Kimberly awoke to the sound of snoring. She had spent most of the night talking to Tommy and then she and Kira had made their way to her aunt's house to get some sleep. She was still in awe that Tommy wasn't mad at her. She couldn't be sure that once he found out the whole truth. She sighed and rolled over. Kira was next to her on the huge king size bed snoring away. She smiled and pulled herself out of the bed. It was Saturday and she could have stayed in bed for awhile but she decided she might as well get up and get ready for the day. Her aunt insisted on taking her to Disneyland today so she wanted to get a run in before everyone else got up and wanted to go. It was only 6:30 in the morning anyway.
She quickly got dressed in her running shorts and a pink tank top. She hadn't worn her signature color in so long. She tied her running shoes and headed out the door. Reefside was actually a really beautiful place. She was one of the few people out there at that hour and enjoyed being alone with the road. She noticed another jogger heading her way and made sure that she had her mace in her front pouch. Just in case. She was about the pass him when she noticed it was Tommy.
"Hey." She said slowing down to a stop as he did the same.
"Morning you're up early."
"Actually I usually get up earlier then this." She laughed. "Can I jog with you?" She asked.
"Yeah." They began in the direction that she had been going. "So what are your plans?"
"What do you mean?" She was confused.
"How long are you here?" She blushed embarrassed. "What?" He asked and stopped.
"I'm not sure. I just got back from Paris and actually never thought about where I was going to stay and what I was going to do here." She looked away. She didn't want Tommy to know that she didn't have anything in her life going on at all. She had no place to live and no job.
"Well that just means that you can be here for awhile. We can get to know each other again." He immediately regretted the words as they left his mouth. He did want her here but he shouldn't be showing it that much.
"For awhile I might stay...but." She was going to have to tell him.
"But what."
"The thing is I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I've been in Paris so long I don't really have any job prospects at the moment and it was kind of a spur of the moment thing for me to even come here." She looked down and away from him. She was ashamed that he was a doctor and she didn't even have a job or anything to show.
"Are you saying that you came here with nothing?"
"What I'm saying is that I decided to leave Paris and I went straight to Angel Grove to look for someone there that I knew. Everyone had left. I have no where else to go so I came here to my aunt's. I wasn't expecting to run into you here. You must think that I am pathetic." She plopped herself down onto a bench. He sat down beside her and put his arm around her shoulders.
"I don't think you are pathetic. I think you came back here looking for something." She nodded. "And what would that be?"
"Promise you won't laugh?" When he nodded she continued. "You. I came back to Angel Grove looking for you."
"You did?" He was shocked. He thought she was happy without him. Now it seemed like she hadn't been happy at all. He wondered what had happened to her to make her send that letter. There was something going on that she wasn't telling him. What was it?
"I thought you might have been married by now and everything. I guess I was hoping that you weren't and that maybe we could try again." She realized what she said and smacked herself in the head. "I just said that out loud didn't I?" She groaned as he nodded.
"Look Beautiful. I think that we should maybe try again but we should take everything slow and get to know each other again." He took her hand and kissed it. "And as for you have no where to go I'm sure we could arrange something so you could stay here."
"Well I do have my teaching degree so I could try and get a job at a school here somewhere."
"We might need a new gym teacher at the highschool I teach at next year. But since it is the middle of the summer we won't be able to do that yet."
"I think right now I just need to focus on figuring out where I want to live and if I want to stay here. I would like to be close to Kira but I wouldn't want to intrude on your life or anything like that." She sighed.
Tommy decided to change the subject. "So what are you and Kira doing today? I have something I want to show you."
"I actually have to go to Disneyland with everyone." She stated.
"You used to love Disneyland." Tommy added.
"Yeah but that was a long time ago and that was when you would take me and..." Her voice faded and she looked away.
"So who is going with you?"
"My aunt, Kira, her two friends from the diner and my aunt told me to bring someone." She turned and smiled lightly at him.
"You don't know anyone else here." Tommy stated and then got it. He shook his head. "I don't think so Kim."
"Oh come on. Please." She gave him her best puppy dog face.
"It wouldn't look right if a teacher went to Disneyland with his students." He had a point.
