Hi everyone! I hope everyone that celebrated 4th of July enjoyed themselves and still have all their fingers and toes! (LOL)

I'm back with another chapter for this story. This story along with My Kimberly/My Tommy and Miscreants are woven together so if you haven't read My Kimberly/My Tommy, you might be lost while reading this chapter.

A reviewer asked me where Diesel and Annabeth have been all this time: This chapter explains everything.

This chapter comes with a trigger warning for those who have suffered an assault of any kind; tread carefully.

This is a heavy chapter, so strap in tight and read on.

A couple of days after the fall fest…

Morning

The Cottage

Conner drew lazy circles over Kira's bare back. She curled up against him feeling really, really relaxed. She'd woken up craving him and he'd happily offered himself up to her. She'd taken control and made love to him with her body and he encouraged her in every possible way. In the back of his mind he once again remembered how scared she was after he'd rescued her from her parent's house. She'd been so wounded by Roger's words and afraid to do anything even slightly naughty.

But this morning, her moans and gasps were so alluring that he had a difficult time holding back his own pleasure. He was so tightly wound, that by the time she threw back her head and called out his name, he couldn't have prevented himself from following over the edge if he'd had the endurance of ten men.

Now, they lay in bed, both completely sated and happy…

"I like the name Dylan." She said softly.

That snapped Conner out of his daze. He focused on his wife. "What was that?"

Kira looked up at him. "I like the name Dylan if we're having a boy. I looked it up and it means 'born of the ocean' or 'son of the sea.' I think it's fitting."

Conner smirked. "You mean you don't want to name him William?"

Kira sat up in her full glory. "Not funny, Jock. I know it's got the orca spirit, but that's going too far."

Conner's eyes were fixed on her chest…he licked his lips.

Kira narrowed her eyes and pulled the sheet up to her chest. "Eyes up here, Conner."

Conner slid his eyes up to meet her and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, you're just so sexy and I'm a red-blooded man."

Kira snorted and shook her head. "Yeah, I can see that." Getting out of bed, she hastily threw on her discarded tank top and sleep shorts. When she got back on the bed she laughed at her husband's pout.

"I love the idea that you're drunk on me, but I really want to know your opinion."

"You're wearing too many clothes…"

Kira rolled her eyes at her husband. "I meant about what we're going to name our baby."

Connor laughed at her. "I'm sorry, but I have no filter when it comes to you. I can't help myself."

"God, you're cute." Kira said with a huff. "I guess we can discuss names later, I'm just going to go take a shower and get cleaned up."

Conner perked up, "Mind if I join you?"

"I guess so, it's the only way to get it out of your system!"

Late Morning

The good mood that had enveloped them both dissipated the moment they set foot in the manor's kitchen. Everyone was there and none of the Space Teens looked happy. Eric, who sat in one of the chairs, held his sniffling son close to his chest.

"Dad, they can't just fire you! You're a war hero!" Titania was protesting. Rowan, who was at her side, rubbed her shoulders comfortingly.

Ashley grimaced. "I know this is freaking you guys out, but your father and I and Zane, and Karone discussed this kind of possibility when we took that trip to Marina's Cove. We planned for every thing including banishment and or firing."

"But Dad, this means we can't go home anymore!" Elara cried as she started to tear up.

Ryder held his sister close to him, he looked worried, but he was doing his best to hide it.

"No, we can't go home for now." Zane said; trying to sound hopeful. "That doesn't mean forever."

"Yes, I'm a war hero." Andros said as Ashley held his hand. We all are, but that doesn't mean crap to someone like Senator Yareth. He's incapacitated by fear of what could happen should they send that convoy to Earth to open relations. I had a feeling that it was a long shot to begin with, but I had to try."

"This is why I pushed for the early wedding." Rowan said. "Your father thought that this might happen. If we'd waited to get married before leaving, that senator might have compelled me to come home like he's doing to Iris. I bound myself to your family so that I wouldn't be forced to leave you."

