THE REASON - Part Twelve: Another Chance
Summary: Tommy and Kim's relationship is slowly improving, but there are still bumps in the road. Can he forgive and move on?
Disclaimer: Power Rangers belongs and will always belong to Saban Entertainment, BVS Entertainment Inc., Renaissance Atlantic Entertainment, Village Roadshow KP Producations Limited, ABC Kids, ABC Family and Disney. And to all other affiliates with the Power Rangers concept (ie. Sentai–the original Power Rangers). And, yes, before I forget, the main title of the story does tie in with Hoobastank's "The Reason". Gotta give you guys credit, so don't sue me, please!
"I want to accept you, truly I do. But how can I trust you when I feel you can't tell me the whole truth now?" –Eclyptyk Neo
Tommy dropped his head, forcing out another angered breath as Ethan finally left the room. Not that he was contributing to the anger inside his teacher, he just couldn't get rid of all this mayhem. He turned away, breaking the hold Kim had on him, trying to control the anger. And it wasn't going to go anywhere, anyways.
He let out another breath, and threw his clenched sprained hand into the air, hoping to hit something to ease the pain. It came crashing down on a block from Kim that had him wincing in pain. Call out in pain as the second period bell rang. The consistency in the block made the blow that much more painful, next to the surging pain that trailed behind after the impact.
Tommy groaned, as his knees weakened. Kim cradled his hand in her own, massaging it, hoping to relay the pain in it. "What the hell did you do that for? Damn! That hurted!"
"It's a reaction. Instinct." she answered. "Don't tell me you lost that touch."
He shook his head, pulling his hand away. "I didn't forget. But was that necessary?"
"Was that cold-hearted attitude toward your student necessary?" she countered.
He huffed retreating back to his desk to take a seat. "You have no idea what I've been through in the past few years, Kim."
"So, tell me. I don't plan on leaving anytime soon." Kim took a stool and set it before him, looking at him intently and with great concern. "If you're mad, just let it out. It wouldn't kill you to let that out."
He covered his eyes, groaning. "Oh no. Mad? I'm more than just mad. I'm aching inside. I'm crying. I'm in pain. I never felt so betrayed." He looked at her, revealing eyes intent on crying, but no tears could fall. "How could you do that to me, Kim?! Normal people do it over the phone! Real people do it in person! But you did it in a letter! In a letter, and that was the last contact we ever really had with each other. I didn't even truly recognize you when Divatox put you on that spell. I was looking at a stranger. You were a stranger to me. And right now, I feel like it all over again. I'm looking and talking to someone I don't even know."
"How could you say that, Tommy?" she was shaken by his last comment. "I opened you up.."
"Yeah, in high school. For three years, but not that last year of it." he scoffed, disgusted at her trying to put blame on him. "Not senior year. And then you assume that Kat would be the one to replace you in my heart? Was that it? That's what everyone was telling you. Right? Adam, Rocky and Billy. That's what they were saying. And you're right, I thought about that. Perhaps, even do her like I couldn't do you. Yeah. That was it. That's what you thought." he got to his feet, pushing his words harder into her mind. Making them drill in her mind like a nightmare. "Tell me, that's what you thought, damn it! Tell me!"
"I don't know." she admitted.
"You don't know?!" he spat. "Bullshit! Tell me, Kim. Tell me, damn it!"
"I don't know!" she cried looking at him with tear-jerking eyes. "Okay, Tommy? I don't know!"
Tommy chuckled with a tinge of amusement. "Let the weak fall at the hands of the strong and powerful for protection and answers. Let them live in pain for their mistakes before the one they have hurt the most."
"No. No." she cried, dropping her head to her knees.
He eased closer to her ear, making sure she would hear every word he had to say. Let her hear what pain he had left in his heart. "Let them see what it was like to fight for it. Let them see the darkness left in the heart. Let them go into the world alone without ever finding out the one they found was in fact true love, but had only one chance to capture their heart."
