Epilogue
"Hey guys!" Kira said as Conner, Ethan, Meagan, and Phillip walked inside her home. Her parents had finally agreed to them all going on a weekend trip together, which had taken a web of lies and half truths to be able to pull off. She had said that there would be adult supervision, which did happen to be the truth, now that she had a good idea of where they would be going. "Dr. O just called and asked if we could come to this address in Angel Grove. I'm up for a weekend trip down there if the rest of you are."
"Why not the gym?" Conner asked as he looked at the address, this wasn't anywhere near their gym or anywhere else he knew of in Angel Grove. He just hoped that he would be able to find it without too much trouble. He was pretty good at directions, but he had honestly never been able to do deal with spur of the moment plans without a good map and actually hearing the directions himself.
"He didn't say, but he said some of the others are going to be there, so maybe they are just having a little get together for everyone. It is about time to be honest," Kira said as Conner just nodded as they all piled into his car. They had known that they were going to be spending a weekend somewhere, but they were not just sure where it would be. They were going to decide that when they all got together and now they had.
"Have you heard anything from them lately?" Meagan asked as Kira shook her head no. They had told them that they would call whenever they could come down to Angel Grove, but it had been six months since they defeated Mesogogg and they still had not seen them. Now they were just wondering what was going on for them to decide that now was a good time to see them, instead of just waiting for Christmas.
"I think they've been really busy. Kim's been working at the gym, Dr. O has been getting used to the school, they just haven't had time to really ask us down and sit down and explain everything to us," Conner said as they all looked over at him. How did he know all of this? They hadn't spoken to Dr. O in months, not since their last meeting with him to try to get some kinks about their losing their powers straightened out and even that wasn't really for that long. "Dr. O called me last week to apologize about it all, but I forgot to tell you about it. It never came up with exams and everything else that was going on last week."
"I think this is what we all needed, maybe we'll finally get some closure," Meagan said as Kira nodded. There was still a lot that needed to be explained, but they had always thought they would have a chance to get it all straightened out and now it seemed they were going to get that.
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"Hey sweetie," Tommy said as he walked inside and Kim looked up at him from the couch. She had been taking a nap and had not wanted to be disturbed. "Come on, let's go."
"Where Tommy?" Kim asked, as she was absolutely sure that he has something up his sleeve, but she didn't know what it might be and she didn't have the energy to try to figure it out right now. She was worn out from the last few days and all she wanted to do was sleep for a couple of hours, but her husband didn't seem to want to allow that at all. "What's going on?"
"Nothing, Kim," Tommy said as he walked her out into the front yard and she sat down in the grass, to enjoy the sun as much as she could. She knew that she was going to be extremely uncomfortable in a few months and no longer able to do this, but she was going to enjoy it while she could. "I just wanted to make sure the guys could find the house."
"All of the guys know where the house is, unless you invited some people that I didn't know about and in that case, we might have a problem with the food," Kim said as she looked up at Tommy with a smile on her face and he laughed as he walked over to the puppy they had bought several weeks ago and began playing tug a war with his toy rope. "I should have never agreed to get a dog."
"But he's so cute," Tommy said as Kim gave him a skeptical look and just shook her head. She wondered how he was going to react to the baby, when he was acting like this with a puppy.
"And that's the only reason I agreed," Kim said as Tommy smiled as the puppy ran towards her and promptly plowed her over so that he could lick her face. "Hey buddy, come on, you know I don't like doggie breath. Watch the belly, watch the belly."
"Come here," Tommy said and the puppy turned towards him and just looked at him, like he was crazy. He was enjoying this far too much to quit without Tommy dragging him off. "Okay, get off my baby."
"He's way too excited," Kim said as Tommy smiled as he managed to hold the puppy still. "I'll get up sometime today."
"Dr. O?" Conner asked as they pulled up into the driveway and Kimberly's mouth dropped open as Tommy looked over at her with a sly smile on his face. "Are we at the right place?"
"Yeah, you are," Tommy said as he walked over to Kim and pulled her up and it was now the teenager's turn to have their mouths drop open. There was no way to deny that things had changed a lot since they had last seen them.
"You're pregnant?" Kira asked as Kim nodded her head yes. She had thought that they would have already known that, but obviously Tommy wanted to pull off more than one surprise in a day. "How long?"
"I'm about five months," Kim said as Kira walked over and gave her a hug. They couldn't believe this, at all.