"You knew this would happen?" Titania asked her husband incredulously.

"Please don't be mad." Rowan replied calmly. "When I first asked your father for permission, we talked for a long time and he was upfront about everything. Even knowing that this could all blow up; I chose to be with you. Where you go, I go. That's all there is to it."

"Excuse me, what's going on here?" Kira asked having heard everything.

Andros sighed. "I've been fired from my job as ambassador. It's not as big a deal as my daughter thinks it is. Iris has also been compelled to return to the Home World. The rest of us are banished. We try to return, we'll be put under house arrest."

"What the hell?" Conner asked. "You guys have done nothing wrong! Can they get away with that?"

"The government we established after the war is still in it's infancy." Zane replied. "It's only been at work for about 14 years, if even that. Laws are still being established and politicians are still jockeying for position and influence. Our statuses as war heroes will only get us so far when there are still old families from the days before the war that have a say in the government. It's a very complicated topic but that's the easy version of it."

Andros looked at the kids. "I know it seems scary and uncertain, but we have everything under control here."

"Not to mention that you kids have your lessons to get to" Ashley said brightly. "And when the Miscreants get home, I'm sure you'll have an exciting movie to enjoy and tomorrow, the kids will start decorating for Halloween! There's a lot to look forward to!"

Recognizing the tone of dismissal, the Space Teens got up and slowly cleared the room.

When the teens were gone, Andros turned to Iris. You better go get your things together and say your goodbyes. The space transport will be entering Earth's atmosphere in an hour. I'm to drive you to NASADA in about 20 minutes to be picked up."

Iris nodded and walked towards Eric and Kailen.

While they were speaking quietly and somberly, Tommy pulled Conner and Kira towards the living room.

"This is a hell of a time to bring this up, but your father is on his way here to visit; we're going to have a nice little conversation."

"That sounds really ominous…is everything okay?" Conner asked with a little trepidation in his voice.

Tommy took a deep breath and shook his head. "Sorry, I'm still trying to shake off the mood from earlier. It's not a bad thing at all, it's something good…happy. I just don't want to say anything more until Iris leaves. I'm giving them some time. Little Kailen isn't handling the separation very well."

They sat in silence in the living room and then Tommy got up, walked over the cabinet with the DVDs in it. He scanned the collection and pulled out a thin case. He walked over to the DVD player and popped in the disc.

When he walked back to the recliner and sat down, he tossed the case to Conner to look at.

"League of Warriors? What does this have anything to do with anything?"

"During the 90's, it was a live action TV show... like the WWE. It was a martial arts competition that was huge back when I was your age. When we passed the powers to the next team, we didn't have much to do other than working at the Dojo. TV became a thing and we watched every episode in this very living room. What is on the disc is the final bout that was held at the Warrior Arena. We attended the event live and saw all this go down. But this DVD gives the whole experience. The highlights are in there and there's an even better view of the walkout and the bout itself."

When Eric gets in here, we're going to watch it. Then when David gets here, we'll explain everything."

About 30 minutes later, Eric walked in with a clingly sniffling 3 year old in his arms. "What's going on in here?"

Tommy briefly gave him the same speech he'd given Conner and Kira. Picking up the remote, he queued up the DVD menu and hit the play button.

They watched the highlight reel and then the final bout. Conner and Eric sat forward as the entourage for the Iron Buffalo appeared.

"Wait, what's Dad doing there?" Eric said as the camera panned to a younger version of their father.

"Your dad was part of the entourage; he was a big part of the team."

"I was more than that." David said as he walked into the room. "I was the entourage and his backup."

"Can we cut to the chase?" Connor said. "What's the big secret?"

"You have a grandfather." David answered. "Diesel's him."

"Are you kidding?" Eric asked as he held up the DVD case. "That's him?"

David grinned and nodded. "Yep. It's not that much of a surprise. Where do you think we learned our skills from?"

