"Look guys, I'm sorry about what happened back there," Kim told
Trini, Kat, and Adam as they entered Ernie's. She'd been quite the whole
drive over while she tried to sort out what she'd seen and heard today.
"Don't apologize," Trini told her. "First, it wasn't you who made an ass of yourself," she looked over to Adam and Kat for confirmation- both nodded to her, "and second, the whole thing wasn't handled very well. Somebody should have warned you that Jason and Billy are a couple."
Kim sighed, and sat down at the table while the others got the smoothies. They'd decided to have theirs there at the Juice bar and then take Tommy and Zack one back. Nobody really expected either Jase or Billy to be there when they returned, and that thought hurt Kim a lot more than she really wanted to admit. It was all too much to take in. She never suspected that those two felt that way. Well, maybe that wasn't entirely the truth. She'd suspected Billy was gay for a long time. Nothing like spending a little time in someone else's body to give you a new perspective on how the other half lives. She'd just never expected Jason to be gay too.
"Penny for your thoughts," Kat asked in her fading Aussie accent as she sat down next to Kim, carrying a smoothie.
"You would be overpaying," Kimberly told her with a smile. "I'm sure you can guess what I'm thinking about."
"I can guess what you're thinking about, but not what you think about it," Kat smiled turning the phrase on its head. She smiled, "You're surprised about Billy and Jason."
"Billy," Kim shook her head, "no. Jason, yes. Now that I know about Jase though, about Billy and Jase, not really. It makes sense, in a twisted Power Rangers sort of way." She looked around, "We all do seem to pair off don't we. Sometimes I've wondered if it's a function of holding the Power, or of what we go through together."
Kat smiled, "I've had the same thought myself. Trini and I talked about it a while back and we decided it's probably both." She leaned back in her chair, her light eyes inscrutable as the silence between them increased.
"What?" Kim asked.
"I was just wondering how you feel about this?" Kat answered.
"How about I ask you first?" Kim told her.
"Can't, I already asked you." Kat smiled, and took a sip of her smoothie. "However, I'll answer first for you." Putting the drink down she sighed, "At first I was mad as hell about it. You know, as Adam puts it, two up and two down."
"I'm sure I don't understand," Kim told her, and then asked, "What? You went out with Jase?"
Kat grinned, "No, one guy who eats, drinks, and sleeps karate is enough for a lifetime. Actually, right after Tommy and I broke up, I ended up spending a lot of time in the 'Zord bays talking to Billy. I guess I sort of turned to him looking for something to replace Tommy. You know, go for the opposite of what I was used to."
Kim grinned at her, "wrong move girl. Even I know that."
"Well, I was young and stupid," Kat told her.
"What was Billy's response?" Kim asked.
"Let's just say, he was less than responsive. He would sit and talk to me all night about anything and everything except for any feelings he might have." She looked down, "I felt guilty about his accident for a long time, because I was seeing him almost every night, and didn't notice that he was overworking himself." She grinned up at Kim, "And you know how we Pink Rangers are. We always get what we go after."
"Except in this case," Kimberly replied. Kat's simply sat there blushing deeper and deeper. Suddenly Kimberly understood something, "You didn't! He didn't!"
"Just once, and it took getting him drunk," Kat told her. "I think that was when he understood exactly where his heart lay."
Kim shook her head, "Does Adam know?" She looked around and leaned forward, or at least as far forward as an eight month pregnant woman could, "More to the point, does Jase know?"
Kat blushed, "Yes, Adam knows." She shook her head, "As far as Jase is concerned, I don't know. That's between him and Billy."
"God girl, what were you thinking?" Kim asked. "I love Billy like a brother, and I can't imagine doing that with him."
Kat smiled, "I don't have the history with Billy that you do. Actually it was very nice." Kat blushed, "Don't take this wrong, but in some ways it was nicer than.," she paused and Kimberly understood that she was about to cross a line that neither of them had ever ventured toward before. It was one thing to believe that one of your friends might have slept with your husband before you were married, but something entirely different to have it confirmed. "Let's just say he was a whole lot gentler than any previous lover had been." She grinned wickedly at Kimberly, "and it's a damn good thing too. There are just some things that you have to go slow to be able to take for the first time."
