Confrontation

"I can't do this…" Kat said shoving the paper work aside.

She shut eyes clutching her work desk. The only thing that she was able to concentrate on what was Aisha had told her about Tommy. It was the only thing that filled her thoughts. She kept wondering who he has spoken with over the phone that night and what could have the other person said that upset him. That phone call had to have something to do with him getting up and leaving in the middle of the night it had too, what other reason could it have been.

What was the connection between the phone call and him leaving in the middle of the night?

Suddenly a feeling of panic stuck her hard in the gut.

Could all of this have something to do with the conversion they had a few weeks ago about him feeling that there was something ominous and evil lurking nearby?

Kat was certainly hoping the latter wasn't so. At this point she really could have used another opinion on the matter, Tanya was always her go-to person but ever since her fight with Adam the poor girl has been mentally checked out, spending most of her time shut off in her room. Kat sighed peering at the time, resigning to the fact that she better finish up work if she wanted to actually get to bed at a decent hour then be get a move on the work. Kat bent over to pick up the tossed papers that she shoved aside when a noise in the living room grabbed her attention.

She stood to her feet peeking out of her office.

"Tommy!"

"Hey Kat," he said placing a peck on her lips.

"You should have told me you were coming back into town," she said stepping out of her office.

"Sorry about that I ended up leaving my phone at my uncle's place."

"Of course," she jibed rolling her eyes, "there's something I want to talk to you about…"

"Oh…really?"

"Yeah…let's take a seat," Kat said leading him over to the dining table.

She took a seat peering up at Tommy.

"Kat…can we make this quick?"

"Why?!"

"Because…I just dropped by to pick up something…"

"Are you serious?!"

He nodded.

"You come striding back here from god knows where…and you can't even take a couple of moments of your time to talk to me?!"

"Kat…I'm sorry but…it's just that I've been trying to help Haley and Anton with-"

"I don't care who or what you're doing right now…I've been waiting to talk to you for the past few days now!"

"Look…I understand but…this is something that I have to take of…"

"Why don't you…" Kat trailed off sighing.

She had to stop her temples were throbbing with anger.

"Why don't I what?"

"Never mind…"

"No…tell me…I want to know," Tommy said challenging her.

She lowered her head. "Stop and take care of me for a change?"

Dead silence filled the air.

Kat glanced up at Tommy as he braced her hand, "Kat…I'm sorry for not spending any time with you…I really am."

She stared into his soft brown eyes, a glint of remorse flickering in his eyes.

"I want you to know that I love you and that I'll always be here for you."

"So…what is it that you wanted to talk to me about?" he asked in a small voice.

Kat gazed longingly at Tommy shaking her head. "Never mind…" she said trailing off.

"Never mind what?"

"What's the point of sitting down talking to you if you need to leave soon? I'm sure that what I want to discuss with you is going to take a while."

"Oh…okay…I'm really curious about what you want to talk to me about…can't you give the gist of it or something?"

"One thing I do want to talk to you about is what caused to you leave in the middle of the night."

"Oh…right…" Tommy said turning away, "yeah perhaps this could wait till I get back."

"Looks like we haven't got much of a choice," she said crossing her arms...

"I think I got everything," Tommy said picking up his black attache.

"I should be back in a couple of days if not sooner."

Kat sighed. "Sure…whatever."

"Katherine…"

She handed her attention back over to him, it was really usual to hear him call out her full name.

"I know that I've said this a million time…"

"Then there's no need for you to say it again."

"Please…give me a break here I'm sorry but I'm really trying my best."

"Well, try harder!" she said turning away.

"I deserved that…good night I'll see you soon," he said stepping out the door.

Kat sucked in a long deep breath laying her head against the cool edge of the table.

What had she just done?

There was her chance to confront him, but yet once again there she goes giving him the benefit of the doubt.

"Kat?"

"Tanya."

"Hey…is everything okay?" she asked taking a seat at the table.

"Yeah…why do you ask," Kat said turning to her.

"I thought I heard you guys arguing…"

"Well…it was nothing just our typical going back and forth."

