy, it's alright," he told him gently. "Adam," he asked, looking up at his best friend who had his eyes on Katie and Tyler. The two toddlers were sitting just outside the umbrellas' coverage in the sand, playing with Tyler's plastic dinosaur toys. He took his eyes off them for a moment to look back at his Rocky. "Could you get him a bottle for me?" he asked and Adam nodded, frowning back towards the kids.
"I got them, Adam," Jason stated, coming up behind him from where he'd been helping Zack, Connor, Ethan, Trent, and Tommy clean up from their picnic lunch. He handed the trash he held in his hands off to Ethan, who held one of the large black trash bags that the group had thought to bring with them.
"Thanks," Adam replied with a nod, as he turned his back on the toddlers and went to the diaper bag to get the formula divider. "Where'd the other girls go, anyway?"
"Bathroom," Jason, Zack, and Connor all replied at the same time, before smirking and laughing with everyone else.
"You mean they don't outgrow going in packs?" Tommy asked, a quizzical expression on his face. "I thought it was just a high school thing," he stated, looking quite bewildered off towards the direction the girls had gone.
"Sorry man," Zack laughed. "Girls will forever and ever not go to the bathroom alone."
"No one knows why," Rocky laughed, as Adam added the formula to a cool bottle filled with fresh water and shook it hard until it was mixed with ease of practice. He'd been babysitting Katie with Tanya since about a month after she was born. Bottles and diapers he could do, not that he wanted to emphasize those skills any time soon. "Thanks," Rocky muttered, coaxing Luke's mouth around the nipple of the bottle. Adam nodded in response.
"And I doubt anyone ever will," Adam replied, laughing. "Just something you've got to accept," he told Tommy with a grin on his face. Tommy smirked and shook his head.
"You can't be Tywannosowis; I am!" Tyler's shout broke through the conversation that the men were having. Jason sighed, as he watched his son snatch the plastic dinosaur out of Katie's hands, with his left hand. The boy drew his right hand up and smacked the girl's hands as hard as he could. Katie's eyes welled up with crocodile tears as she opened and closed her empty hands, and then began bawling.
"Damn it," Both Jason and Rocky muttered under their breaths so that the toddlers wouldn't hear, giving each other a weak apologetic smile. Rocky began to push himself out of the chair, using one hand to balance both Luke and the bottle in his mouth.
"I got it," Adam told him, shaking his head, and Rocky nodded, as Adam went to Katie and picked the sobbing girl up off the sand. Jason went over to Tyler and knelt down at his level, as Katie laid her head on Adam's shoulder and bouncing her lightly, he carried her back into the shade.
"He's good at that," Connor whispered to Ethan and Trent, who both nodded, clearly surprised, and not entirely sure what they would have done if Katie had been alone with just them.
"Ty," Jason asked the boy, taking the Tyrannosaurus toy out of his hands and placing it in the sand behind him. He then gripped both of the boy's wrists in one hand so that he couldn't turn his body away. As it was, the glaring child wouldn't meet his father's gaze. "I thought we talked about fighting with Katie yesterday," he asked the toddler.
"I wasn't fighting," Tyler defended himself. "She had my toy," he added in, pouting, a few tears now welling up in his own eyes as he realized he was in trouble.
"We've discussed sharing your toys before, haven't we?" Jason asked him, patience clear on his face.
"But I did shawe," Tyler argued, stomping his feet and causing sand to fly up slightly. He wiggled his hands out of Jason's grasp and crossed both of his small arms over his chest. "I let hew pway with all of them, but not Tywannosowis," he added in, and Jason sighed, shaking his head.
"Tyler," he started. "I know he's your favorite, but you have to share all your toys. Especially if she had him first. You know better than to grab or hit. Especially when someone is littler than you."
"But you hit Uncle Zack," Tyler defended, dropping his hands away from his chest and giving his father a quizzical look. Jason frowned, as Zack bit down on his lip, trying not to laugh. The four teenager's eyes went wide as it appeared that the toddler had just outsmarted his father. Adam had traded Katie for Luke, and Rocky was several yards away still trying to calm the little girl, while Adam finished feeding the baby his bottle. His eyes showed both surprise and amusement at Tyler's logic. When Jason looked at him and Zack for help, both former black rangers snickered slightly and shook their heads. Jason helped create the kid, he was his problem.