"Kat, that is more about my best friend than I want to know." Kim considered kidding the other former Pink Ranger about sleeping around but decided that it might not go over very well at this time.
"You still think of Billy as your best friend?" Kat asked.
Kim nodded, "Of course. This doesn't change anything between us." She suddenly realized that it was true. Tommy may have his problems with Billy and Jase, but deep down she felt this was right for them. Grinning at Kat, "However, you and I are going to sit down sometime and talk you throwing yourself at the most important men in my life," she hoped the smile on her face made it clear there was no condemnation in the statement.
"Not you too." Adam said as she and Adam sat down at the table.
"Not me too what, Frogboy?" Kim asked.
"What is it about Cranston? He's got three of the most beautiful women in the world wrapped around his little finger." The Korean man smiled, "Fortunately, for the rest of us male Power Rangers, he's more interested in Jase than any of our wives."
"Jealous Frogboy?" Kimberly teased.
Adam smiled, "At first, maybe, not now though. I mean let's face it, Jason's the big hunk of teenage heart throb, Tommy's the famous Speed Racer wanna'be, Zack's the male model, and me I'm the world-famous surgeon with gifted hands, but half the women on the team seem to want to cuddle up to Cranston."
"He listens," Trini said. Kim realized it was true. If one were talking to most of the other male Power Rangers, there was a certain barrier of mindless chatter that had to be gotten through to talk about important things. Billy on the other hand, tended to listen first, and kept his own counsel until it was requested. Kim suspected it came from the years of getting his face punched in for volunteering too much information. "Besides Adam, we want to cuddle with him." Her eyes suddenly gleamed mischievously, "Not have our wicked way with him."
"But, I've never had a desire to cuddle up with him," Kimberly pointed out. "I've always liked my men a little more action oriented. Billy's just somebody who I can talk to when I'm feeling down."
Adam sipped his smoothie and nodded. Leaning back, he put a hand on Kat's, "So what do you think about Trini?"
"Trini's always been one of my dearest friends," Kimberly told him looking over at the former Yellow Ranger.
Adam smiled, "Sorry, wrong Trini. I mean Trini Ann, Jase and Bill's daughter."
Kimberly sat back and rubbed her own stomach. "I don't know. I'm still absorbing the fact that they are even a couple." She smiled, "I guess I'm pleased for them," she let her voice get hard for a second, "except for one thing about it."
She could see the warning messages in all three of her friends' eyes. "What?" Adam asked carefully.
"I'm royally pissed at them for getting such a beautiful little girl without either one of them having to go through nine months of pregnancy." She rubbed her stomach and grinned wickedly as she watched all her friends release the tension they were holding. "For that I absolutely hate them!" She then gave them her sweetest smile, "What? You think I would have a problem with them being parents?"
Adam sighed and leaned forward, "No, not really, but all things considered, we were surprised that Tom did. They went through nine months of hell, wondering if when it was all said and done, the mother wouldn't just decide she wanted to keep the baby. International law is pretty tricky when it comes to adoption by gay parents."
"I don't understand," Kim said. "I thought that maybe Billy had just whipped up one of his famous gadgets." she suddenly realized exactly what she was saying.
"Kim!" Adam protested. "What do you think Billy is- some kind of Frankenstein? He does have a strong sense of ethics you know, and there are laws in this country outlawing the type of scientific research you're talking about."
Kim realized with some shame that she had thought just that. Not that she had a problem with it, but she hadn't thought out the legal ramifications of what she was suggesting, nor the moral ones. "I'm sorry. You're right of course. I wasn't thinking I guess. But, if not that way, then how?"
Adam smiled, "It's all perfectly legal, at least in parts of Europe. There's a small research lab in Italy that has been quietly helping gay men conceive children of their own for the past year and a half using a new technique developed here it the US. Trini Ann really is the daughter of both of them. She was conceived in a test tube, using a donated egg that had the mother's DNA removed and theirs combined and inserted. It's not cheap. If the surrogate mother had decided that she wanted to keep the baby, then there was a very good chance that he would have been out an embarrassing amount of money."