"Kat that didn't sound anything like a typical Kat and Tommy conversion."

She opened up her mouth to speak peering at her best friend; there was no way around what she heard so it was better to tell the truth.

"You're right…we were arguing."

"Why what's going on?"

"There's something that I had wanted to talk to him about…whenever he came in I told him so and then he tell me, that he was just stopping by to pick up something and that he needed to leave right away."

"He stopped by only to leave again?"

"Yeah," Kat said nodding.

"I swear Tommy gets around, he's here one minute and gone the next."

"Yeah…tell me about it," she snapped.

"Kat, I'm really sorry for not keeping up with you these past few days…but what's been going on?"

"Tanya, it's fine I totally understand what're going through now…"

"Thanks girl."

"I meant up with Aisha a couple of days ago…and we were sitting back and chatting for a while and then she asked me how Tommy was doing and as everything okay with him. I asked her why it wouldn't be…"

Tanya leaned in closer gazing at her intensely.

"She said, that night that she came over for dinner while on her way out to patio she overheard Tommy talking to someone on the phone and that he was very upset and agitated with whoever he was speaking too."

"Okay…?"

Kat hadn't thought about the fact that she hadn't shared any of this with Tanya yet so he sat there for a few moments trying to work out how to convey the context to her.

"Well, I hadn't told you this…that same night; I woke up and caught Tommy as he was leaving. I asked him what he was doing in the middle of the night…and he made up some excuse about going to help his uncle work on his house. I asked him who works on their house at 5 a.m.…like seriously?!"

"Yeah…exactly?!"

"So you believe that, that phone call had something to do with him leaving in the middle of the night?"

"Yes, I do."

"You know Kat…I honestly don't know what to think of that…Tommy associates with so many people, that and all the comings and goings with his job it seemed like it could have been just about anyone."

Kat sighed processing Tanya's statement, she was right it could have been anyone one of Tommy's cohorts but she couldn't help but to think of how stressed out he seemed when he left that night.

"You're right Tanya…I could be making more of this than what it is…but it was just the way he left that night…he seemed so stressed over something. No one gets up in the middle of the night without a reason right?"

"Yeah…I suppose so but it seemed like in his line of work he's on duty 24 hours a day 7 days a week."

"Right…that's true," Kat said lowering her head.

"Girl, I don't mean to undermine what're saying."

"No…its fine…in fact you're making me see the more rational side to this."

"Well, glad I can help especially seeing how off track I've been these days."

"How have you been getting along?"

"Alright, I go in to the station do what I need to do and be on my way."

"I'm assuming you haven't talked to Adam yet…"

"No…I haven't," Tanya answered shaking her head. "I can't bring myself to talk to him right now…it's already enough that I have to see Aisha all the time."

"I know that's gotta be tough."

"Yeah…it's hard because I feel like I outta be upset with her…especially when I saw her leaving his house that night but at the same time, she did resist his advances on her at the station."

"I still cannot believe that Adam would do something like that," Kat said shaking her head.

"Especially at the station no less…"

"Makes you wonder if he did there because he knew you probably find out?"

Tanya's piercing glare cut through her core. "You know what…I was thinking the same thing…he did it there because he wanted me to find out and that what makes this so much more difficult that Adam would go and do that at my job out of all places."

"I agree that was pretty low of him to do that…but Tanya I know that my situation with Tommy is…different but something doesn't seem right…why would Adam do that something like that to you? We all know how much he loves and cares for you."

"I know that's why I was completely blindsided by all of this…I thought about that too so I don't understand it either. If he wanted Aisha I'm sure that they would have gotten together by now…right?"

"Right," Kat replied.

"Girl…I'm with you…I don't know what is going on," she said rubbing her forehead.

"Tanya…perhaps it could have been a misunderstanding…but I know you love Adam and I would hate to see you guys break up…so I know how stubborn you are but just talk to him, I know he's probably wanting to at least explain what happened to you."

"I don't know why I should give him a chance to explain anything…what I saw was pretty self-explanatory," she snapped.

