Wednesday passed mercifully uneventfully as Hayley's Cyberspace was bustling with barely contained teenage effervescence, for no particular reason other than they were teenagers and were alive. Hayley was constantly surprised by the energy of youth, which seemed so far away from her now she felt like curling up in a ball under the espresso machine and wishing the world was older or over.
Tommy seemed to have renewed vigour since becoming the Black Dino Thunder Ranger, Conner, Ethan and Kira had their powers and their age on their side and Kimberly seemed to be hyperactive most of the time regardless of her age. She had the kind of 'school spirit' mentality which Hayley was sure must have made her Captain of the cheerleading squad and organiser of all the pep rallies Angel Grove High must've ever put on. It was quite sickening to Hayley- who would rather be in front of a computer playing Solitaire or out in the sun reading a good book on quantum mechanics – than in the centre of this storm of hormones and vitality.
Though she and Kim were not strictly friends yet, the redheaded woman was quite thankful for the Pink Ranger's presence, as she was zipping around dispensing drinks and cheerful smiles at a rate that Hayley just didn't feel up to. She had observed Kimberly hawkishly if discreetly over the past week or so, observed her interactions with the Rangers and more importantly her interaction with Tommy.
She had observed with a trace of amusement and substantially more than a trace of jealousy how the good Doctor Oliver turned into a bumbling idiot when he was around Kim, tripping over things, stuttering and stammering over his words or avoiding looking at her completely, especially when there was physical contact involved. Kim for her part seemed to be the same, blushing, fiddling with her hair -which Hayley had taken to be a sign of nerves in the female Ranger- or completely losing her flow in a conversation.
Hayley had not expected Tommy to take his long postponed talk with Kimberly well, let alone that he would ask her to move in with him! Now they apparently ate dinner together, watched TV together, checked over Tommy's computer systems together- admittedly even if it was Tommy checking out the systems and Kim looking at the monitors to make sure the little blue line didn't go down into the glowy red zone- Hayley rolled her eyes. Tommy deserved a woman who could string two sentences together let alone grasp the subtle nuances of biometric engineering. Yes, she knew she was being unfair to Kim, who had helped her considerably over the past few days at the café, but damn it, she was upset and jealous, she had a right to be bitchy.
She had seen how deeply Kim had hurt Tommy by sending the infamous Letter, and it had greatly reduced any feelings of compassion she could have had for Kim immediately. How could he still talk so wistfully of his first –and it seemed only- love when she had done something so heinous to him as to send a clichéd 'Dear John' letter, dismissing everything that had supposedly made their relationship special? Hayley couldn't understand the motivation behind that one; she would never have let Tommy get away if she was ever in the position to have him, but Kim had, and Tommy had still welcomed her with open arms! Kim did not deserve second chances from the legendary Ranger, after he had suffered so much from her already, and when Hayley was told about her, she could not bring herself to find anything positive in the girl Tommy spoke of.
Unfortunately however once one had met Kim in the flesh, it seemed hard to grudge her anything, but the effect she had on Tommy was certainly not something Hayley relished. Even if she had given up long ago on any fantasies about Tommy, she was still jealous purely as her allure as a woman was being undermined. She wasn't terribly crazy in a high-school obsessive way over Tommy, but the fact was that she had never been able to illicit such passionate responses in members of the opposite sex as Kim appeared to. Hayley was by no means unattractive but she lacked the drop-dead-gorgeous-with-outgoing-personality label that girls like Kimberly personified, and frankly with Kim around Tommy didn't seem to have time to keep his tongue from hanging out of his mouth let alone keep up meaningful conversations with her.
It was fair enough if Tommy blathered on about Kim all the way through the first year of college, how their break up had been so unexpected, how 'The Letter' hadn't been in Kim's nature at all and how subsequently his relationship with Katherine had failed, then he sunk into a brooding stupor or got irritable when anyone brought up the notorious piece of correspondance. That was all very well, the pain was near, he'd suffered two break ups with two very nice women in the space of a few years, one of whom had been 'his true love', but she had really thought he'd moved on. He mentioned Kimberly less and less through the years, only getting the faraway wistful look in his eyes when someone talked about Angel Grove or his glory days. But now Kim had returned and they were back making googly eyes at each other like the last decade and their break up never happened. And what was more infuriating was that neither of them seemed to notice or acknowledge it, let alone make a move at each other.
