"Tommy," Kim whispered as she walked into the play room and saw the kids climbing all over him and she shook her head with a smile. He always did enough rough housing to keep Wyatt from running crazy and she appreciated it. "You want me to take them for a little while? The rangers want to talk to you."
"Okay," Tommy said as she walked over and scooped their two children up. "We've got to do something about this cut."
"We will when we go in tomorrow, it's not too bad, it could be worse," Kim said as she pulled the bandage and he groaned. "Hey, don't let them hear that. You've got to be superhuman in their eyes."
"I have a hard time believing that anymore. It didn't use to hurt like this, it was easier before," Tommy said as Kim settled down with the kids and Wyatt plopped down in her lap and she reached over for a book to read to him.
"You look like shit," Morris declared as Tommy leaned his head back and smiled. Yeah, he really looked like superman to all of them right now.
"Even Clark Kent had his bad days," Tommy said as the rangers laughed. "Did Kim lay into you pretty good?"
"Took care of us," Claire said as Tommy nodded his head that that was certainly what he had hoped would happen. The two of them were the problem that just kept multiplying the facts that were stacked against them. If they could get along, things would be much better for this team and they didn't even know it.
"Good, now it's my turn and quite frankly, I'm tired, sore, and bleeding. I'm not in a very good mood and I need the five of you to train, today," Tommy said as he saw the shock settle over them. "Don't worry, it won't be physical training, you are going to look over the ranger history and you're going to get acquainted with some of the other weapons we have for you."
"Wonderful," Morris said as the others looked over at him. "I want to know the truth of your past, in fifteen years as Power Rangers, you must have done some crazy things."
"Crazy is one way to put it," Tommy said as he went into the kitchen and opened up the hatch and then motioned for them to follow.
"Are you sure that you're fine?" Emma asked, turning on the charm, which caused Claire to roll her eyes. If Kim had been there, she was sure that Emma wouldn't be standing any longer.
"I've been worse Emma," Tommy said as he sat down at the main console and began typing away. Various menus popped up on the screen and he pulled up the video montage that he had created only a few months before. He had realized that this had become more and more complicated to explain and with the fact that they could go back and do capture videos, it worked.
"Wow," Claire said as the video began and she just stared in awe at the much younger rangers, guessing that she was supposed to know who some of them were, but she couldn't place them, at all. The progression of the video didn't get much better, until they got to some of the more recent teams and missions, then she saw the people that she knew and was shocked at some of the things that they did.
"You okay?" Tommy asked as Claire took in a couple of shaky breaths, trying to gather herself and was surprised when Morris wrapped his arm around her.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. I just didn't think this was what you meant by history. How can you live with some of the things that you've done?" Claire asked as Tommy settled down in the chair and faced the rangers.
"I'm not proud of some of the things that I have had to do in the past, but before you start casting stones at everything that we've done, I've got to explain some things about this world. Things aren't pretty all the time and sometimes things aren't black and white. When I was first a ranger, I only dealt with monsters and beings that weren't human, in the slightest bit. Over the last several years, there has been a trend of human leaders, even if they were just inhabited by some being. I will admit that this is the first time we've ever had our powers do this, but we've grown beyond all of you. In an ultimate battle, we'd probably do things that would border line on what people would call magical, but it's really a conflict of our powers, not something to be happy about. We are the only rangers that this has ever happened to and we don't know what they'll do next. Our lives are not normal, by any meaning of the word and if you ask most rangers to look at what we've done they would think we're crazy, it's not normal. We have no choice but to live with it and I'm sure it'll get worse before it gets better."
"That doesn't sound like something you should say," Matt said as Tommy looked to the side and then shrugged. He was actually restraining a lot of what he felt.
"It probably isn't something Kim would advise or even let me say if she had been down here, but I don't have the same sensors that she does. There's things that she probably said to you that I wouldn't have said, it's how we work best," Tommy said as the teens nodded. "Now, since you've seen the history and can kinda understand where we are coming from, weapons."
"Weapons?" Chris shrieked as Tommy just shook his head as he smiled. He could say that boy managed to make him smile, even about things that weren't appropriate.
"Yes, weapons. Each of you has a weapon specialized to your powers. Generally, there's a sword, some dangers, a lance, a bow, a battle axe and then the standard laser shooters," Tommy listed as they all stared at him. "There's a little bit extra for you guys, you'll have battle bikes, which are going to be used to lure the monsters to less populated areas. Your zords, well, follow me."