Kat leaned forward, taking her hand she could tell that Tanya was getting upset so she wanted to try to diffuse her anger.

"Tanya, it's late I think we both would agree that it's time to call it a night."

"Definitely…" she said standing.

"Good night Kat…thanks for hearing me out."

"Of course, talking to you has definitely helped calm me down."

"I'm glad…girl these men definitely keep our hands full," Tanya jokingly jibed.

"You can say that again…what they would do without us?!" Kat said giggling.

"Girl no telling…well I promise to work on talking to Adam."

"Same here I'm going to work on talking to Tommy."

"Good night girl."

"Good night," Kat said shutting off the kitchen light.

She trekked over to her workroom in the darkness. A long labored yawn escaping her she could no longer feign the tiredness. She made her way over to her desk, looking over the small stack of papers. Kat sighed; there was work she needed to do and the longer it sat there the longer it would take her to get to sleep...

Tommy stopped his vehicle pulling over to the side of the small cavern. He stepped out; clutching his jacket the chilly winds were furiously whipping through the heavy desert terrain.

"Looks like they're here," he said pointing over at the large black suburban parked near its entrance.

He took a deep chill breath trekking through the rocky terrain. Tommy's heart was palpitating heavily inside his chest and his breathing growing labored with each breath. He stopped dead in his tracks at the entry, a wave of nervous anticipation washing over him. Tommy stood there contemplating whether or not to go inside. It was a crucial decision, because once he stepped inside there was no turning back. After a couple of moments of internal debating, Tommy took a step inside; he knew peering around the cavern spotting some familiar faces. He nodded, after seeing their faces Tommy knew he had made the right decisions...

"Hey what's up?"

"What's Rocky?!" Adam said slapping his hand.

"Have a seat," he said gesturing towards the empty seat at the bench.

"Thanks man."

Rocky took a seat next to his best friend peering over at him.

"Rocky, thanks for meeting me out here…I really appreciate it."

"Man, it's no problem I just hate that we haven't been able to hangout more," he said placing a hand on Adam's shoulders.

"So, what's been up you?" Adam asked.

"Teaching my classes, you know the same old…same old," he said laughing.

"Hey man stability is definitely a good thing."

"Can't argue with that," Rocky said peering into the cloudless afternoon skies.

He had come to enjoy the stability that post power ranger life has given him. He did miss those days a lot but at the same time it made Rocky thoroughly appreciate the consistency of knowing that he didn't have to shoulder the weight of saving the world.

"So…how are things going with you and Aisha?"

He peered at Adam. "They're going…good."

"Just…good?"

"Well, they seem to going pretty…fast…honestly Adam I wasn't really expecting things to take off so quickly as they have."

"What do you mean?"

"I liked her a lot but I always knew that she just seen me as one of her best friends…so whenever she started hitting on me I was totally in shock."

"I bet," Adam said snickering.

"Man you have no idea…it just came out of nowhere…"

"When did she do that?"

"Not too long ago…while we were at the City-Centre, man she came through there wearing this really short-tight dress looking really hot!" he confessed.

Adam turned away from him laughing.

"What's so funny?" he asked feeling himself growing a bit angry.

"Nothing…my bad man…just reminds me of myself and Tanya."

Rocky could understand that, he knew of the long history that the two of them shared with one another.

"I'm sorry man please continue."

"She just started giving me the eye and touching all up on me and stuff…I really didn't know how to take it but after a while I was thinking hey why not go along with it."

"Yeah, why not."

"Honestly I was so confused that day…wondering what the heck was and why was she acting like this all of a sudden. I called her and talked to her and she told me that it seemed like the right time for her to express her feelings for me."

"For real?!"

"Yeah," he said nodding.

"So what happened after that?"

"From there on we've been talking and seeing each other almost every day…and we've been spending a lot of time together," Rocky said slyly.

A wide grin spread across Adam's face. "Nice…that must've been really fun."

"Oh…it was," he said recalling the moments inside his mind.

"Man, I'm really happy to see that you guys are getting together…it's about time," Adam said shaking his head.