"You aren't going with them. You are going with me." She batted her eyelashes at him and smiled. She knew he couldn't resist when she did that. He grabbed her long ponytail and ran his hands through it.
"All right I'll go." He sighed. She jumped up excited and hugged him. She had jumped into his arms without realizing what she had done. She apologized and pulled away.
"We'll pick you up in an hour and a half." She stated. "Bye." She was gone before he had a chance to say anything else.
"Crap." He said out loud. What had he just gotten himself into. He was still in love with Kimberly but was afraid to get hurt again. He knew that she had a reason to do what she did but he had to know what it was before they could be together. He did want that even after all these years. He glanced at his watch and took off to change.
Tommy's House
Tommy heard the horn honk and went out to meet the rest of the crew. He had chosen to wear blue jeans, a white t-shirt, and the green plaid flannel shirt that Kimberly loved so much. He hadn't worn that shirt in years. It reminded him to much of her. As he approached the car Kimberly stepped out and smiled. She had on blue jean shorts and a pink and white halter top. She had sandals on her feet. She looked just like she did in high school except more like a woman. He loved that her hair was so long. She looked beautiful. She smiled at him. "I remember this shirt." She said tugging on it lightly.
"That's because you stole it for four months." He laughed. He waved to Kira's mom and got into the very back of the mini van. He raised his eyebrow at Ethan who was asleep in the front seat next to Deanne, and Kira and Connor who were curled up on the second seat of the mini van.
"They'll sleep the whole way there." Deanne said. "Unless of course they notice you and then they'll be up in two seconds." She laughed.
"Then I guess I'll have to keep quiet." Tommy said with a chuckle. He moved in first and let Kim climb in and shut the door.
"So." Kim whispered once they were on the road. "What's up?" She could tell that Tommy was preoccupied with something.
"Honestly?" He asked.
"Honestly." She answered.
"Okay." He hesitated. He knew that Deanne couldn't hear them. She had the music up and they were talking lightly so no one could hear them if they tried. "I want to know what happened." He didn't have to say any more. She knew what he meant.
"Tommy. I don't want to ruin the day and if I tell you now it would ruin everything for you."
"You'll have to tell me sometime and yes it might ruin some things but we have to be prepared for that. Please tell me." He took her hand and looked into her eyes.
"Okay but please don't say anything until I'm finished." He nodded. "Okay well it was about two weeks before my birthday and I was downtown at a travel agency. I was going to come and surprise you on my birthday. I had decided to come home for good." Tommy's jaw dropped when he heard this but he didn't speak. He let her continue. "Anyway I left the travel agency and couldn't get a cab so I started walking through downtown. I had done it hundreds of times. Walking around downtown I mean. The next thing I knew I was being pulled into an alley by a guy. One guy. I should have been able to do something. I was a ranger I should have done something." Her eyes were filled with tears. She didn't want to cry.
"Kim." Tommy started. "Did he rape you?" He whispered.
"Yeah." He pulled her into his arms and hugged her to him.
"God baby I'm so sorry." He was on the verge of crying also.
"I have to finish telling you everything though." She sighed but didn't move away. He let her continue. "Anyway afterwards I didn't know what to do. I went to the police and filed a report but they didn't know who it was and couldn't do anything. I felt so dirty and unclean." She hesitated. "I...I wanted to be clean for you when we finally...got together and I felt like I failed you. So I sent the letter and left for Paris." She was crying now.
"You didn't fail me. It wasn't your fault. I would have stood by you for anything that happened." He stroked her hair and kissed her forehead.
"That's the point Tommy. I didn't want you to have to deal with it. We were only teenagers and I'm honestly not sure there is much that you could have done." She sighed and pulled away. He didn't allow her to pull away completely though. "I called you." She almost whispered.
"What? You called me. When?"
"My birthday. Your brother answered and said that you went skiing with Kat. That was the day after you got the letter." She said grimly. "I was going to tell you but I figured that you would be happier without me there. Especially after the letter."
"Well what he should have said it that I went skiing with Kat and Billy and I was miserable the whole time." He stated. "Yes I did go out with Kat but she wasn't you."