She shook her head, trying to fight his words. She never heard him speak in such a poetic, yet deep way. And the way it was said held such truth and anger, with no hesitation to think of what came next. It was music to her ears. But it was painful. She looked up, cleared her tears, and looked at him. Saw the distance, again. Saw how much she had to work with. "Please, Tommy. Let me explain."
"What is there to explain?" he glared at her. He was caught in a shadow, and the person before the one person he loved most was someone else. Was another side of him. Felt like his evil green ranger self. But these emotions were real without the use of a spell. It was apart of the gaping hole in his heart. "That you played some sick, twisted game to test my loyalty to you. Prove it wrong in every respect and dump me on the curb like yesterday's garbage? Don't tell me that I was never at all loyal to you. To us. To you. To myself. I was that prince on a white tiger. Your fairy tale come true. But now, there is nothing. I feel nothing!"
"No. You can't possibly mean that." she forced out. "I know you feel something, Tommy. I know you far too well to let you go and deny what you feel in your heart. I didn't want to write that letter. But I had no choice."
"No choice to break up with me when I had just came down that Christmas to see you?" he remembered those memories like it was yesterday. "Don't tell me that, Kim. It was your loyalty I should have been testing, not you testing mine. I had a duty to protect the world, and you went off to follow your dreams...."
"Don't put all the blame on me," she countered. "You encouraged me to go. I went because it would have made you happy to make me fulfill my dream."
"I would have been happy either way. And don' t think that just because I was welcoming Kat into the team was also an invite to come into my arms as well. I mean, I won't lie to you. She was beautiful. She was intelligent. I did date her, and I admit, I did in fact sleep with her. But that was after we had broken up. After I could really push you out of my life. But it didn't last. College came in the way, so it was broken off. But we were cool with it, and we still talk. But you. You. You of all people, who had given me so much more, finds it the best way to break it off in a letter. And then the silence. That was it. We stopped talking until now. What makes this so much more different?"
She could only shrug, looking down in guilt. "I thought things would be different. Give us some time to heal after Trini's death. After your loss with David. But also because I couldn't stop denying that I still loved and cared for you like you never left my side. You gave me so much, Tommy. And right now, I could really use a friend that seems to have you written all over it." Tommy shook his head. He looked away, as the anger began to grow again. He slammed his fist into the desk. BAM! The impact felt like a thunderstorm shook the entire room.
He looked back at her shaken form. "What do you want, Kim?"
"I want closure, Tommy!" she said clearly and directly, making him flinch. She brushed a set of hair out of her face, and met his intense gaze. "I want closure. I want things to be okay with us again. I want to talk to you about how my day was. I can't go one another day thinking about the consequences of my mistakes. But I want to fix that. I want to re- establish our friendship. I want to re-create another circle in our relationship."
At the sound of those words, they never seemed to hit Tommy any harder. He had been putting up the act for so long. In the stages of denial about ever falling in love again. He wanted to get back with her as much as she wanted to wake up with him at her side. He missed her. He wanted to hold her. He wanted to put the past in the past, and look for the future. He just didn't expect her to make that surprise visit now. Not in the prime of his teaching. Not after nearly a year of his research lost. Not in the act of trying to protect the world from a dino-brained nut-head determined to bring back the prime of the dinosaurs. Not when he was back in uniform. "Damn it, Kim. You really got me strung on a string, don't you?"
"Don't tell me you don't have anything to say about this? C'mon. I know you miss talking to me, Tommy. Just as I miss talking to you. We had a great friendship."
"But an even better relationship." Tommy stated under his breath.
She looked at him, with a light smile. She heard that last comment. She met him briefly in the eyes. There was still a barrier there to keep him behind closed doors. But he was starting to open up. She could tell. She had many mixed and confused emotions inside, but she wasn't going to give up. "So, does that give me a chance to work this out?"