"Congratulations," Kira said as the teenagers just looked around and could not believe what they were hearing. They had thought that it had taken them all of this time to pull their lives back together, but looks could definitely be deceiving. "But why didn't you tell us?"
"I didn't think about it, I'm sorry," Kim said as Tommy walked over and the puppy began licking her face, as she gave Tommy a bemused look. She couldn't be mad at him for any of this right now.
"So, we'll get to see the others?" Conner asked as Tommy nodded his head yes as they could not believe this. They had never thought that this would be the sort to meeting that they would have when they first came to see them again.
"I've got to get the food started, but you can go ahead and go inside or even to the backyard," Tommy said as he put down the puppy, which immediately began jumping up on Kimberly's legs. "Come on, buddy."
"Come on, I'll show you the inside," Kim said as Kira and Meagan followed as Conner, Ethan, and Phillip merely looked at each other and then followed Tommy around to the back. They did not want to see decorations and they were sure that Kim would understand that.
"How has class been?" Tommy asked as they looked over at him, semi-confused. They did not think that this was what he brought them here to discuss. Surely he would have just asked about that over the phone and saved them the fuel. "Look, we'll talk about everything once the others get here. The five of you deserve some answers and it's about time that we give them to you, but you're going to have to wait a little bit longer."
"Finally," Conner muttered as Tommy looked over at him.
"Ben is going to be here too, so I don't know what we are going to do about that. Kim was kinda insistent about him coming, so I don't know what we are going to do about it all," Tommy said as the three males looked over at him. They did not like the way this sounded at all. "She's ready to set everything aside and I can't blame her, it's just hard on me to believe it at all. They've been managing to work together all right, but she wants things to get back to normal, so I guess I have to just let this go. It is really no good to upset her right now."
"Well if he does anything…" Conner began as Tommy just looked over at him and shook his head. If he did something, the other rangers had already promised a reality that would be worse than death. He was sure that Ben knew what he was getting himself into, to a point and he was also sure that the other rangers would reiterate it if Ben decided to do something extremely stupid.
"Don't worry, I think that they've gotten it all settled down, but if they haven't…Billy's got a teleportation set up to send him straight to Aquitar and once they hear what he did, he won't be returned," Tommy whispered as the others couldn't help but smile. This sounded a lot more like the rangers that they had grown to love in the two brief months that they worked with them.
"Nice to know that they still look out for you," Phillip said as the females walked outside and Tommy looked straight at his grill. He did not want to let it be known that he had been talking about their plans for if Ben turned out bad. He didn't need to hear about it from Kimberly if he could help it.
"You, oof," Kim said as the puppy ran at her again. "Hey buddy…we have got to teach him some self control."
"He'll grow out of it," Tommy said as Kim just shook her head. She could only hope that what he was saying was the truth. She couldn't imagine the puppy jumping on the baby, but they would handle that when that became an issue.
"Tommy, Trini called to say that Jason will be a little bit late. Something about finalizing some purchase of a building," Kim said as she handed him the burgers and just shook her head. Everything looked disgusting to her right now, but she knew it would taste fine once it was cooked. "And make sure mine is dead, Tommy."
"All right," Tommy said with a laugh as he just shook his head. He knew that he would have to explain that to the others, but that was fine. "Do you need help with anything?"
"No, I should be fine. It's not really that much, you've fixed all the big stuff already," Kim said as she turned and walked back inside as Tommy smiled as he watched her go.
"Dr. O, yoo-hoo," Conner said waving his hand in front of Tommy's face which earned him a glare.
"I'm the only man allowed to stare at her like that without having to worry about being bitch slapped," Tommy said as the teens couldn't help but laugh. "I'm glad you find it funny."
"It's just something I remember you saying when we first met you and Kim," Conner said as Tommy covered his face. He could remember some of the threats he had had to make with Conner just to guarantee that he would not hit on Kim.
"I had to make sure that you didn't piss her off. She doesn't like being hit on, by anyone," Tommy said as some of the other rangers roamed into the back yard and looked at the young rangers.
"Newbies, sit, it looks like we're going to have a good time tonight," Rocky said as they looked over at him and Tommy then nodded that there was going to be no harm done to them.
"Welcome to the big kid table," Zack joked as they sat down and they gave them confused looks. They weren't newbies anymore; they had been broken in the rough way from what they could tell about it. The others had had some battles at the beginning, but they had not gone through everything that they went through in a couple of months. It took them a couple of years to get the same experience that they now had.