"I do not hit Uncle Zack," Jason stated, matter of factly, standing up and casting a look at the amused former black ranger in question. Zack just shrugged his shoulders. "It's called sparring," he told his child, placing his hands on the boy's shoulders and marching him into the shade of the umbrellas.
"What's the difference?" Tyler asked, frowning, and at that one, Zack and Adam both let out slight snickers. Jason glared at both of them, sighing and running his hand through his hair. Of course he had to have a child who had a comeback for everything. Why couldn't he have just been a quiet observer like his mother? Or the type to walk softly, but carry a big stick? No, he was a questioner. He was a smarty pants. Jason wondered if the morphing grid had a sense of humor when he'd agreed with Trini to give Tyler the middle name of William.
"When you spar, you have the permission of the other person involved, and you're practicing your skills and not trying to purposely hurt them," Jason informed the boy, pushing him into a seated position. Tyler was frowning up at Jason both in defiance, and not entirely understanding. "And you're going to sit there for a while," Jason told the boy.
"Why?" Tyler asked, glaring with all the ferocity that a just under four year old could manage. Jason sighed and sank into one of the beach chairs. Again with the questions. He'd often tried the "Because of I said so" answer, but Tyler would then just keep asking. Plus, Trini wanted him to explain things to the boy.
"Because you're in time out for hitting Katie," he told the boy, shaking his head. Tyler crossed his small arms over his chest and pouted, but didn't reply. Instead he turned his back on his father, glaring out at the ocean. "Why don't you guys head down to the water? We'll meet you there," Jason told Zack and the teenagers.
"Sure," Zack stated, understanding that Jason was hoping for less distraction for Tyler while the boy was being punished. "Come on gentlemen," he added in to the four teenagers, as he reached into one of the beach bags and pulled out a deflated beach ball. Ethan, Trent and Tommy began to follow willingly, while Connor stood still, looking back and forth between the ocean and the umbrellas where Adam had removed the bottle from Luke's open mouth, as the baby had fallen asleep, and was placing him in his baby carrier.
"Dude," Ethan stated, when Zack looked back at the former red ranger teen, an eyebrow raised in question. He pushed on Connor's shoulder, inching him closer to the water. "You need the practice. Can't have you drowning while we're not around next year."
"Yeah," Trent stated. "If you die," he added in with a chuckle. "I want to be around to watch," he added.
"Hysterical," Connor retorted, rolling his eyes, but he did begin to move his feet toward the ocean, shaking his head. "The entire lot of you," he added in, throwing his hands up in the air.
Rocky watched them go as he brought Katie back under the shade. She had cried herself to sleep on his shoulder. Sighing, he let himself sit gently down into one the chair that Adam had vacated. "Thanks, man," he told the former black ranger, who nodded once and took off after the others, leaving Rocky and Jason alone with the three children. He shifted Katie slowly so he wouldn't wake her and then gently laid her down on the towels at his feet.
"Hey man," Jason stated after they'd been silent for a few moments. Tyler had drawn his knees up into his chest and found a small uncovered patch of sand. He was scooping the sand up and letting it fall slowly out of his hands as he pouted. "I'm really sorry about that," he stated.
"It's not even an issue," Rocky told him, shaking his head. "Katie wasn't hurt. She's just overtired," he added in. He in no way blamed Jason for the actions of the toddlers.
"Too much sun," Jason replied with a nod, looking over at the boy who had curled his free hand around his knees and was resting his chin on it. "Tyler's had a bit too much of it, too," he stated. Rocky laughed and shook his head, when the toddler turned to glare at his father, not completely understanding. "Don't look at me like that," Jason told the boy.
"When's time out ovew?" the toddler pouted.
"Not until your mother gets back," Jason informed him, "and then I think it's going to be nap time as well," he added in.
"I don't wanna nap," Tyler protested, deepening his glare. Jason just raised his eyebrows at the boy.
"Tough," he stated, and Tyler spun back around to glare at the ocean. "You think we were ever like that?" he asked Rocky, who was chuckling slightly beside him. Jason stood up and went to the cooler. He grabbed two cans of beer and brought them back, handing one of them to Rocky who accepted it with a nod of thanks, as Jason returned to his seat.
"Us?" Rocky laughed, "Never. I'm sure we were perfect angels for our parents."