"Maybe. I need some time to think it over, first."
"That's all I ask. For now." she held out her hands for a hug.
He held up a finger, easing closer to her. "For now? No. That could be for a long while. Perhaps, forever. Look, Kim, just because you decided to come back into my life, doesn't mean that I like the idea all too well. Hell, I could give you twenty chances to make things better. Or I could give you one. You caught me at a bad time, and right now, it's something I really don't want to deal with. But it's too late to put that in the past. You're here, and now you want to heal. But be careful how you approach it."
"Are you gonna continue to find every defense to save your ass, or are you gonna come over here and give me a hug?" she gestured.
"A hug?" he shook his head. "Nuh-uh. You gotta earn that."
She stomped in frustration for his gesture, but figured it would have to do. She took his hand in a firm handshake. "Fine. A handshake. Kimberly Hart. And you are?"
He smiled lightly, reliving a sense of deja vu. "Dr. Thomas Oliver."
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Dr. Oliver."
"And is you, Ms. Hart."
BRING!
They jumped at the interruption, but relaxed realizing it was the bell.
Period 3. Already? Does time go that fast? He squinted at the clock with some frustration.
"Well, I should head out." Kim looked at the door. "It may not be safe to have a former girlfriend in the room while you teach."
"But I thought you wanted to see how I taught."
"Yeah. But I would be too much of a distraction. So, I'll see you later?"
"Um...sure." he nodded, looking down. "I'll call you after school. Maybe we can do something."
She smiled warmly. "I'd really like that, Tommy."
He nodded, smiling again. "Well, all right. So, I'll see you later."
And the next few minutes slowed down.
Kim walked up to him, letting her breath tease him briefly before making the move to lay a kiss on his cheek. The sudden physical contact made Tommy's heart melt. The breath sent cold chills down his spine. It was a gentle gesture. A kind gesture. But a tease for things to come. The look in her eyes, met with the alarm in his own had him pondering what was going on in that little scandalous mind of hers. He couldn't move, as she turned away, her hair brushing against him as she walked away. His eyes never left her as she disappeared out of the room, the radiant beauty and warmth in that kiss demolished.
He never felt like that in forever. He could remember the same feeling he had felt when they shared their first kiss back in high school. By the lake when he had anxiously asked her to the school dance. Back when he gave up his powers as the green power ranger to ensure that Rita wouldn't get a hold of it. But at that moment of the kiss, nothing else mattered. Only Kim in his arms.
Now, for the brief moment. Nothing mattered, but Kim. He wanted to hold her close in his arms. He never felt so afraid in his entire life. He just couldn't do it. He still had all this anger left in his heart for the loss she had with him in the past.
He returned to his seat, replacing his glasses and collapsing on his chair with a blank stare. This is going to be a long day.
To be continued........
A/N: Okay, so Tommy is playin' it a little harder than he needs to. He loves Kim. She loves him. It's that simple. But really it isn't when he's been through a lot of hardship in the past few years. Will Kim be able to comfort him like she had done in the past? Stay tuned. And give me a few more chapters before "White Thunder" begins. This just has to be put into place before that, all right? Later Daze.
Summary: Tommy and Kim's relationship is slowly improving, but there are still bumps in the road. Can he forgive and move on?
Disclaimer: Power Rangers belongs and will always belong to Saban Entertainment, BVS Entertainment Inc., Renaissance Atlantic Entertainment, Village Roadshow KP Producations Limited, ABC Kids, ABC Family and Disney. And to all other affiliates with the Power Rangers concept (ie. Sentai–the original Power Rangers). And, yes, before I forget, the main title of the story does tie in with Hoobastank's "The Reason". Gotta give you guys credit, so don't sue me, please!
"I want to accept you, truly I do. But how can I trust you when I feel you can't tell me the whole truth now?" –Eclyptyk Neo
Tommy dropped his head, forcing out another angered breath as Ethan finally left the room. Not that he was contributing to the anger inside his teacher, he just couldn't get rid of all this mayhem. He turned away, breaking the hold Kim had on him, trying to control the anger. And it wasn't going to go anywhere, anyways.