Thinking of how tight things had been financially for her and Tommy up until recently she sobered at that thought. "Where'd Billy get that kind of money?" she finally asked.
"He works very hard at what he does," Trini told her. "He's really put that magnificent brain of his to good work, and made some wise business deals." Kim got the feeling that she wasn't telling her all of it, but she guessed the rest would come later.
"I always knew he would do well for himself," Kim said non-committal. Then she leaned back and sighed, "What are we going to do about Tommy and Billy and Jason?" Suddenly, she felt tears welling up in her eyes. "Tommy has been kicking himself about what happened to Billy for a long time now." She shook her head, "But he's been afraid to mention it because it might cause a bigger rift between him and Jason." She remembered back to the day Jason and Billy had left for LA. She'd over heard Tommy's accusatory suggestion to Jason, and smiled, "I guess Jase finally did learn to take orders from Tommy though."
"What do you mean?" Trini asked.
Kim smiled, "On that day everything came to a head, and those two almost came to blows, Tommy told Jase that if he was so worried about Billy then he should marry him."
"He didn't!" Kat protested.
Kim nodded, "Yep. I guess Tommy has nobody to blame but himself. He told Jase to do it, now he can't complain because he did." She finally laughed out-loud, and then leaned in close to the table. "You know what this means don't you?"
"Oh no," Adam protested. "Kim's got that look in her eye. I hope Tommy's credit card can handle it."
Kimberly stuck her tongue out at the former Ranger, "Just for that, you have to help." Turning back to the girls she said, "We have to throw Trini Ann a baby shower." Then she considered something, "But who gets to come, Jase or Billy?"
"Why not both? That way we can make sure the guys show up for something for once and we can all have a good time," Adam said.
"Aren't you forgetting something," Adam interjected.
"Can't think of anything," Kimberly told him then turned to the other girls and asked, "Can you?"
"We may get back to the house and Jase and Tommy have killed each other." Adam said very seriously.
"Nah, they may grouse, and argue but the BROS," Kim stressed the word that all the male Rangers liked to throw around, "runs too deep in them. They'll either get it worked out, or we'll have to kill both of them and hide their bodies."
Adam shrugged and grinned, "Why do I see a long dry spell in Tommy's future?"
"Because I'm due in three weeks," Kimberly told him sweetly.
"You guys are going to get me into all kinds of trouble," Adam told nobody in particular. "Here I was, thinking I was being nice and taking you out for smoothies while Zack took Billy and Trini Ann over to the Scotts, so Jase and Tommy could talk, and you guys go planning something to set off World War Three."
"Zack did what?!" Kim asked surprised. "He'd better not! I haven't even gotten a chance to hold my goddaughter yet."
"Yeah, we wanted Billy and the baby out of the way in case the fists started flying." Adam said, and then appeared as if he regretted the remark.
"I can understand wanting the baby out of the way," Kim told him. "But why Billy?"
Adam looked over at his wife and Trini and something passed between them. Finally he answered quickly- too quickly for Kimberly's comfort, "Uh. just because."
****************************************************************
"You feeling all right, Bill?" Linda Scott asked Billy as he sat gently rocking the baby.
Billy nodded over to her, "Just a little upset I guess. I was hoping that Tom and Jase would settle their differences. I'll get over it though." Smiling down at his daughter, he pushed his real reasons for his somber mood to the back of his mind and concentrated on one of the two most important people in his life. She was quietly staring up at him, her midnight eyes reflecting deep thoughts only an infant could fathom. He hated lying to his mother-in-law, and he wasn't very good at it. It was against his nature. Shifting the precious load in his arms, he offered her up to the woman who'd been like a mother to him since his own died those long years ago in the car crash. "Here why don't you hold her?"
Before she even realized what she was doing, Mrs. Scott took her granddaughter in her arms and started cooing to the child. Then looking over at Billy she said, "You're a very wicked man, William Cranston."
"Yes, ma'am," Billy smiled and leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes. "Would you mind watching her for a few minutes, while I rest my eyes?"