Jason laughed at that response and shook his head. "I can still hear my dad saying 'Just wait till you have kids. I hope they're just like you'," he stated, imitating his father's voice. Rocky snickered and shook his head. "Bastard," he muttered, a smirk on his lips, too quietly for Tyler to hear, but loud enough for Rocky beside him. He took a large sip off his beer. "I don't know what's gotten in to him lately," Jason sighed. "He's either acting incredibly shy and not saying a word, or he's starting fights and using his hands in ways I know I've never told him was acceptable."
"Sounds like most of our preschoolers," Rocky laughed, lowering his beer away from his mouth. He sat with his hands clasped in front of him between his knees, and turned to see the quizzical expression on Jason's face. Rocky had two children, and neither of them was old enough just yet to be considered preschool age. "At the dojo," Rocky clarified, reading his predecessor's confusion.
"Oh," Jason laughed, "right. So wait, this is normal?" he had his eyebrow cocked in question, the beer to his lips. His kid wasn't weird? Or dangerous? Or on the road to becoming Earth's next super villain bent on world domination? You know the normal things most parents worried about when it came to their children's behavior.
"Pretty much," Rocky laughed. "You taught kids," he reminded him. "You should know."
"Never this young. Tommy and I would usually get them during after school programs," Jason stated, shaking his head. "They listened better at that age, and I wasn't constantly reminding them that they don't snatch things or hit. Or when it's time to go use the damn toilet," he added in with a bit of a laugh. He loved his son, truly, but he really couldn't wait until the boy was a bit older.
"Yeah well," Rocky laughed, shaking his head. "At his age, you just have to make him think he's having fun, rather than learning discipline," Rocky stated, and Jason nodded.
"What age do you start them at?" Jason asked him suddenly, and Rocky blinked for a moment, not entirely sure what was being discussed.
"Oh," he laughed, catching on quickly. "Three or four," he replied.
"We're living about an hour outside of Angel Grove," Jason told him. "When we all get back, what do you think about taking him on as a student? I think it's about time."
"Get him into the family business young," Rocky asked, shaking his head with a laugh. "You got it," Rocky confirmed, with another nod. Jason looked over at Tyler and snickered. The boy had laid down on the beach towel and was rolled over on his side facing Rocky and Jason. He had one arm extended under his head, while the other continued to pick up sand and let it fall back down gently. His eyes were half closed and he yawned. Rocky followed Jason's line of sight and grinned. "They can fight it all they want; what I wouldn't give to take all those naps I once refused?" he laughed.
"Cheers to that," Jason stated, and both former red rangers smacked their cans together before taking long sips off them. Jason's eyes flickered away from the children and out towards the water where Zack and Adam were rough housing with the four teenage boys. He narrowed his eyes in, watching Tommy specifically, recognizing the smile the boy wore. He was definitely becoming much more relaxed. This was the person he remembered. He didn't really know the Tommy he'd gone to the moon with, or the Dr. Oliver who the real teenagers seemed to look up to, despite their (or mostly Connor's) teasing. He watched as Tommy jumped, a broad smile on his face, landing on Zack's back, one arm around his friend's shoulders as he dragged the bigger man down into the water, knocking the now inflated beach ball out of his hands. Trent scooped the ball out of the waves, and ran off with it, holding it above his head, avoiding Ethan who dove for his feet and landed face first in the knee deep water they were all goofing off in. He tried to process how they'd gone from a tight group of six to seemingly grasping at the threads that held some of their relationships together. He knew the events they'd all watched on the video diary were partially responsible, but there was so much more to it than just letting go of the power. "So," Jason stated to Rocky beside him after a few moments of silence. "Heard you gave Tommy a piece of your mind about four months ago." He glanced back, noticing that Tyler had finally succumbed to sleep.
Rocky leaned forward, inclining his entire body in agreement, before swallowing the beer he had in his mouth and nodding. He'd followed Jason's gaze out into the water, and knew what the first red ranger had been thinking about. "You mean my fist?" Rocky asked him, frowning. He sighed, as he remembered the anger he'd felt that day. Sometimes, he guessed, no matter how much discipline you learned, boys would hit.
"Yeah," Jason chuckled, although there was something a little dark in his laughter. Rocky smirked, his expression matching the cynicism he heard in Jason's voice. He sighed and ran his hand over the back of his neck. "Why'd you do it?"