He let out another breath, and threw his clenched sprained hand into the air, hoping to hit something to ease the pain. It came crashing down on a block from Kim that had him wincing in pain. Call out in pain as the second period bell rang. The consistency in the block made the blow that much more painful, next to the surging pain that trailed behind after the impact.
Tommy groaned, as his knees weakened. Kim cradled his hand in her own, massaging it, hoping to relay the pain in it. "What the hell did you do that for? Damn! That hurted!"
"It's a reaction. Instinct." she answered. "Don't tell me you lost that touch."
He shook his head, pulling his hand away. "I didn't forget. But was that necessary?"
"Was that cold-hearted attitude toward your student necessary?" she countered.
He huffed retreating back to his desk to take a seat. "You have no idea what I've been through in the past few years, Kim."
"So, tell me. I don't plan on leaving anytime soon." Kim took a stool and set it before him, looking at him intently and with great concern. "If you're mad, just let it out. It wouldn't kill you to let that out."
He covered his eyes, groaning. "Oh no. Mad? I'm more than just mad. I'm aching inside. I'm crying. I'm in pain. I never felt so betrayed." He looked at her, revealing eyes intent on crying, but no tears could fall. "How could you do that to me, Kim?! Normal people do it over the phone! Real people do it in person! But you did it in a letter! In a letter, and that was the last contact we ever really had with each other. I didn't even truly recognize you when Divatox put you on that spell. I was looking at a stranger. You were a stranger to me. And right now, I feel like it all over again. I'm looking and talking to someone I don't even know."
"How could you say that, Tommy?" she was shaken by his last comment. "I opened you up.."
"Yeah, in high school. For three years, but not that last year of it." he scoffed, disgusted at her trying to put blame on him. "Not senior year. And then you assume that Kat would be the one to replace you in my heart? Was that it? That's what everyone was telling you. Right? Adam, Rocky and Billy. That's what they were saying. And you're right, I thought about that. Perhaps, even do her like I couldn't do you. Yeah. That was it. That's what you thought." he got to his feet, pushing his words harder into her mind. Making them drill in her mind like a nightmare. "Tell me, that's what you thought, damn it! Tell me!"
"I don't know." she admitted.
"You don't know?!" he spat. "Bullshit! Tell me, Kim. Tell me, damn it!"
"I don't know!" she cried looking at him with tear-jerking eyes. "Okay, Tommy? I don't know!"
Tommy chuckled with a tinge of amusement. "Let the weak fall at the hands of the strong and powerful for protection and answers. Let them live in pain for their mistakes before the one they have hurt the most."
"No. No." she cried, dropping her head to her knees.
He eased closer to her ear, making sure she would hear every word he had to say. Let her hear what pain he had left in his heart. "Let them see what it was like to fight for it. Let them see the darkness left in the heart. Let them go into the world alone without ever finding out the one they found was in fact true love, but had only one chance to capture their heart."
She shook her head, trying to fight his words. She never heard him speak in such a poetic, yet deep way. And the way it was said held such truth and anger, with no hesitation to think of what came next. It was music to her ears. But it was painful. She looked up, cleared her tears, and looked at him. Saw the distance, again. Saw how much she had to work with. "Please, Tommy. Let me explain."
"What is there to explain?" he glared at her. He was caught in a shadow, and the person before the one person he loved most was someone else. Was another side of him. Felt like his evil green ranger self. But these emotions were real without the use of a spell. It was apart of the gaping hole in his heart. "That you played some sick, twisted game to test my loyalty to you. Prove it wrong in every respect and dump me on the curb like yesterday's garbage? Don't tell me that I was never at all loyal to you. To us. To you. To myself. I was that prince on a white tiger. Your fairy tale come true. But now, there is nothing. I feel nothing!"
