Kimberly felt the tears stream down her altered face as she flew away from Mesogog's island. Tommy wouldn't do this to her. Not now. Not ever.

But why had he called Kat? What was going on that he would ask the blonde to come to the house at that hour of the night? The thoughts ran rampant through her mind. She wasn't sure what to think. Maybe she should just go to his house and ask him what was going on. But which way to fly? How was she supposed to find him when she didn't even know where she was?

She was thinking so much that she didn't realize that she was right over Tommy's house until she'd almost passed it. She circled the house twice before her feet touched down on the ground.

Walking up on to Tommy's porch, she looked through the living room window and wanted to scream. Kat was sitting there next to Tommy with her arms around him. His shoulders were shaking and he was leaning into the embrace.

She slipped off the porch and ran for the forest. Huddling down into the bushes she decided to wait for Kat to come out of the house. What she would say to the blonde she didn't know.

****

It had been almost two hours before the young woman walked out of Tommy's house. Kimberly was nearly asleep in the bushes across the road from the house. But she woke up as Kat stepped off the porch.

"Kat?" Kim called cautiously.

"Kim? Is that you?" Kat was trying to see her friend in the darkness but she couldn't make out any more than a vague shape.

"Is Tommy asleep?"

"Yeah. He took your disappearance hard. He called me to come over and see if I could help the kids out for a short time. He wanted me to take his Dino Gem so that he could focus on finding you."

"Come over here for a minute. I want to talk to you."

"Don't you want to come in the house and let him know that you're okay?"

"Let him rest. He's had a hard day."

Kat cautiously stepped toward the spot where Kim was hidden. "He has. I'm guessing you've had a hard day yourself."

Once Kat was close enough, Kim stepped fully out of the bushes. "You're trying to do it again, aren't you? Trying to take him from me? It won't work this time. I can fight back."

Kat did the only thing that came to her mind the minute she saw Kimberly's altered appearance. She screamed.

****

Kat's scream woke Tommy up from where he lay on the couch. Bolting for the door, he hoped he was wrong. He hoped for once that his instincts were beyond wrong.

Ripping open the front door, he saw Kat trying to duck away and protect her face from the vicious attacks Kimberly was launching at her.

"Kim, NO! Don't!" He ran toward his fiancé. He pulled Kat away from Kim and stepped in front of her. "Kim, please. Don't do this. Remember the nightmares you had after Murianthas. Remember how awful you felt for how much you hurt all of us. Don't do this. For me. Please just stop and think about what you're doing."

"I won't let her take you from me again." Kim tried to walk around him to the woman she saw as her rival. Tommy merely adjusted his position to keep her away from Kat. "You're protecting her!"

"Only because I know what it would do to you if you really hurt her. Kim, I love you."

"How can you love a monster?" she sobbed, stepping back away from the man she loved so desperately.

Tommy took a step forward. "I love the woman you truly are, Kimberly. I love the woman that exists in your heart no matter what the outside looks like." He smiled at her. "Although I have to say, those wings are beautiful."

"They're hideous! I look like a freak!"

He stepped closer to her as she fell to her knees. "They're beautiful. Such a pale shade of pink interlaced with the white. How could anything related to you be anything but beautiful?" He knelt in front of her and cupped her chin gently. "I love you, Kimberly. And nothing, not looks, not temper, not anything in this world or any other can change that."

Tears were flowing freely down the face in front of him. Suddenly, she screamed and launched herself skyward. Tommy watched with tears in his own eyes as the woman he loved flew away from him.

"Tommy? Are you alright?" Kat's softly accented voice came from behind him.

"I'll be fine, Kat. Why don't you come inside and we'll get those scratches looked at?"

He helped his friend up and the two of them walked into the house together.