Rocky nodded in agreement. "Yeah, all that persistence has paid off," he laughed.

"Haha right."

"So…what's been up with you?"

Adam's smile and demeanor changed almost instantaneously.

"What's the matter?"

"Things with me and Tanya haven't been going so great…"

Rocky peered over at his friend in surprised to hear that they were having problems.

"Everything started the night of the dinner. After all you guys left we cleaned up and started talking and we started getting intimate and then bam Tanya sidetracked me…"

"How so?" Rocky asked leaning in closer.

"She told me how upset she was over me not seeing her off the last time, she left here. Man that completely threw me off. I had no idea that Tanya was upset over that. The thought crossed my mind from time to time but I never gave it much thought."

"Adam I'm sorry to hear that," he said trying to empathize with him.

"Oh no there's more…"

"Okay…"

"I tried calling me and texting her but she hasn't returned any of my calls or nothing…and sometime last week I ran into Aisha here at the park. We got to talking and I told her what was going on with us, and I let her talk me into going down to the station to surprise her…yeah big mistake…" he trailed off.

Rocky sat back against the hard wooden seat taking in Adam's confession he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"So what happened?"

"Aisha didn't tell you?"

He shook his head.

"Anything?"

"No, she hasn't told me anything about you guys."

"Well, I get to the station and go over towards the sound room where Tanya is…and as soon as I stepped into that room you could fill the tension. I announced that I was there for the guest spot and she went off on me…asking me what I was doing there…telling me to leave…it was insane man! Tanya's wrath is nothing to mess with!" Adam said lowering his head.

At this point was completely dumbfounded at his confession.

"She was bawling and it was crazy man!"

"Then she said something that really shocked me…"

"What did she say?!"

"She said, "What you said back there was completely and utterly disgusting," then she ran off before I can ask her what she meant by that."

"Wow…man I don't know what to make of that."

"Yeah…same here!" Adam chided.

"I went home trying to calm myself down…and later on that day I talked to Aisha and she said that she had no idea what was going on with Tanya either. Aisha didn't have any idea either by what she meant by."

"Man, that is some crazy stuff…I had no idea that you've been going through all this."

"You know me I'm usually one to keep it in…but I've been working on not doing that…even through it does seem like it's backfiring," he said glancing at Rocky.

"No, Adam you're doing the right thing…you're going to explode if you keep all that locked up inside."

"I know that's why I'm working on it."

"Adam…in all seriousness I don't know…the only I can suggest is trying to clear the air with Tanya."

"Man, don't you think I've tried doing that? I've been calling her and texting her but she has yet to return any of my messages…I just don't know what to do…" Adam said cupping his head in hands.

"Adam…man everything is going to work out." Rocky said cupping his arms around his heartbroken friend.

"Rocky?"

"Aisha?" he called turning to her.

"Hey…what are you doing here?!"

"This park is open to the public right…besides you told me to meet you here," she said stepping over towards them.

"What…I did?" he said reaching for his phone.

"Adam…what's the matter?" she said turning her attention over to him.

"Nothing…Aisha," he said shaking his head.

"Are you sure?" she asked sitting next to him.

Rocky peered over at her, not understanding what was going on, she had barely acknowledge him, definitely a different tune from how she was acting toward him before.

"Aisha…can I talk to you for a second?"

"Not now…Rocky…" she said shooing him away.

"Aisha…I'm telling you that I'm fine," Adam said grabbing her hands.

"I'm just making sure that you're okay…you never called me back after that night I left your house…"

He glared at the two of them.

Adam's dark eyes flickered between him and Aisha. "It's cool…after talking with the both of you…I think I'm dealing with situation with Tanya better than I was at first."

"Adam that's so good to hear," she cooed leaning against his shoulders.

What is was going on?

Why was Aisha acting this way towards him?

"Aisha…" he said reaching over to her.

"What's going on?" called a familiar voice behind them.

"Tanya?!" Adam cried shooting to his feet.

"What…is all this?" she asked slowly stepping towards them.