"To where?" Matt asked as Tommy just motioned for them to follow him. He did not want to explain anymore of this to them. He crowded all of them into a small elevator and they went down to the unknown bottom floor.
"Holy crap," Morris murmured as he stepped out of the elevator and into the Zord Bay. This was something that he had never imagined would fit under someone's house.
"As you can see, we started from the basement up," Tommy said as the teens just stared into the open space. "These are only your zords. We've got scraps in another floor and some spare zords for Kim and myself."
"These are ours?" Claire asked as Tommy nodded his head yes and he was surprised as the petite brunette bolted for her zord and the others didn't follow. She began climbing and vaulting up onto of her zord and the others looked over at Tommy.
"Go, it's yours to play around and get to know," Tommy said as Morris looked at the others and then bolted for his zord.
"Why are they so excited?" Matt asked as Tommy just shook his head.
"Usually you don't get to see a zord until it is given to you in a battle, go have fun and learn everything you can about them," Tommy said as the other three nodded and then headed towards the zords with less enthusiasm.
"Tommy!" Kim called as he walked over to the intercom and then clicked the button.
"Hey, I'm in the Zord Bay. What's going on?" Tommy asked as he could hear some stress in her voice.
"You need to get upstairs. Billy found something in the sample that he took," Kim said as the rangers stopped in their tracks and Tommy motioned for them to continue.
"I'll be right up," Tommy said before he stepped into the elevator and looked at the rangers as they played with their zords. They were just teenagers and he knew how much of a relief it was for them to be able to relax and actually enjoy their ranger lives. "Hey, what's going on?"
"It was laced and they're aiming to kill, snake venom, not enough to cause you to have a reaction, but enough to cause that to not heal properly. He'll have the anti-venom ready in the morning," Kim said as he just stared over at her. "If they had hit a single vein and if it had been properly dipped with poison…."
"I'd have been dead before I could get to you," Tommy murmured as she barely nodded her head yes and he hung his head. "He wanted to kill me, not you, this was to get me there the whole time."
"Yeah, pretty much. He just didn't know how strong you were," Kim said as he ran his hands through his hair. "And there's something else we need to talk about."
"What's that?" Tommy asked as he felt himself cringe. Usually when she said something like that, he was in for bad news.
"You know how Jason was joking about us having another kid?" Kim said as Tommy's eyes widened and she looked down at the floor. "I know it's not the best time, but…"
"You're late," Tommy stated as Kim nodded her head yes and he looked over at Chloe and Wyatt. "Three kids, under five?"
"Yeah," Kim said as she looked down and he looked over at her and saw how defeated she looked. "I should have gotten back on birth control sooner…"
"Kim…it's okay. I'm happy for another baby, even if I am a little bit shocked," Tommy said as he stepped over and wrapped his arms around her. "Look at me."
"Tommy, we're not ready for another baby, we weren't even sure we wanted…and I'm…I'm a wreck," Kim said as she broke down in tears and he looked down at her with a sympathetic gaze. "I'm sorry..."
"Don't be sorry, we've got to go to the doctor and make sure and we'll be fine," Tommy said as he heard the tears shift into sobs and he started rubbing her back in an attempt to calm her down.
"I'm sorry, I just…my hormones are out of whack," Kim sobbed as he let out a sigh and then kissed her.
"I know and it's okay, come on. Wyatt will enjoy looking at the zords," Tommy said as she barely nodded and wiped her eyes. "Beautiful, I'm happy, you just shocked me."
"I'm sorry," Kim repeated as she hung her head.
"Hey, are you okay?" Tommy asked as he gently held her by her shoulders and she barely managed to nod a yes. "Do you want this baby?"
"I do, but you don't…I can tell you don't," Kim said as she started shaking her head and just backed away from him.
"Kim," Tommy said as he took a tentative step towards her.
"I just need some time, so do you. Can you take the kids? I just want to go lay down," Kim said as he placed his head in his hands and then barely nodded.
"I want this baby," Tommy said as she barely nodded and then retreated up the stairs.
"Daddy," Wyatt said as he tugged on Tommy's pants. "Mommy sad."
"I know," Tommy said as he walked over to the play pen and picked Chloe up. "Come on, we're going to give Mama some alone time."
"Okay," Wyatt said, as Tommy grabbed his hand and he led him downstairs. His wife was torn up inside and neither of them had been expecting this. He wanted the baby, he really did, but he didn't know if he would be able to really talk to her. This was not the place that he had ever seen her at before and he was scared to death that she might do something drastic. She definitely seemed like she was in that place.