It was frustrating, Hayley had been right in front of Tommy for many years and didn't get so much as a glimmer of lust from his eyes, then Kim reappears out of the blue and suddenly he has all these feelings again. Well it wasn't acceptable and she planned to tell Tommy so as soon as she got him alone again.
"Oh Hayley I won't be in tomorrow afternoon, is that okay?" The voice of the aforementioned perpetrator herself broke into Hayley's reverie and she turned from where she had been drying the same glass for the last five minutes to look at the petite brunette.
"You're only a volunteer here Kim, since I'm not paying you, you can take off whatever time you want." The redhead replied as cheerfully as she could muster.
"Yeah, but I thought I oughta tell you rather than just leaving you high and dry y'know?" Kim said with a smile, brushing the hair from her eyes with the back of her hand.
It was so difficult not to like her…
"Well its fine, you don't need me to write you a permission slip do you, get out of jail free?" A joke, good work.
Kim laughed good naturedly, "No, your word will do thanks." She nodded, "Oh here are our weary soldiers now." She smiled as she saw Kira, Conner and Ethan trudging through the glass doors and taking their usual table next to the stage.
"Hey guys, whoa you look like you just sat through a Matrix film." Kim said as she saw their vacant, somewhat dazed expressions.
Ethan's head shot up and his eyes narrowed indignantly.
"Oh um, I mean… a Jennifer Lopez movie?" This seemed to sit better with the three of them and Conner ran a hand through his hair.
"Math pop quiz, took a whole two periods. The only one who knew the answers was Algebra Boy over there." He jabbed his thumb in Ethan's direction.
"Yeah, and it even made my brain ache too." Ethan said, burying his head in his arms.
"Well I think that calls for three free iced mochaccinos, my treat." Kim smiled reassuringly and jogged over to the counter to try and remember how one made those things, luckily Trent was there pouring some smoothies and took pity on her bewildered expression.
"Hey, I read all the recipes, how about you deliver the smoothies to table five, and I'll do the mochaccinos?" He smiled and Kim clapped her hands together gratefully.
"I would kiss you if you weren't a minor." She laughed and took the smoothies over to table five where she overheard snatches of the conversation.
"Seriously Devin, now there's a Pink Ranger too, we have to find out the identities of the Power Rangers, did you notice how her costume isn't the same at the others? I smell an exclusive! If we got an interview with her every TV station in the world is gonna want to hire me."
"Ahem, Cass?"
"What Devin?!"
"Hire us, y'know, us?"
"Yeah whatever, oh I can see it now…" Kim walked away from the blonde haired girl and her long suffering friend shaking her head. They were like a modern day Bulk and Skull only seemingly a little more organised and a little less crack-pot. She didn't understand people's obsessions over finding out the identities of superheroes. They protected people and then disappeared, if their identities were public it would surely put more people at risk, including families and friends, and everyone would harass them. It was better being a secret, people really didn't consider all the implications when they tried to unmask the Power Rangers.
"How come Superman never had this problem? Oh yeah, he never wore a mask…" She shook her head as she returned to the three teens, now furnished with free caffeine loaded iced treats.
"So where's Tommy anyway? I didn't see him come in with you guys." She asked as Ethan got out his laptop and began fiddling away on it, much to the chagrin of the other two.
"Oh he said he'd swing by later, had some urgent meeting with Principal Randall or something." Conner shrugged offhandedly.
"He seemed thrilled." Kira added sardonically.
"Who wouldn't?" Ethan agreed, not without sarcasm. "Anyway, have you noticed she's been all over him lately, talking to him in the halls and popping in to see him during lessons?" Kim's brow furrowed at this though she wasn't sure why. Tommy was a grown man, he was allowed to have admirers- god knows he did when they were teenagers- and he was allowed to date, so why did the thought of some woman pawing after him make her blood boil?
"And, uh, has he…shown any interest back?" Kim asked trying to keep it light.
"Dr O? No way, Randall's totally not his type." Ethan shook his head.
"Yeah she's mean and kinda scary and she shouts a lot, and seems to love giving out detentions for the most stupid reasons." Conner nodded.