"Once we got to know each other better, he began to train both of us together. I was already a skilled fighter before I met him, but your grandfather trained brought my skill level even higher and by the time that you guys became rangers, I had a lot more moves in my arsenal and I was that much more of an effective ranger."

"That does explain a lot." Conner replied with a sense of wonder. "But where was he during the whole fiasco with the TSA?"

"That's a big story; it's why I came here today. I'm going to explain everything and answer any questions you have. Full disclosure."

When he'd sat down on the couch, he took a deep breath.

"You guys know the story about what happened with your mother. Racism separated us then and left me heartbroken. I drank a lot back then and it took Tommy intervening before I got clean and sober. We didn't realize that we'd stumbled onto the beginnings of the TSA. It was just a small group back then, but by the time everything went down, it was too late to nip it in the bud. Back then, Dad and Mom came and went freely and because I'd moved off the reservation, I wasn't pegged as a threat.

On the day it happened, one of the men from the TSA followed them home. The next day he showed up with his goon squad and did his best to intimidate Dad into staying away from Angel Grove. Dad, of course, is not easily frightened off and he told them where to 'shove it'

They left, but came back in the dead of night and set fire to several of the houses. The tribe's elder was in one of those houses; he was already in poor health and on oxygen. The tank exploded and killed him instantly. Several of the youth, one of them being your aunt, Little Sparrow tried to fend off the attack were gunned down. They were rushed off to the ER but the oldest teenager was DOA.

After that, Dad made the decision to ban anyone from the tribe from going to the city. No one questioned him on that, not to mention everyone was in mourning for their losses."

"Mom is a free spirit; she loves her home and being with Dad, but she gets cabin fever easily. On the day it happened, she went out to the pharmacy because the special anxiety medicine that Sparrow takes was out and the pharmacy told her she would need to come get it herself or wait for the next shipment to come in. Xanax is a controlled substance and being the mother, she had to sign for it."

"Our best guess was that she was spotted by someone who recognized her as being married to Dad." Tommy added. "She'd almost made it home when she realized she was being followed by someone in a tuck with a lift kit and huge tires. Mom is an excellent rider and she did everything she could to lose the truck, but they caught up to her in no time. They waited till she hit the highway and then forced her into a ditch. One of them tried to... r...take advantage of the situation... but she put up a fight…so they crushed her legs instead and left her for dead."

"Mom is such a badass; she had enough grit to crawl out of the ditch and flag down help. An off duty EMT found her and was able to get her help. She survived but was in critical condition for a while and in the end, they had to amputate her legs at the knees. She's got prosthetic legs, and now uses a manual wheelchair. If she were younger, she could bounce back with a year of physical therapy, but she's in her early 60's. So, she might be relying on that chair for the rest of her life."

"Wow, that's a lot to absorb." Eric said finally speaking up. "Not only do we have grandparents, but we also have an aunt also?"

"Two of them." David amended. "Dad had a brief affair before he met Annabeth. He has a daughter from that relationship named Corrine. She doesn't come around often since her mother, Vixen moved them after the league ended. They still talk, but I don't know if she'll show up when mom and dad come to visit."

Tommy looked at Conner. "As for your question; the night you saw the thunderbird in the sky, that was your grandfather. He's the shaman of the tribe; when he got the warning from the spirts, he mustered everything he had, gathered the strongest of the tribe, including your father and they went into the wilderness. They performed a war dance and your grandfather used everything he had to summon the Thunderbird to help us."

"The reason he hasn't come around is because he's the acting leader of the tribe until someone new is chosen. He's been busy rebuilding the reservation as well as and taking care of his wife and daughter; the whole tribe was affected by those attacks. At the same time, he's working on rebuilding their house so that it's accessible to Annabeth's needs."

"So, she can't come visit us because we don't have those accommodations either." Kira finished.

Tommy nodded. "At least not yet; the ban's been lifted, but this house was not built to be accessible to wheelchairs. Before they can come, we need to build a ramp which will come in handy with Katsume's girlfriend possibly coming to stay."