"You're kidding, right?" Conner asked as he sat down and the others smiled. "We did more than you did in two months."
"Those are fighting words right there," Rocky said as Conner merely shook his head. He didn't see why it would be a big deal, it was the truth, at least from what he had been able to gather, but he had only had a limited amount of information. If he had known a little bit more, he might have just kept his mouth shut. "You think I'm joking? Tommy, how many teams have you been on?"
"Too many to count and if you don't mind keeping that quiet, I'd really appreciate it. If Kim gets reminded of that too soon I'll be sleeping on the couch tonight and I really don't want to have to do that. I miss sleeping by my wife," Tommy said as the others laughed as Kim walked back outside, which caused them to stop. They knew that he was joking, but they still were not going to push their luck and make Kim mad so early in the day.
"You're already talking about rangers, aren't you?" Kim asked as Tommy shook his head no and Kim couldn't help but shake her head. At least he was trying to be peaceable, but she knew that might be thrown out the window any moment now. "Ben's here, but I think that I'll keep him inside for a little while longer."
"Okay," Tommy said as Jason walked over to him. He had just walked through the house and was having a very hard time believing that Ben actually showed up. He had thought that it was some sort of joke. If he had known that Kim was serious, he would have definitely made sure to bring some sedation because he was not sure if he could take this meeting.
"What the hell is going on here?" Jason asked as Tommy smiled over at him. This was exactly how he expected Jason to react, but he knew that this was mild for him. He had a lot more on his mind right now.
"Jason, I'm not happy either, but if I'm not nice, the dog and I will have a good night together," Tommy said as Jason just shook his head. That had never been something to stop Tommy before. Why should it stop him now?
"She can't threaten me with sleeping alone," Jason said as Tommy watched Trini walk over.
"You'll be alone if you do anything too," Trini said as Jason glared over at her and then walked inside to talk to Kim.
"Did he forget?" Tommy asked as Jason walked right back out, glared at Trini and then continued on. "I must be rubbing off on him."
"Well after ten years, it's understandable that the two of you would have rubbed off on each other some," Trini said as Tommy smiled and nodded. It was the only thing that he could manage right now.
"Sit," Aisha ordered placing Kim in a lawn chair and Tommy watched with a smile on his face. He had tried this himself and it had not worked out very well for him, but maybe Aisha would be able to convince her that she could actually relax some. "No, ifs, ands or buts, you need to rest. I can handle all of this."
"Ish…" Kim complained as Tommy just shook his head. He knew that this would not work. Kim would barely listen to him, she was not going to listen to anyone else when they told her to slow down.
"Just let me do this for you," Aisha said as Kim just shook her head and then looked over at Tommy, who merely nodded to appease them and to keep himself from getting put into the middle.
"Fine," Kim said as she walked over to Tommy and just shook her head. "I'm pregnant, I'm not an invalid. What are they going to do when I'm closer to actually having the baby?"
"Probably strap you down to the bed to keep you from going anywhere," Tommy said as Kim glared up at him. She did not think that this was something that he needed to joke around about, because she could actually see them trying something like that. "I'm joking, Kim, I don't think that they're going to be that bad. It's more that they're worried about you. The last few weeks have been tough at the gym."
"But I've been fine," Kim said as Tommy nodded his head that he agreed. If she hadn't been all right, then he would have jumped on the bandwagon to get her to stay at home. He knew that she desperately needed that outlet and even though it was tempting to get her to quit it, he knew it would do more damage in the end if he did such a thing.
"I know that, don't worry they'll all calm down when some of this had blown over. They're just not taking it so well that you are ready to forgive, when everything is still so fresh," Tommy said as Kim began to object but he held up his hand. "It's a different situation to have to deal with. As rangers we always knew that it was an involuntary thing to become evil. It's a lot harder to believe that someone actually chose to become evil and then wanted to back out. But we'll deal with it, he hurt you the most and if you are ready to forgive, what's going to stop us from doing the same thing?"
"I'm glad that you've finally come around," Kim said as Tommy just shook his head. He would never fully come around to this idea, but he knew better than to completely go against her. He had promised her a lot of things and he intended to keep those promises unless something happened that forced him to change his mind. "Tommy, how can you still hold something against him?"
"The scars you can barely see on your chest are enough Kim, I don't even need to add anything else to still feel like this," Tommy said as Kim let out a huff and then turned and walked back inside, this time to grab Ben.
