Chapter Ten

The Command Center rolled out the welcome mat for Kimberly and Tommy the next morning. Well, really the next afternoon. Their combined lack of sleep had finally caught up with them and they had both slept around ten hours before chancing getting out of the now, ultra-comfortable, bed. It was like the place was excited for someone to finally talk to it again. It was like this thing had happened in the past and it remembered what it was like for rangers to communicate with it. There was just one tiny problem- Kimberly and Tommy had absolutely no idea what they were doing. They had no idea how to talk to the Command Center- it wasn't something that Zordon had ever covered. It probably wasn't something Zordon had even known.

"Do we just ask yes or no questions?" Tommy mused as Kimberly shrugged. They had settled back in to the library and were curled up on opposite ends of the couch. The Command Center's antics from the night before had not been erased in their minds just yet.

"Well- we know that this place once housed hundreds of rangers at one time. The dormitory showed that. Why didn't Zordon ever mention that the Command Center was…a…ummmm…." Kimberly stumbled as she tried to pull the word from thin air. It sounded ridiculous to say that the Command Center was alive. Even with all of the ranger lore and weird things that had happened in her life- that just seemed to go a step too far.

"All of the information was lost about the guardians because the Power Rangers destroyed it and then those rangers were all killed. The knowledge that they had must have disappeared then too," Tommy proposed and a book fell off the shelf behind him. They glanced at each other before he went to pick up the book and he shook his head as he read the title. "How to Communicate with the Power Grid- a Beginner's Guide."

He thumbed through the first few pages of the book and then closed his eyes. It was here. How to get the answers they needed was here- but he did not like what he was reading. He did not like what was being suggested for a means of communication. Apparently- the Command Center could take over a human being and communicate with another person for a short period of time. But there were repercussions. There were major repercussions for the person that did this and as he looked at Kimberly he steeled himself for what he was sure would come next. They would have to decide who would do it. And he somehow doubted that she would let him be taken over- even if it made more logical sense.

"Tommy- what's it say?" Kimberly appeared in front of him and grabbed the book that he now loosely held in his hands. Now he knew why Zordon had never mentioned it, but he also wondered if the Command Center had even revealed that this was possible to Zordon. Zordon wasn't human. Zordon could not communicate with this place the way that they could. "Oh no."

"I now understand why the Command Center was so insistent that we be on better terms," Tommy whispered and he gulped down the bile that had risen in his throat. He felt like his hand was being forced and he did not like it. "Apparently this is initiated…"

"With sex. So these past rangers used sex to somehow commune with the Command Center? What happened to teleporting and zords?" Kimberly muttered as she passed the book back over to him. They would need to read all of it in order to make a decision- but they both knew that sex alone might be a non-starter for them. "Is there a 'commune with the Command Center' light version?"

Another book fell off the shelf and they both jumped around. Kimberly walked over to pick up this book and pursed her lips together. The message that the Command Center was sending was consistent. Maybe it picked up on the two of them being the only rangers left. Maybe it picked up on the plan that all rangers be destroyed and was throwing out a desperation shot to save the Power Rangers in some way. Maybe it just wanted Tommy and Kimberly back together- in much the same way that their friends had wanted to see them give it another shot.

"What is it?" Tommy asked as he continued to read the book in his hands.

"What to expect when you're expecting," Kimberly stated as she tossed the book down on the coffee table and just shook her head. "Apparently the Command Center thinks that we have more to do than just have sex to open up a communication pathway. I may be wrong- but I feel like it's saying that to save the rangers from extinction…"

The room glowed and Kimberly felt the tears come to her eyes. They had had sex when they were teenagers. They knew each other's body's well and she knew that he would be the way he had always been with her. Strong. Kind. Mind-blowingly in tune with her body. But she had never imagined this. She had never imagined a time when saving the Power Rangers, or perhaps Earth, would come down to them willingly having sex again. She might have imagined being with him again. She might have even craved it from time to time. But she had never thought of it in such forced terms.

"Hey- we can look for another way," Tommy whispered as he settled his hands on her shoulders. The weight of them brought her back in to this moment and she looked up at him to see the concern on his face. While he had been breaking down almost every night to deal with what had happened- she had forced herself to stay strong. He needed her to stay strong. But the idea of having their choice taken away about whether or not they were together again broke her. It absolutely broke her. Maybe the rangers of old had been married or dating or in some other situation where this was all fine- but the two of them…they hadn't properly talked in ten years. And now to stay alive- they had to be vulnerable enough to let the other person back in. "Maybe there's a book that'll detail how to do this by yourself."

They waited. They listened. No books fell from the shelves to indicate that that was even an option. She sobbed. She sobbed in his arms as he wrapped her up and carried her over to the couch. How could this be the option that was presented to them? She didn't feel him settle them on the couch or realize that he had picked up the book to continue reading. She could process nothing other than the fact that she would have to choose if having sex with him one more time, and potentially only one more time, was something that she could live with. She knew what that would do to him- he had said as much as last night. She also knew what it would do to her and she knew that it was not any better than what he had alluded to.

The hours passed and she stayed there. In his arms. In the one place in the world that she had always felt completely safe. She knew she was safe here, but she didn't know if he felt the same. At one time- they had been each other's safe place. She had destroyed that, but could it be rebuilt? Did they even want to try that?

"Do you want the good news or the bad news?" Tommy whispered as he gently shook her shoulder to bring her back to the present- to bring her back to being at the Command Center with him.

"There's good news?" Kimberly forced out and she looked up in time to see him nodding his head. "I guess you should start there."

"Apparently this way to communicate only works for soul mates," Tommy forced out as he forced his eyes to the ceiling. Her breath caught in her throat as she realized the implications behind that statement. The Command Center was saying they could talk to it- because they were soul mates. The Command Center had known from the very beginning that they were going to talk to it one day. It had known that they were the first rangers in a very long time that would even be able to. "And I guess the bad news- is that if we're soulmates…that we're always going to be a bit lost without the other. We can still look for another way."

"Do you think we can go back to our lives? Our before lives if we do this?" Kimberly asked and he shrugged. She had known there was no way to know, but she had hoped that the book had told him something about that.

"Would you want to do that?" Tommy whispered and she looked up and caught the pain in his eyes. From the moment she had read that this started with sex- she had assumed that it was a forgone conclusion that they would finish the ritual and do what needed to be done to save the world. Tommy always chose saving the world- no matter what the cost. But the pain in his eyes, the pain in his eyes told her that he would not do this unless there was an after. He would let the world go up in flames before putting the both of them through what this would require.

"Yes. And no," Kimberly quickly added and she watched the confusion come in to his eyes. "Can you leave being a ranger? Can we say that we do this to keep you alive, but after it is all over- there's no more being a ranger for you? That we can actually try to build a normal life together?"

"I don't know if that's within my control to choose," Tommy responded honestly and she barely nodded. She knew that he was right- that this was beyond him being able to choose or control. But she had walked away. She had left the ranger life completely- couldn't he earn the same thing? Couldn't he earn a normal life by being willing to go to extraordinary lengths to save the possibility of rangers for the future? "We have some time…apparently certain other conditions have to be met."

"What other conditions?" Kimberly asked as he gently moved her out of his arms and back on to the couch. She watched as he placed the book in her hands and she understood then. Whatever it was, was something that he couldn't bring himself to tell her. It was something that she was going to have to read and comprehend for herself. It was something that made him willing to walk away from this choice and just walk in to this monster's wrath. Because she was right- if things stayed the same on the other side of this- he might as well be dead.