"Yeah, she gave me one on the first day for playing my guitar outside. I mean that's an arrestable offence these days isn't it?" Kira rolled her eyes. "She seriously needs a humour implant."
Kim was somewhat relieved, but was confused at her reaction in the first place.
"She sounds like any other head teacher at a high school, you're not supposed to like them." Kim remarked, taking Ethan's empty mug as he handed it to her.
"Yeah, but are you really supposed to hate them, that much?" Conner sighed rubbing his temples.
"I wonder what she wanted to talk to him about anyway…" Kira mused.
"Now Dr. Oliver, what I wanted to talk to you about is this-" Principal Randall walked around the desk to perch in front of it, looking down her nose at him disdainfully.
"-I've noticed, as well as some members of the faculty, that your work is beginning to slip, you seem to be preoccupied, as if your mind is…elsewhere. You rush off home as soon as the bell rings instead of staying to finish up paperwork or marking here at school. Sometimes you run off in the middle of the day to run 'urgent'… errands and we have to arrange substitutes at short notice to cover your classes. The school board would be most perplexed to hear of a member of our staff behaving in such a manner. "
Tommy felt much like a teenager again being chided by one of his teachers for not working hard enough and always being distracted, seemed like his Ranger duties and school never did mix.
"For a man of your standing Dr. Oliver it would be a great shame to have to discharge you for these offences, but as your know my duty is to the students, they must benefit from the best on offer, and currently, your work is not…the best." She leant forward to look him levelly in the eye and drew her lips up into an almost knowing smirk.
"Is there, anything distracting you lately Dr. Oliver? I'm sure we can find a way to remedy the situation, for instance, some of my sources have said to have seen you with a woman…- family member? Girlfriend? -that could be the source of your absentmindedness?"
Something about Randall struck Tommy as being not quite right at that moment, she seemed almost sinister staring him in the eye, he didn't want to talk about Kim with her but the rational part of his mind couldn't find the harm in telling the partial truth, he didn't want to get fired after all.
"With all due respect, Principal Randall but I don't think it's really any concern of yours or your 'sources' with whom I spend my time with out of school." He countered.
"Even if it was say, three students of yours who you seem to fraternise with quite frequently out of school? That would be a concern of not only mine, and the school board's, but their parents as well I would assume."
Tommy was trapped there, it was certainly not normal practise for teenagers to socialise with their teachers under normal circumstances, and even though theirs were not normal, he couldn't really explain that to Randall. It was almost as if she was threatening him here, an exchange of information which she seemed determined to pry from him.
"There is a woman," He conceded, and he could've sworn he saw a triumphant glint in the principal's cold eyes, "An old friend of mine from Angel Grove is visiting me for a while, Kimberly Hart, I believe you've spoken with her."
Randall smiled toothily but not altogether warmly. "Ms. Hart, interesting… yes I have corresponded with her in relation to a gymnastics display she will be putting on here on Friday morning, but of course you will already know about that. I suppose then I should thank you for letting her stay with you here Dr. Oliver, or we would not have been able to acquire her services." She nodded as if satisfied, standing up to signify the meeting was concluded.
"I'll make sure to devote more time to my duties here then Principal Randall and I'm sorry it came to you having to speak to me about my behaviour." Tommy responded tightly and stood too, shaking her offered hand which was as cold as her eyes. He nodded in farewell and left, feeling the need to be in a bright and lively atmosphere after the chill of the meeting, and feeling the need to check that Kim was alright.
"Hey Dr. O, did you have a productive meeting?" Ethan asked with a smirk as Tommy walked up to them at the table, his eyes instantly locking with Kim's and some sort of silent conversation passed between them for a second before Tommy nodded at sat down. The three teens looked puzzled at his somewhat distracted appearance but then their teacher brightened somewhat and nodded.
"Yeah I'm fine, just got a telling off from Principal Randall for skipping class and not staying behind after school to do paperwork." He explained with a smile.
"You're not gonna get fired are you Dr. O?" Kira asked in concern.
"No, not yet anyway." Tommy shook his head and smiled. "I just got a warning, that's all."
"Yeah well, excuse you for having other priorities than making students' lives miserable, unlike some people." Conner snorted, downing the rest of his cola.