He never heard his mother-in-law's gentle, "Of course," as he slipped off into a gentle sleep, nor did he feel her cover him with a light blanket.
"Don't apologize," Trini told her. "First, it wasn't you who made an ass of yourself," she looked over to Adam and Kat for confirmation- both nodded to her, "and second, the whole thing wasn't handled very well. Somebody should have warned you that Jason and Billy are a couple."
Kim sighed, and sat down at the table while the others got the smoothies. They'd decided to have theirs there at the Juice bar and then take Tommy and Zack one back. Nobody really expected either Jase or Billy to be there when they returned, and that thought hurt Kim a lot more than she really wanted to admit. It was all too much to take in. She never suspected that those two felt that way. Well, maybe that wasn't entirely the truth. She'd suspected Billy was gay for a long time. Nothing like spending a little time in someone else's body to give you a new perspective on how the other half lives. She'd just never expected Jason to be gay too.
"Penny for your thoughts," Kat asked in her fading Aussie accent as she sat down next to Kim, carrying a smoothie.
"You would be overpaying," Kimberly told her with a smile. "I'm sure you can guess what I'm thinking about."
"I can guess what you're thinking about, but not what you think about it," Kat smiled turning the phrase on its head. She smiled, "You're surprised about Billy and Jason."
"Billy," Kim shook her head, "no. Jason, yes. Now that I know about Jase though, about Billy and Jase, not really. It makes sense, in a twisted Power Rangers sort of way." She looked around, "We all do seem to pair off don't we. Sometimes I've wondered if it's a function of holding the Power, or of what we go through together."
Kat smiled, "I've had the same thought myself. Trini and I talked about it a while back and we decided it's probably both." She leaned back in her chair, her light eyes inscrutable as the silence between them increased.
"What?" Kim asked.
"I was just wondering how you feel about this?" Kat answered.
"How about I ask you first?" Kim told her.
"Can't, I already asked you." Kat smiled, and took a sip of her smoothie. "However, I'll answer first for you." Putting the drink down she sighed, "At first I was mad as hell about it. You know, as Adam puts it, two up and two down."
"I'm sure I don't understand," Kim told her, and then asked, "What? You went out with Jase?"
Kat grinned, "No, one guy who eats, drinks, and sleeps karate is enough for a lifetime. Actually, right after Tommy and I broke up, I ended up spending a lot of time in the 'Zord bays talking to Billy. I guess I sort of turned to him looking for something to replace Tommy. You know, go for the opposite of what I was used to."
Kim grinned at her, "wrong move girl. Even I know that."
"Well, I was young and stupid," Kat told her.
"What was Billy's response?" Kim asked.
"Let's just say, he was less than responsive. He would sit and talk to me all night about anything and everything except for any feelings he might have." She looked down, "I felt guilty about his accident for a long time, because I was seeing him almost every night, and didn't notice that he was overworking himself." She grinned up at Kim, "And you know how we Pink Rangers are. We always get what we go after."
"Except in this case," Kimberly replied. Kat's simply sat there blushing deeper and deeper. Suddenly Kimberly understood something, "You didn't! He didn't!"
"Just once, and it took getting him drunk," Kat told her. "I think that was when he understood exactly where his heart lay."
Kim shook her head, "Does Adam know?" She looked around and leaned forward, or at least as far forward as an eight month pregnant woman could, "More to the point, does Jase know?"
Kat blushed, "Yes, Adam knows." She shook her head, "As far as Jase is concerned, I don't know. That's between him and Billy."
"God girl, what were you thinking?" Kim asked. "I love Billy like a brother, and I can't imagine doing that with him."
Kat smiled, "I don't have the history with Billy that you do. Actually it was very nice." Kat blushed, "Don't take this wrong, but in some ways it was nicer than.," she paused and Kimberly understood that she was about to cross a line that neither of them had ever ventured toward before. It was one thing to believe that one of your friends might have slept with your husband before you were married, but something entirely different to have it confirmed. "Let's just say he was a whole lot gentler than any previous lover had been." She grinned wickedly at Kimberly, "and it's a damn good thing too. There are just some things that you have to go slow to be able to take for the first time."
