Jason took a deep breath before beginning. Tommy could see his friend struggle with what he was going to say. He understood that because he'd spent a great deal of time during the last year sorting out his own emotions. He'd finally begun to see the edges of peace of mind, and that was only after some very long struggles with feelings he neither wanted nor understood. Jason was a lot like Tommy, he'd rather act than think, especially when it came to emotions. After a long silence, Jason began, "I guess this is about you, although not really." He smiled wryly, "I mean it concerns you, but isn't really about you, it's about." He stopped, not able to go on.

"Spit it out Bro," Tommy smiled and told him, "I promise I'm not going to get mad."

Jason just looked up with those dark midnight eyes and chuckled, "Don't count on it." He sighed, leaned back, and changed the subject, "By the way, I lied, earlier."

"I know," Tommy replied. "Why?"

"Because I'm not sure how you'd take the news that Billy was back on Earth."

"He's back, that's great!" Tommy exclaimed excitedly, "How is he? When did he get back?" Then realizing exactly what Jase had said, he stopped short and asked more seriously, "Exactly why were you concerned about how I would take that?" He wondered if the other Rangers thought he was mad at Billy or something.

"Because we knew that you took it pretty personally that we couldn't find a cure of Billy here." Jason gave him and inscrutable look before continuing, "Because, Bro, you have this tendency to take anything that goes wrong to be your fault. You're Mister Guilt Incarnate, and we didn't want to open any old wounds." He paused and took a deep breath and then said more softly, "And because Billy asked us not to."

Tommy felt like Jase had punched him in the gut. Billy didn't want him to know that he was back on Earth. Why? Did he sense something that the others didn't? Did Billy hate him for it? He fought for control of his voice as he asked, "Why?" Jase stood up and walked to the fireplace. Taking a picture of the first Ranger team down from the mantelpiece, Jason paused for long moments as Tommy stared at his friend's broad back. Tommy could feel the conflict in Jason from across the room, and knew that something was tormenting him. He asked, he almost pleaded, "Jase, Bro, talk to me. Why didn't Billy want me to know he was back?"

Jase finally turned and looked up from the picture, "Are you really that blind, Tommy?" He could see the hurt in Jason's eyes. "Do you really not know what Billy was going through at the end?"

Tommy shook his head, "He was sick, I know that." Tommy protested. That had been a difficult time for him too. He was just starting to realize what those feelings he'd been struggling with were doing to him. He'd tried to lose himself in his relationship with Kat.

Jason leaned back and crossed his arms, "That's not what I'm talking about. Do you have any idea what he was going through emotionally?" There was a hardness to Jase's voice that brought Tommy up short. "Do you have any idea what we were putting him through?" then more softly, "What he was putting himself through?"

Tommy stopped and thought about what was going on with the Rangers when Billy had left. It wasn't long after the Command Center had been destroyed- they were all upset about that, and then Billy had started aging rapidly, and left for Aquitar. He'd never really sat down with the young genius to ask him about how he was coping. He didn't trust himself enough to do that.

Jason sighed, "I don't know how to tell you this, Bro. I don't even know if I should tell you this, it's not my place to say, but it needs to be said." He locked eyes with Tommy before continuing, and Tommy felt his gut slowly twist into knots from the look on Jason's face, "Billy stayed on Aquitar to get away from you."

Tommy was stunned. Did the Blue Ranger really hate him that much? Would he be willing to leave the planet so as to not breathe the same air as him? "But what about the girl, Delphine?"

Jason corrected him, "Cestria, Delphine was the commander of the Aquitarian Rangers." He smiled, "But it's easy to get them confused."

"What ever," Tommy replied- he didn't want to think about the Aquitarian then, or now. "What about her? Didn't he say that he'd finally met the "right person."

Jason chuckled and shook his head, "I'm beginning to see what Adam meant. You really were so caught up in your own drama that you couldn't see what happening in front of you- not that you didn't have a right to be, but this was important." He walked over and put a hand on Tommy's shoulder, "Tom, Bill left because he couldn't stand to watch you with Kat any more."

Tommy never knew that Billy had any feelings for the Pink Ranger. He'd always been so quiet, so unobtrusive. Not, that Tommy had been not paying attention to Billy- quite to the contrary; he just hadn't seen the attraction the Blue Ranger might have had to Kat. However, Jason was right about one thing, he had been so caught up with the turbulent emotions that were tearing him apart at that time, he'd never noticed anything out of the ordinary from Billy. Of course Billy's own inscrutable nature had made it difficult to read him anyway- and that was the crux of Tommy's dilemma. "Billy was in love with Kat?" Tommy asked.

Jason shook his head, "No, he was or is in love with you." Jason had the look of a man who was awaiting his doom as he continued, "Billy's not the kind of person to push things, and he doesn't think he has a chance with you." He paused and shrugged, "Me? I'm not so sure." Tommy sat down in shock. How could he have missed this? How could he have been so blind? Jason put a hand on his shoulder and asked cautiously, "Am I wrong?"