Kim was hovering around them watching him with some concern, she knew from his manner that Tommy was troubled about something and although she hadn't needed to voice the question if everything was okay when he entered, his dismissive nod had not convinced her that it was.
"Don't worry about Randall, the only thing you three need to be concerned with is your schoolwork." Tommy said firmly.
"Yeah, that and evil space monsters." Ethan muttered and was swiftly shushed by both Conner and Kira who glanced furtively around them in case anyone had overheard.
Kim and Tommy both smiled at this, the newer Rangers seemed to have a harder time not talking about their extra-curricular activities and identities than the first team ever had, but that came with ease of much practise.
The Pink Ranger walked round to Tommy and crouched to be at his level so they could talk while the other three were busy bickering.
"Hey, are you really okay?" Kim asked in concern, her dark eyes searching his. Tommy broke eye contact and reached for the soda the three had ordered in anticipation of his arrival. He nodded as he looked back at her.
"Yeah, I'm fine, how was your day?"
Kim rolled her eyes at his blatant attempt to change the subject, Tommy never had been one of the most subtle guys but that was one of the reasons why she lov- liked, that's why she liked him. If he didn't want to talk about it she wouldn't push him in front of the teens but resolved to interrogate him later.
"Great, if tiring. This working girl routine is not for me, I certainly have a newfound respect for waitresses." She fiddled with the ends of her hair absently and then she looked back up to him again as she thought of something.
"Oh, hey, since the girls are coming down tomorrow afternoon I need a place to run through the routines with them, check we're all uptogether. Do you know any places with facilities for that, like a gym or youth centre or something around here that we could crash?"
Tommy furrowed his brow in thought and then shrugged. "Hey, why not use the gymnasium at the high-school? Since you're presenting it there anyway it probably wouldn't hurt to get your bearings, and it'll already have any equipment you need."
Kim brightened. "That's a great idea Tommy, thanks. But will it be alright with this Principal Randall, me and a mess of teenage girls bouncing all over their gym tomorrow afternoon?"
Conner and Ethan quieted from their conversations at Kim's question.
"Would this be teenage girls in tight figure hugging Lycra spandex?" the Red Ranger queried with a grin.
"You guys are pathetic." Kira rolled her eyes.
"Says the one who goes all mushy over Trent." Ethan muttered and Kira kicked him violently under the table. "Oooowch! I'm gonna be crippled by the age of eighteen!"
"Sure, I'll ask her, if you do it after classes finish I don't see why it'd be a problem, as long as you had a member of the faculty there for insurance, so if anything went wrong you couldn't sue the school or something." Tommy shrugged purposefully ignoring the three teens and Kim smiled in the way she always used to when she wanted something from him. He sighed and nodded with a smirk.
"Sure I'll cover for you, though I trust you not to cripple yourself and sue us anyway, it's been a while since I've seen you do your thing."
"Have you ever seen her 'do her thing' Dr O?" Conner asked suggestively and Kira and Ethan both smacked him on the back of the head. "Owch, we're supposed to be abusing Ethan not me!" He glared at Kira who shrugged nonchalantly.
"What can I say, I just like hitting you." She smirked and Conner rubbed his head indignantly.
"As much as I hate to break up this happy moment of bonding we have that paper on inspirational figures of the modern world to get done for Sociology tomorrow?" Ethan reminded the two of them.
"Shoot, I completely forgot about that." Conner groaned. "Well I need to hit the library, do you guys wanna ride?"
Ethan and Kira nodded an affirmative and grabbed their bags and waved farewell to their team mates.
"Hey Kim, I'd like to stop in to watch you practise tomorrow, if that's okay?" Kira asked quietly. Kim positively beamed and nodded.
"Sure Kira, that'd mean a lot to me." The elder Ranger smiled and squeezed the younger girl's shoulder, returning the goodbye waves as the three left.
"Pink and yellow sticking together, regardless of the age difference huh?" Tommy noted. "It's good that you're here, gives her another female to talk to besides Hayley, the two of you have more in common anyway."
Kim smiled and ran a hand through her hair. "I'm glad, she's a great kid…god that makes us sound so old." She lamented, plopping down into Ethan's vacated seat beside him.