"Kat, that is more about my best friend than I want to know." Kim considered kidding the other former Pink Ranger about sleeping around but decided that it might not go over very well at this time.
"You still think of Billy as your best friend?" Kat asked.
Kim nodded, "Of course. This doesn't change anything between us." She suddenly realized that it was true. Tommy may have his problems with Billy and Jase, but deep down she felt this was right for them. Grinning at Kat, "However, you and I are going to sit down sometime and talk you throwing yourself at the most important men in my life," she hoped the smile on her face made it clear there was no condemnation in the statement.
"Not you too." Adam said as she and Adam sat down at the table.
"Not me too what, Frogboy?" Kim asked.
"What is it about Cranston? He's got three of the most beautiful women in the world wrapped around his little finger." The Korean man smiled, "Fortunately, for the rest of us male Power Rangers, he's more interested in Jase than any of our wives."
"Jealous Frogboy?" Kimberly teased.
Adam smiled, "At first, maybe, not now though. I mean let's face it, Jason's the big hunk of teenage heart throb, Tommy's the famous Speed Racer wanna'be, Zack's the male model, and me I'm the world-famous surgeon with gifted hands, but half the women on the team seem to want to cuddle up to Cranston."
"He listens," Trini said. Kim realized it was true. If one were talking to most of the other male Power Rangers, there was a certain barrier of mindless chatter that had to be gotten through to talk about important things. Billy on the other hand, tended to listen first, and kept his own counsel until it was requested. Kim suspected it came from the years of getting his face punched in for volunteering too much information. "Besides Adam, we want to cuddle with him." Her eyes suddenly gleamed mischievously, "Not have our wicked way with him."
"But, I've never had a desire to cuddle up with him," Kimberly pointed out. "I've always liked my men a little more action oriented. Billy's just somebody who I can talk to when I'm feeling down."
Adam sipped his smoothie and nodded. Leaning back, he put a hand on Kat's, "So what do you think about Trini?"
"Trini's always been one of my dearest friends," Kimberly told him looking over at the former Yellow Ranger.
Adam smiled, "Sorry, wrong Trini. I mean Trini Ann, Jase and Bill's daughter."
Kimberly sat back and rubbed her own stomach. "I don't know. I'm still absorbing the fact that they are even a couple." She smiled, "I guess I'm pleased for them," she let her voice get hard for a second, "except for one thing about it."
She could see the warning messages in all three of her friends' eyes. "What?" Adam asked carefully.
"I'm royally pissed at them for getting such a beautiful little girl without either one of them having to go through nine months of pregnancy." She rubbed her stomach and grinned wickedly as she watched all her friends release the tension they were holding. "For that I absolutely hate them!" She then gave them her sweetest smile, "What? You think I would have a problem with them being parents?"
Adam sighed and leaned forward, "No, not really, but all things considered, we were surprised that Tom did. They went through nine months of hell, wondering if when it was all said and done, the mother wouldn't just decide she wanted to keep the baby. International law is pretty tricky when it comes to adoption by gay parents."
"I don't understand," Kim said. "I thought that maybe Billy had just whipped up one of his famous gadgets." she suddenly realized exactly what she was saying.
"Kim!" Adam protested. "What do you think Billy is- some kind of Frankenstein? He does have a strong sense of ethics you know, and there are laws in this country outlawing the type of scientific research you're talking about."
Kim realized with some shame that she had thought just that. Not that she had a problem with it, but she hadn't thought out the legal ramifications of what she was suggesting, nor the moral ones. "I'm sorry. You're right of course. I wasn't thinking I guess. But, if not that way, then how?"
Adam smiled, "It's all perfectly legal, at least in parts of Europe. There's a small research lab in Italy that has been quietly helping gay men conceive children of their own for the past year and a half using a new technique developed here it the US. Trini Ann really is the daughter of both of them. She was conceived in a test tube, using a donated egg that had the mother's DNA removed and theirs combined and inserted. It's not cheap. If the surrogate mother had decided that she wanted to keep the baby, then there was a very good chance that he would have been out an embarrassing amount of money."