"I haven't been with anyone since you." Kimberly said quietly.
"What?" He couldn't believe it.
"Honestly this is as close as I have let a man be to me since you. No one besides Jason was even allowed to hug me. And he only hugged me a couple times." She pushed her hair behind her ear and blushed. "I couldn't even stand to have Jason touch me a couple times. You are the first person that has held and touched me that hasn't made me sick."
"In this many years Kim." He asked.
"Sometimes it can take awhile to get over the trama of this kind of attack. It doesn't surprise me that I can be near you though."
"Why is that?"
"Because I feel safe with you. I feel normal with you." He watched as her face went bright red with embarrassment. She couldn't believe that she actually said those things to him. "Sorry. I shouldn't have said that."
"Yes you should have." He pulled her hand to his mouth and kissed her palm.
"Were here." Called Deanne cheerfully and loudly so to awaken everyone that was sleeping..
"Come on mom." Groaned Kira from the back as she sat up.
"Yeah a little less cheerful please." Connor said sleepily. Tommy smiled at Kim.
"Come on guys snap to it." Tommy said in the best teacher voice that she could. That woke them up. Kira and Connor snapped their heads around to look at the backseat. They couldn't believe that their teacher was in the backseat.
"Dr. O!!" Connor exclaimed. Tommy smiled and waved at them. They groaned as they got out of the car.
"Come on people." Deanne said after everyone was out of the car.
"We have to spend the whole day with our teacher." Connor complained. Ethan was laughing.
"Ah am I really that bad?" Teased Tommy. Kim and Deanne were giggling.
When they got inside Deanne turned to Connor, Ethan, and Kira. "So what's the plan."
"The plan is we ditch the old people and go ride some rides." Ethan stated. Kira smacked him upside the head.
"Whatever you guys want to do is fine with us." Kira said.
"Goodbye guys. Have fun and we'll meet you here back at five." Deanne said.
"K. Bye mom." Kira kissed her mom on the cheek. "Bye Kim. Dr. O." She hugged Kim and smiled at Tommy.
"See ya oldies." Connor said as they walked away. Kira smacked him on the head. Once they were out of sight Deanne turned to Kim and Tommy and smiled.
"Okay you two I will see you at five. I'm going to curl up under that tree over there and read this book." She patted a thick book that she had in her hand.
"You don't want to do anything." Kim asked confused.
"No dear. This is for you. All I want to do is read." She kissed Kim's cheek and patted Tommy's arm. "Get going." She walked away.
"Well I guess that leaves us." Tommy shrugged. "So what do you want to do?" She gave him an evil smile.
"Well you see that big roller coaster over there?" He nodded. "That is what we are going first."
On the way home
9:56 pm
Kimberly was falling asleep fast. She was straining to keep her eyes open. She was listening as Kira was trying to talk to her about something. She couldn't really understand anything that she was saying. It had been a long day. When they had met up with the others Deanne decided that it was dinner and a night at the Disney shows. She was exhausted. She couldn't keep her eyes open any longer. She closed her eyes and leaned against Tommy. He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.
"Hey I'm not that boring." Kira exclaimed as Kimberly fell asleep. "Mom. Kimberly fell asleep in the middle of my story." She complained. Tommy rolled his eyes and smirked.
"That's not a surprise we all did." Connor laughed at her. Kira smacked him in the head again. "Oh yeah and Deanne. Mr. O is groping your niece."
"Connor." Tommy warned.
"Dr. O has a girlfriend." Connor sang. Kira smacked him again and groaned.
"Why don't you all shut up and listen to the radio." Deanne turned it up louder then she had it this morning. The car filled with the sounds of Leann Rimes.
How do I get through a night without you
If I had to live without you
What kinda life would that be
Oh I need you in my arms need you to hold
You're my world my heart my soul
If you ever leave. Baby it would take away everything
Good in my life...and tell me now
How do I live without you
I want to know
How do I breath without you
If you ever go. How do I ever ever survive
How do I Oh how do I live
Tommy sighed. That song hit home. He had been without her for so long. Now that she had come back into her life how could he let her out again. How could he go on without her. He had to do something to keep her here.