"We are old," Tommy reminded her with a smirk, "compared to them anyway. They act like I'm the dinosaur."
Kim patted him on the shoulder comfortingly, "Aww, we're not old, we've just matured, like…cheese."
Tommy raised a brow at her. "Cheese?"
"It's a metaphor!" Kim countered defensively.
"Is it?" Tommy teased and Kim slapped him on the back of the head. "Quit it, you know I'm blonde."
"You have blonde highlights." Tommy retorted wryly.
"And you have a PhD, doesn't mean I tease you all the time!" She mock glared.
"Actually I think you do." Tommy replied, poking her in the stomach. She squealed and slapped at his hand.
"Quit it, you know I'm ticklish there!"
Tommy laughed, "I thought you were ticklish here- and here!" He poked her again at the side and on her leg and began a tickling attack. Kim shrieked and writhed away from him smacking at his hands and giggling involuntarily. Tommy tickled her ribs again and she retreated away, gasping for air until the next moment, with a squeak she was on the floor, having fallen off her chair.
Tommy gawped and jumped from his sear to check that she was alright. She was sprawled in a rather ungraceful heap on the floor, her cheeks flushed and her hair unruly.
"Guess you're still falling for me huh Beautiful?" He smirked, thinking she looked quite adorable in such an ungainly position. Then he realised what he had said and both of them froze. It had become unspoken law between them that no-one was to mention the 'B' word as it caused them both to think about times long since past and served as quite an unwanted reminder of what neither of them had. It seemed like an eternity though it could have only been a second, and Tommy wondered if Kim would cry- seeing as it reminded her of all her past 'mistakes' who had abused the word- but to his relief Kim just threw her dishcloth at him and glared indignantly but not altogether without humour.
"Hmph, are you just gonna stand there all day or are you gonna help me up you big pumpkin?" It broke the awkward silence between them and with a smile Tommy leant to grab her hand and pulled her back up to her feet where she promptly overbalanced and knocked against him, his hands shot up to steady her and she grinned and put a hand to her forehead in the classic damsel-in-distress pose as he held her.
"My hero!" She swooned breathily, batting her lashes at him.
The two of them both collapsed into a fit of giggles at this and staggered back to the table arm in arm. Kim passed Tommy his newly refilled soda and sneakily looked at him try not to look at her trying not to look at him. Tommy briefly realised that even if they were 'old'- or mature like... cheese- they were not too old to still act like teenagers. Their past seemed more like a comfort to him now than a hurt, with Kim's reveleations he had gained much closure and he enjoyed being close to her, even if they weren't a couple anymore. She had been his best friend, and in the years that seperated them he had missed that bond more than he cared to admit.
Kim herself wondered at his slip of the word Beautiful, she was getting used to breaking the awkward silences between them when one of them said something they didn't mean to. Or perhaps they did mean to... She realised with some surprise that she still felt comfortable with Tommy, even with their tumultuous history, the past that they shared made their break-up seem a lot less important. Even if he didn't want her as a lover, she still at least wanted to be friends with him as they had been, and as the days progressed it seemed to become easier and easier. Afterall, he saw her in the mornings when her hair stuck up off her head and her make-up was smeared over her face from when she had forgotten to take it off the night before, and he still liked her and wasn't grumpy with her. She found that quite an achievement on his part as she was not the best morning person.
They fell into a contemplative but friendly silence, both secretly missing and mourning the days of the Pink Princess and her White Knight.
If Elsa had been the type of cyborg to squeal now was the time she would have done so. But she wasn't. Instead she turned to Mesogog-perched regally on his throne- and smirked evilly. Mesogog saw the look on her face and his eyes glinted triumphantly, but he remained silent in expectation, wishing to hear the words and relish them. He let out a hiss of satisfaction as they were spoken.
"My lord, we've found her."
Sorry that it's a day late again guys, it was my Leavers Ball at school last night so I didn't get back until the wee hours of the morning so couldn't post! This chapter was another dialogue heavy action-lite filler chapter, but it does serve to set up for things to come. I also managed to stick in a little Tommy/Kim fluffiness in there for y'all, hope that was to your liking! Everything will start rolling next chapter, which will be rather long AND action heavy, with the return of an old friend!
Thanks for reading!