Thinking of how tight things had been financially for her and Tommy up until recently she sobered at that thought. "Where'd Billy get that kind of money?" she finally asked.
"He works very hard at what he does," Trini told her. "He's really put that magnificent brain of his to good work, and made some wise business deals." Kim got the feeling that she wasn't telling her all of it, but she guessed the rest would come later.
"I always knew he would do well for himself," Kim said non-committal. Then she leaned back and sighed, "What are we going to do about Tommy and Billy and Jason?" Suddenly, she felt tears welling up in her eyes. "Tommy has been kicking himself about what happened to Billy for a long time now." She shook her head, "But he's been afraid to mention it because it might cause a bigger rift between him and Jason." She remembered back to the day Jason and Billy had left for LA. She'd over heard Tommy's accusatory suggestion to Jason, and smiled, "I guess Jase finally did learn to take orders from Tommy though."
"What do you mean?" Trini asked.
Kim smiled, "On that day everything came to a head, and those two almost came to blows, Tommy told Jase that if he was so worried about Billy then he should marry him."
"He didn't!" Kat protested.
Kim nodded, "Yep. I guess Tommy has nobody to blame but himself. He told Jase to do it, now he can't complain because he did." She finally laughed out-loud, and then leaned in close to the table. "You know what this means don't you?"
"Oh no," Adam protested. "Kim's got that look in her eye. I hope Tommy's credit card can handle it."
Kimberly stuck her tongue out at the former Ranger, "Just for that, you have to help." Turning back to the girls she said, "We have to throw Trini Ann a baby shower." Then she considered something, "But who gets to come, Jase or Billy?"
"Why not both? That way we can make sure the guys show up for something for once and we can all have a good time," Adam said.
"Aren't you forgetting something," Adam interjected.
"Can't think of anything," Kimberly told him then turned to the other girls and asked, "Can you?"
"We may get back to the house and Jase and Tommy have killed each other." Adam said very seriously.
"Nah, they may grouse, and argue but the BROS," Kim stressed the word that all the male Rangers liked to throw around, "runs too deep in them. They'll either get it worked out, or we'll have to kill both of them and hide their bodies."
Adam shrugged and grinned, "Why do I see a long dry spell in Tommy's future?"
"Because I'm due in three weeks," Kimberly told him sweetly.
"You guys are going to get me into all kinds of trouble," Adam told nobody in particular. "Here I was, thinking I was being nice and taking you out for smoothies while Zack took Billy and Trini Ann over to the Scotts, so Jase and Tommy could talk, and you guys go planning something to set off World War Three."
"Zack did what?!" Kim asked surprised. "He'd better not! I haven't even gotten a chance to hold my goddaughter yet."
"Yeah, we wanted Billy and the baby out of the way in case the fists started flying." Adam said, and then appeared as if he regretted the remark.
"I can understand wanting the baby out of the way," Kim told him. "But why Billy?"
Adam looked over at his wife and Trini and something passed between them. Finally he answered quickly- too quickly for Kimberly's comfort, "Uh. just because."
****************************************************************
"You feeling all right, Bill?" Linda Scott asked Billy as he sat gently rocking the baby.
Billy nodded over to her, "Just a little upset I guess. I was hoping that Tom and Jase would settle their differences. I'll get over it though." Smiling down at his daughter, he pushed his real reasons for his somber mood to the back of his mind and concentrated on one of the two most important people in his life. She was quietly staring up at him, her midnight eyes reflecting deep thoughts only an infant could fathom. He hated lying to his mother-in-law, and he wasn't very good at it. It was against his nature. Shifting the precious load in his arms, he offered her up to the woman who'd been like a mother to him since his own died those long years ago in the car crash. "Here why don't you hold her?"
Before she even realized what she was doing, Mrs. Scott took her granddaughter in her arms and started cooing to the child. Then looking over at Billy she said, "You're a very wicked man, William Cranston."
"Yes, ma'am," Billy smiled and leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes. "Would you mind watching her for a few minutes, while I rest my eyes?"
He never heard his mother-in-law's gentle, "Of course," as he slipped off into a gentle sleep, nor did he feel her cover him with a light blanket.