"Hey Tanya…"

"Rocky."

"I was just here with Rocky talking and then Aisha came along…"

"I see," she said crossing her arms.

"Tanya…how did you know we were out here?" Adam asked.

"Aisha, told me to meet her out here to talk about some promotional work for our show," she said pointing at her.

Rocky turned his attention back over to Aisha.

Now he was really confused as to what was really going on, first she lied about meeting him there at the park, and now it seemed like she had done the same thing to Tanya.

"Aisha, what is going on here?!" he asked.

"What are you guys talking about?" she said glancing between the three of them.

"Yeah, I would like to know that too?!" Tanya called.

Adam glanced between the three of them. "I'm confused…I just came here to talk to Rocky…" he said throwing up his hands.

"Adam you know what's going on…" Aisha said shrewdly.

He turned to her. "I do?" he said pointing to himself.

"Yeah…" she said standing peering at him, "we should just tell them the truth."

"Truth about what?!"

"About us," Aisha said embracing his hand.

"What?!" he cried jerking his hand away.

"C'mon Adam…you can stop pretending…"

"Pretending about what?!"

"Adam what is she talking about?" Rocky asked.

"Heck if I know!" he cried throwing up his hands.

He felt his body growing warm, he clenched his fists together trying to hold back the anger swelling inside.

"About us being together."

"What?!" Adam cried.

"I knew it…I knew it!" Tanya cried shaking her head.

"Adam…what's the deal?!" Rocky asked stepping closer to him.

"Hold on guys…that is so not true!"

"Is that so? Sure didn't seem like when you were touching all up on her at the station the other day!" Tanya chided glaring at the two of them.

Rocky peered over at Tanya, "what…are you serious?" he asked.

"Yeah…Rocky I saw it with my own eyes."

"Tanya…I never did such a thing," he said in protest.

"Adam…please if she hadn't stopped you…there was no telling how how far you would have tried taking it."

"Aisha…I don't know what is wrong with you…but there has never been anything going on between us!"

"Oh…Adam stop being so bashful!" she cooed leaning against him.

"Stop that!" he said shoving her aside.

"These are our friends they deserve to know the truth…that we love each other very much."

"Aisha…please I'm begging you to stop this!"Adam pleaded.

"I'm done…with the both of you! Especially you!" Tanya said pointing to Adam, "We're done!" she sobbed.

"But…Tanya…no…please…"

"Adam…you jerk!" Rocky cried shoving him.

He tumbled to the ground peering intensely at Rocky.

"You have a lot of nerve man…you know how much I cared about Aisha."

Rocky sucked a deep breath trying to to hold himself back from smashing Adam in the face.

"Rocky…please you're my best friend you know I would never do anything like that to you."

"Yeah…right…"

Rocky turned his attention over to Aisha, "I don't understand I thought we had something going on…"

"I'm sorry-"

He held out a hand cutting her off, "I don't even want to hear it…you guys can have each other for all I care!" he said turning away.

He needed to get away from the scene because the longer he stood there the angrier he became. Rocky started trekking back down the familiar wooden pathway following Tanya's lead.

"Rocky…please come back man!"

Ignoring Adam's plea he continued along the trail.

"Adam please come back."

Adam turned to her with tears streaming down his face, "Aisha…I have nothing to say to you…" he said shaking his head.

"Rocky…Tanya please come back…" he said running after them down the trail disappearing around the bend of the pathway.

Aisha tipped her head back loudly crackling, "What are you looking at?" she asked some staring patrons that were passing through.

She had done it; her plan went better than she had anticipated.

Who knew that Adam and Tanya's relationship was so fragile, and that goof-ball Rocky could be lured by temptation so easily?

Then there was Katherine and Tommy; she had some success breaking up their trust. Thinking back to her impromptu meet-up with Katherine, and revealing the mysterious phone call he received that night, really seemed to rile her up. She was hoping that Katherine would reveal something more it didn't happen but nonetheless the outcome did greatly satisfy her.

Aisha turned whipping her hair behind her, striding down the wooden trail.