Just to clear things up, when the dream shifts from Conner and Ethan to Conner and Kira, that is about 3 weeks later.
They had already defeated Mesogog.
On to the story
"Hello Dr. Oliver."
"It's Tommy to you now, I'm Dr. Oliver to my students."
"Are you going to let me in or let me freeze out here?"
"Yeah, come on in. Hey Kim, could you come in here for a minute?"
A short, petite woman in pink pajamas came from the kitchen.
"What is it Tommy?" Kim asked.
"This is Conner McKnight, the red ranger who disappeared five years ago. Conner, this is my wife Kimberly."
"Nice to meet you Mrs. Oliver."
"Please call me Kim, Mrs. Oliver makes me feel old."
The three of them spent the next hour just getting reaquainted with each other until Kimberly excused herself to go to sleep since she had a gymnastics class to teach early the next morning. Once the door closed, Conner and Tommy decided now was the time to get serious.
"Okay, she's gone, you can let me have it now." Conner said, looking into the eyes of his former mentor and teacher.
"After five years, you come back? Just when everything was returning to normal, you have to come back. I'm guessing you came back for a reason Conner, so why don't you tell me what that reason is." Tommy said sounding very angry at his former teammate.
"I came back to explain what happened."
"Seems pretty selfexplanatory to me, you walked out. We all thought we would see you at Hayley's the next day, so we didn't think anything of it, but then a month went by, six months went by, a year and we didn't hear from you. When we called you, it said the number was disconnected. So we realized you weren't coming back and you wanted nothing to do with us, so we let it go.
And now you come back?"
"It's not that simple."
"Then by all means, explain."
They went down to the basement so they wouldn't wake Kim, since they both knew voices would be raised in this conversation.
"I never really liked Reefside, the only interesting thing that happened here was the attacks Mesogog sent, being a ranger was the only thing that I liked about this place, so when we defeated him and the attacks stopped, it just went back to being Reefside. The same boring place that I had been living in for seven years. Being a ranger was the only thing that I had in common with Ethan and Kira, when that was gone, there was nothing here for me. So, instead of waiting for something to exciting to happen, I decided to find excitement and I wasn't going to find any here."
"There's more to it isn't there?"
"Yeah, but I can't get into that just yet, not until I talk to Ethan and Kira."
"What about Hayley, does she know you're back?"
"Yeah I got into town yesterday, and I went there first but she was to busy to talk, so I went there this morning before she opened and we talked for about an hour before she opened."
"Did she notice you?" refering to his new look.
"Yeah she did, she asked me about it this morning, why I decided to go for this look."
"Why did you?"
"Like I told Hayley, I didn't want to remember this place because all the memories brought pain and I was tired of hurting.
So I figured that I could alter my appearance to the point where I don't see that kid that you guys knew."
"Did it work?"
"At first, but since I've been back, all the memories have hit me like a brick."
"If you don't mind me asking, what brought the pain?" Tommy asked with genuine concern.
"A lot of things, all the battles left me in a lot of pain, Kira, the power withdrawl, it just got to be too much."
"Just so you know, Kira was never the same once you left. She told us you left right after she told you she loved you. For the life of me I don't get that, since we all knew that you loved her. She thought you went off to sort out your feelings, but then you didn't come back and she thought she drove you away."
"That wasn't it at all."
"You got things that you got to talk about with Ethan and Kira before you can explain it to me, you told me that, I understand but something tells me that something else happened, something bad and it also tells me that whatever it is was the main reason that you left the way you did because the Conner McKnight that I knew would have explained to us the reasons and would have said goodbye the right way."
"Yeah, there is one major reason but you will get that a little later."
"Whenever you want to talk, I'm ready to listen."
"Thanks Tommy, I should really get going, it's getting late."
They walked to the living room and to the door.
"Where are you staying?"
"Motel 6, it's not much but it's cheap."
"Why don't you stay here? I've got that extra bedroom, it's yours if you want it."
"Alright, thanks but I got to go get my stuff and check out."
"I'll go with you. Let me tell Kim first, i'll meet you at the car."
Tommy went upstairs to find Kim sleeping.
"Kim, wake up." Tommy whispered.
Kim stirred awake.
"Tommy, what's going on?"
"I offered Conner the extra room, we're going to the hotel to get his stuff, I'll be back soon."
"Okay, be safe."
"You know me."
"That's what I'm talking about."
An hour later, Tommy and Conner were back at Tommy's.
"So what's Ethan been up to lately?" Conner asked since he was going to see Ethan next.
"Well he is trying to get a job with any software company, he would like to get Microsoft but I guess their associates don't come to little towns like Reefside."
"If he's anything like I remember, I'm sure he'll get it somewhere."
"So, it's just Hayley and me that knows that you are back?"
"Yeah, and I would like it to stay that way until I talk to them."
"Your secret's safe with me."
"What was the wedding like?"
"I got the video if you want to watch it."
"Yeah, that would be great."
"Cassidy filmed it."
"Oh great." Conner said sarcastically.
"She did a really good job with it, maybe that's because Devin filmed and she did the commentary and all the interviewing."
"Are they still glued at the hip?"
"Yeah, actually he got the courage to finally ask her out and she said yes, they've been dating for about a year."
The video started as he watched a man that looked exactly like Tommy walk an african-american woman down the aisle.
"Who's that?"
"That's my brother David and the girl is Aisha one of Kim's best friends."
The next pair brought an ache to his heart. He watched as Ethan escorted Kira down the aise.
"She's beautiful" Conner said in a whisper so soft he was sure Tommy didn't hear him but he did.
"Yeah she was, take a look at the both of them, Ethan knows he shouldn't be doing this and Kira wishes that was you walking with her."
With this said, Conner looked at the expressions on his friends faces, they were happy but they knew the image of them walking together didn't fit. Ethan had this look on his face that asked 'where are you Conner, you should be here, not me' and Kira wore an expression that said 'I wish Conner was here.'
The wedding march began to play as everyone stood up and faced the doors as a tall man and a very tiny woman stood waiting to walk the aisle. Kimberly had an ear to ear grin on her face as she approached Tommy and the man had a very proud look on his face as they got closer to the front.
"I know that's not Kim's dad because he looks to be the same age as you guys, so who is he?"
"That's Jason, my best friend and Kim's "Big Brother", she and her dad don't have the best relationship and she didn't feel right having him walk her down the aisle so she asked Jason."
Time passed as they sat and watched the rest of the ceremony and the reception at Hayley's. He watched as Kira got on stage and performed for the crowd at the reception. The video faded to black and then reappeared with four people sitting on the couch.
Hayley, Tommy, Ethan, and Kira sat and looked into the camera.
"This next portion has nothing to do with the wedding but it is strictly for our remembrance."
Tommy stood in the doorway as he watched Conner watch this portion that was dedicated to him.
"Three years ago a good friend of ours walked out of our lives, we have no idea where he is, we don't know if he's alive.
So the four of us would like to take this time to remember our friend Conner McKnight and to tell him that he is and always will be in our hearts and one day we hope he will return to us. Conner, we miss you and we will never forget you."
"Goodnight Conner." Tommy said thinking the best thing that he could do was leave him alone.
"Goodnight Tommy and thanks for letting me stay here."
"No problem."
Conner shut the video off and turned the tv off and laid in bed.
"I'll see you tommorrow Ethan."
With that he closed his eyes and fell asleep
TBC