"Kim, really, I can go if they don't want me here," Ben said as Kim shook her head no and then placed Ben right beside Tommy. Tommy looked down at his wife and saw the determined glare she was giving him. He was going to deal with this, whether he liked it or not.
"They want you here," Kim said as Tommy managed to nod his head, although he didn't know how he did it. He honestly had never had to pull off a lie this big before, but somehow he was doing that today.
"You don't have to lie to me," Ben said as he looked over at Tommy, who was watching Kim walk back inside.
"Yeah, I do, because I don't know when I'll be ready to forgive you, but I promised myself that whenever she was I would at least try," Tommy said looking over at Ben. "Don't expect more than that from the others. They are only being nice since she wants them to be, she's pregnant and they don't want anything to happen to this baby, maybe even more than me."
"Thanks for the warning," Ben said as Tommy managed to nod his head and then focused on the grill again. He was not going to help Ben dig himself out of the hole that he was in; he was going to have to do that himself.
"Tommy," Kim said as she walked over to him and he looked down at her.
"You okay?" Tommy asked as he put his arm around her and pulled her in close.
"I'm just a little bit worried about everything," Kim said as he gently rubbed her side and she let out a sigh of contentment. "How do you think that they are going to react to everything that we have to tell them?"
"They'll take it all right. They are rangers after all," Tommy said as Kim barely nodded. They both knew that they hadn't been rangers for nearly as long as the rest of them, but they had been rangers nonetheless and they deserved to know everything that had happened.
"How do you think they are going to like hearing about outright murder?" Kim muttered as Tommy looked down at her.
Neither of them liked what they had to do to Demetri and Nadrox, but it had ended all need for Power Rangers. It had sent them back to a time when it was no longer necessary and the world was right again. As long as they lived and their children lived and their children's children lived, everything would be fine. Their blood would protect the earth, that was something that they had found out from Ninjor after the fact. That was why it was important to have a family and insist that their family continue. If it ever ended, Earth would be in grave danger once again.
"Of evil beings? Kim, don't worry about it, just go make Aisha allow you to help," Tommy said as he gave her a gentle push towards the house and she looked back at him before walking on. There was not much that she could really do about it, but it would be all right, somehow.
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"So why are we really here?" Conner asked, as they had gotten through with their meal and Tommy looked at the between the older rangers and the younger ones before he nodded towards the house. He was sure that they needed to go inside. Their neighbors were kind people but they did not want the enraged yells of their friends to frighten them.
"To let the truth be known, a truth that none of you really want to listen to right now. There are a lot of things to know that you might not be able to take, you just have to listen and truly understand what happened a few months ago," Tommy said as Kim looked over at him. They had agreed that he would do most of the talking unless something came up and she had to.
"You defeated Nadrox and Demetri," Jason said as Tommy looked around at them.
"If you can call it defeat," Tommy muttered as Jason looked over at him. He had a feeling that things were about to be said that would shift their entire belief system. "It was not like any other battle we have ever fought before. It was not like something that we ever thought we'd have to do. Rangers are not supposed to become murderers."
"Murderers? Tommy, you just defeated the evil beings that came after you. There is nothing wrong with that, we've done it hundreds of times," Trini said as Tommy looked over and shook his head.
"They were human, they were rangers that went into an eternal battle of evil. We killed our own blood. We killed our evil selves," Tommy said as several people's mouths fell open and they just shook their heads. This could not be the truth.
"We were always the biggest threat to this Earth when we were evil. Look at all the things that we did, we had to murder, we had to kill, we had to go through everything to be able to bring the Earth back into safety," Kim said as she looked at the others. "You think we're joking? Why could we sense them, why did they bother us more than anything that we have ever met? We are the rangers that have lived through the ages, the ones that must keep living through our children, because if we don't our evil comes back. That is how it did before. That was how Zordon knew when he saw us together for the first time, evil and good. I sensed before anyone else and knew without seeing the picture. We knew it all."
"It can't be true," Billy muttered as Kimberly stood up and pulled up her shirt to reveal the birthmark that they all knew was on her stomach.
"Then explain to me why she had that," Kim said as Tommy handed them the picture of the body that they had managed to get from her memory. "And why he had…"
"They were our evil selves, at the absolute worst," Tommy said, pulling Kim down next to him and he began to gently rub her shoulder. He knew that she did not need to stay this revved up for too long. "We didn't know until afterwards and Ninjor was reluctant to tell us then, but we got the truth out of him. We still will need your help though."