"He deserved it," Rocky stated immediately, as if trying to defend his actions.
"No argument here," Jason reminded him, with a raised eyebrow. "Asshole still hasn't even contacting me," he added in and Rocky nodded. Tommy had welcomed Jason, Trini, and Zack back into his life because he needed them there more than he needed Adam, Rocky, and Aisha. Dr. Thomas Oliver had no idea that the original red, yellow, and black rangers were present in Reefside, let alone back in his life.
"I don't know," Rocky stated. "I guess it all just kind of hit me at once," he explained. "I mean, he missed the damn birth of my kids. We were more than friends once. We were brothers, you know?" Jason inhaled slowly and nodded. Of course he knew. "I guess I felt I couldn't forgive him fully, even with knowing how remorseful he felt over isolating us from his life, until I'd inflicted some type of comparable pain."
"Did you?" Jason asked, a dark smirk on his own features. Rocky smirked in response.
"Fucking idiot saw stars," Rocky confirmed with a nod. He knew this was a conversation only the two of them could have. Only the two red rangers, the original leader and the second in command, could understand wanting more than anything to forgive Tommy for leaving them without a word, without explanation, to take care of their respective teams, alone, but were unable to do so with ease. Sure, Jason was used to being the leader, but he'd had Tommy for most of their ranger careers to lean on and bounce ideas off of. For Rocky, he felt like he'd been thrust into the leader role, not in the temporary 'our full leader will return and fix this if I fuck it up' way, but in a more permanent one. They weren't rangers anymore, but their family still needed everyone, and suddenly Rocky and Jason were having to fill more than their own roles. Add to that, they were the only two who had gone on to marry and have children, all without someone important to them present at their most important life events. Hurt tended to manifest itself as anger.
"Damn," Jason laughed, shaking his head. "Wish I'd been there to see it," he added, and Rocky snickered as well.
"You going to hit him too?" Rocky asked him, taking another sip of his beer and leaning back in the beach chair. Jason was still leaning forward, his drink dangling in one hand as he propped his elbows on his knees. He was watching the other guys in the ocean, his eyes still locked on Tommy, while he could feel Rocky's gaze on him. Slowly, he sat back and shrugged his shoulders, mimicking the second red ranger's action with the beer.
"Maybe," he confirmed. "I haven't decided yet."
"Must be harder for you," Rocky stated. "Seeing him like this," he added in, nodding towards the teenager in the water. "Having to be reminded of why you want to forgive him. Of who he was. Of who you were to him. But still wanting to beat his face in." Jason sighed in response and nodded. Rocky had put it perfectly. He downed the last bit of his beer, and paused, studying the can in his hand for a moment, before he growled and crushed it in his hand. Rocky smirked and shook his head.
"You did forgive him though?" Jason asked Rocky, thought the answer was pretty clear. Rocky gave him a genuine half smile in response and nodded.
"He genuinely is sorry. He hates himself for missing everything. Same way I hate myself for not going and dragging his sorry ass to my wedding," Rocky told him, finishing his own beer. He glanced to the side at the sound of laughter. "Girls are back," he told Jason, who realized the same thing the moment Rocky had. He smirked and nodded. "Did anything I told you help?"
"A bit," Jason confirmed.
"Good," Rocky told him, standing up and stretching. "Alright," he added. "I say we were on baby duty while they were off bathroom socializing. They get to watch the kids while we hit the waves. You with me?"
"Oh hell yes," Jason chuckled, standing as well, laughing, and waving to his wife as the girls neared them.
"Uh oh ladies," Aisha laughed, leaning on Tanya's arm. "I know that look," she stated, nodding towards Rocky. Trini nodded, while Kim, Kira, and Tanya grinned. "I'm going to guess we were away just a tad bit too long."
"You think," Trini laughed. "Alright, let's get this over with," she groaned, waving back at Jason, and sighing. She knew she should have taken Tyler with her.
So, I know I promised you the Kim and Tommy talk, but you got a nice deep conversation between Rocky and Jason, too. Two for one on the deep emotional side of things. Hope those of you who want action aren't getting bored. I promise, a few twists and turns coming soon.
If you haven't reviewed yet, I'd love to hear from you. And if you're one of my typical reviewers, you know already know I love your reviews; I look forward to all of your opinions.
Thanks in advance,
Fateless