Conner looked at his father. "So, what else does she need?"

"Besides the ramp, we're thinking we might make bring in another prefab house like we did with yours only this time, it'll be fully ADA compliant. As for the manor, the work on the ramp starts as soon as possible. We've also ordered a couple of those stair lifts so that she'll have access to all areas."

Conner looked at Kira as if asking permission. She smiled at him. "I'll be fine, Jock. If you manly men want to get started today, I'll be fine."

Conner looked at his wife and kissed her forehead. "I don't deserve you."

Later that night

By the time they got back to the manor, the guys were exhausted and feeling very manly. David had gone back home, and Kira was relaxing in the manor living room with Kim and the other girls.

Conner stood in doorway of the kids room as Eric put his son to bed. They spoke in their own language as he pulled the covers up for his son. He kissed his boy's forehead and then stood back up, straightening his shirt.

When he walked out, Conner looked at him expectantly. "Are you really going to be okay?"

Eric blew out a breath and nodded. "Yeah, there's a lot there. It's been a while since we just talked; we've both been so busy with our families."

Connor nodded. "So, you ready to spill?"

"Yeah, but not here, there's too many little ears present."

Connor nodded. "How about the dojo?"

"That works for me."

The Dojo

"So, what's in your head?" Connor asked when they were both seated on the mats.

"I'm not upset that she's gone; she knew this might happen."

"That's not what I expected. I thought you had a thing for each other."

"Iris is not one to really form attachments. Sure, we had sex a few times and the experience was amazing with a partner who knew what she was doing. But she was really only there to help me set up a good diet for my son and to help me understand how his telekinesis powers work. That was all she was there for."

Erick huffed sheepishly. "At one time I thought I was in love, but not anymore. After my wolf spirit manifested, something big changed in me. Wolves mate for life, and she's not meant for me. Had she been recalled before that happen, the separation would have been worse for me, but now…" Eric trailed off as he searched for the right words. "The only pain I feel is for Kailen, he was attached her and now she's gone; It's going to take a while for him to snap out of the funk. I'm hoping that all the excitement coming with the holiday season will distract him so he can get over all this."

Conner nodded. "I remember how excited Kayla got during last years Halloween. She insisted that we dress like pirates."

"Kailen's never been trick-or-treating before. There was a party at the academy, but it wouldn't have been much fun for my son. We didn't even go."

"Then that's what we should do this year." Conner said, happy that the melancholy moment was over. "I'm not sure what neighborhoods are the best to go to."

"Then we'll all go as a group. I'm sure there's got to be a pumpkin patch around here and maybe a hay ride with apple cider drinks for him to try out."

Eric nodded, grinning at the idea. "You're going to be an awesome Dad. You already rock with this whole uncle thing."

"The same could be said about you. You're rocking this whole dad thing. You're going to be an epic uncle."

We will see. But for now, I'm ready to get some sleep. This whole day has been emotional, and I'm worn out."

"Not a problem. I'll see you in the morning."

Conner walked out of the dojo to see the lights on in the cottage and Tris sitting on the porch with Tris at her side. She smiled up at him as he walked up the ramp and into the house. Taking off his shoes, he walked into the house and out through the side door where Kira sat on the porch swing.

He greeted her with a kiss and she immediately pulled her legs up, snuggling up next to him.

I'm sorry about this morning beautiful. I know you wanted to discuss something important, and I was just too sexed up to pay attention."

Kira chuckled. Glad to know I have that effect on you."

"What did you want to discuss?"

Kira smiled up at him. "Just some names for our little orca. We have plenty of time for that, if you're too tired to discuss it right now."

Conner squeezed her hand that was in his own. "What did you have in mind?"

So, there you have it, the backstory about Diesel and Annabeth. Also things are changing for the Space Teens. I didn't want to go into what that was all about in this chapter, but it'll be explained soon.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and that it was all you hoped it would be. Please leave a review if you feel so inclined!

See ya next time!