"Our help?" Jason asked as Kim looked over at the two of them and then up at Tommy.
"We can't ask this of them Tommy," Kim said as Tommy looked over at her. "Their children should be able to have other choices besides ours."
"I'm not saying all of them marry our kids, but it will make everything stronger, the more ranger blood that they have," Tommy said as Kim shoved him away and stalked out of the room. "Kimberly…come on."
"No, Tommy, I can't put anyone else in danger," Kimberly ranted as he caught her by the wrist and she quickly turned to face him.
"They won't all be in danger, you've got to calm down," Tommy said soothingly as she glared up at him. "Kim, please."
"It's not right to ask this of them!" Kim yelled as she snatched away from him and started down the hall before she had to prop herself up against the wall.
"Are you all right?" Tommy whispered, concern filling his voice as he walked up behind her and she merely nodded her head yes. She didn't want for him to worry.
"Dizzy," Kim managed before she had to run to the bathroom and throw up.
"What could they possibly have to ask of us?" Conner asked, looking around at the others, thinking that one of them might have an answer.
"Our children to marry theirs and then for that to continue throughout the generations," Trini said, simply, as they looked over at her. "The more ranger blood they have, the better. It's the only thing that makes sense. As long as Kim and Tommy are alive in someone, things will be all right, the Earth won't have to worry about having rangers."
"I never saw that one coming," Billy said as many of the others nodded their heads as well. They had certainly thought that other things would happen before all of this came up.
"It is interesting," Ben said as the others looked over at him. "I know, it would probably be better for me to shut up, but does anyone wonder why they came back? Who was the person with both of their blood to die that would cause this to happen?"
"Tommy's mother," Jason muttered as they all looked over at him.
"Dr. O's mom is alive and well," Kira said as the older rangers shook their heads no. They had never been able to tell them about that part of Tommy's life.
"That's not his mom, they adopted Tommy when he was still a baby," Trini said as the rangers just looked at her and Tommy returned to the room and sat down in his chair. He had gotten Kim to bed and with any luck she'd be over this in a few hours. "Where's Kim?"
"In bed, she had a dizzy spell after all the yelling," Tommy said as Trini and Aisha both stood from their chairs. "Please, don't go help her. She already feels helpless enough without anyone going back there and waiting on her hand and foot. If she gets worse, trust me, we'll know."
"Why did you tell us this?" Conner asked Tommy looked over at him.
"Because someone has to have the job of telling our great-grandkids how important it is for one person in our blood line to always be alive. It doesn't matter what they have to do to get that. If we die, they come back and two more people have to kill themselves. I don't want this to happen to anyone else," Tommy said as they all looked at him. "This probably isn't anything like what you thought you would be up here for, but it's time that you know the truth. We're all human, even if we are rangers."
"Yeah, but they told us that several months ago," Meagan said, nodding her head towards Jason and Tommy just shook his head.
"Well, then maybe I won't have to give the speech I had planned out," Tommy said, grateful to not have to put himself through that sort of hell.
"What was it about?" Phillip asked as Tommy looked over at him, wondering why he had felt it necessary to even ask.
"That we are human, even if we are rangers. That things can happen to us that we never thought would happen and that we can be things we never thought we were. I always had this feeling about Kim, a feeling I couldn't explain, but that's all right, I don't need to be able to explain. I just need to be able to live with myself and now I can," Tommy said with a smile as the others nodded.
"So that's it, you murdered your evil self in order to save the entire universe from being ruled by the most pure form of evil that has ever been known to exist?" Ethan asked as Tommy looked over at him and then nodded his head. "Just checking, you know I had to make sure that you weren't going to say that there is an evil Jason or something out there."
"Not funny," Jason said as Tommy smiled and then looked around at his friends.
His life was far from perfect, but he had learned a lot along the way. He had learned that being a ranger had its ups and its downs, just like any other job, maybe even more so. He had learned that he was not half as good as he thought he was when he was alone, that the deep sadness he had inside of him could be cured, by only one woman. He knew that he loved her and always had, there was no other word to describe what he truly felt for her. He also knew that his life was going to work out all right and after everything that had happened over the last few months he took that as a blessing and thanked God for everyday he had left, because being blindsided was no fun, but life is always full of surprises.
AN: That's all folks! I hope that you have enjoyed this story and that I'll hear more from you later!