"No. You can't possibly mean that." she forced out. "I know you feel something, Tommy. I know you far too well to let you go and deny what you feel in your heart. I didn't want to write that letter. But I had no choice."
"No choice to break up with me when I had just came down that Christmas to see you?" he remembered those memories like it was yesterday. "Don't tell me that, Kim. It was your loyalty I should have been testing, not you testing mine. I had a duty to protect the world, and you went off to follow your dreams...."
"Don't put all the blame on me," she countered. "You encouraged me to go. I went because it would have made you happy to make me fulfill my dream."
"I would have been happy either way. And don' t think that just because I was welcoming Kat into the team was also an invite to come into my arms as well. I mean, I won't lie to you. She was beautiful. She was intelligent. I did date her, and I admit, I did in fact sleep with her. But that was after we had broken up. After I could really push you out of my life. But it didn't last. College came in the way, so it was broken off. But we were cool with it, and we still talk. But you. You. You of all people, who had given me so much more, finds it the best way to break it off in a letter. And then the silence. That was it. We stopped talking until now. What makes this so much more different?"
She could only shrug, looking down in guilt. "I thought things would be different. Give us some time to heal after Trini's death. After your loss with David. But also because I couldn't stop denying that I still loved and cared for you like you never left my side. You gave me so much, Tommy. And right now, I could really use a friend that seems to have you written all over it." Tommy shook his head. He looked away, as the anger began to grow again. He slammed his fist into the desk. BAM! The impact felt like a thunderstorm shook the entire room.
He looked back at her shaken form. "What do you want, Kim?"
"I want closure, Tommy!" she said clearly and directly, making him flinch. She brushed a set of hair out of her face, and met his intense gaze. "I want closure. I want things to be okay with us again. I want to talk to you about how my day was. I can't go one another day thinking about the consequences of my mistakes. But I want to fix that. I want to re- establish our friendship. I want to re-create another circle in our relationship."
At the sound of those words, they never seemed to hit Tommy any harder. He had been putting up the act for so long. In the stages of denial about ever falling in love again. He wanted to get back with her as much as she wanted to wake up with him at her side. He missed her. He wanted to hold her. He wanted to put the past in the past, and look for the future. He just didn't expect her to make that surprise visit now. Not in the prime of his teaching. Not after nearly a year of his research lost. Not in the act of trying to protect the world from a dino-brained nut-head determined to bring back the prime of the dinosaurs. Not when he was back in uniform. "Damn it, Kim. You really got me strung on a string, don't you?"
"Don't tell me you don't have anything to say about this? C'mon. I know you miss talking to me, Tommy. Just as I miss talking to you. We had a great friendship."
"But an even better relationship." Tommy stated under his breath.
She looked at him, with a light smile. She heard that last comment. She met him briefly in the eyes. There was still a barrier there to keep him behind closed doors. But he was starting to open up. She could tell. She had many mixed and confused emotions inside, but she wasn't going to give up. "So, does that give me a chance to work this out?"
"Maybe. I need some time to think it over, first."
"That's all I ask. For now." she held out her hands for a hug.
He held up a finger, easing closer to her. "For now? No. That could be for a long while. Perhaps, forever. Look, Kim, just because you decided to come back into my life, doesn't mean that I like the idea all too well. Hell, I could give you twenty chances to make things better. Or I could give you one. You caught me at a bad time, and right now, it's something I really don't want to deal with. But it's too late to put that in the past. You're here, and now you want to heal. But be careful how you approach it."
"Are you gonna continue to find every defense to save your ass, or are you gonna come over here and give me a hug?" she gestured.
"A hug?" he shook his head. "Nuh-uh. You gotta earn that."
She stomped in frustration for his gesture, but figured it would have to do. She took his hand in a firm handshake. "Fine. A handshake. Kimberly Hart. And you are?"
He smiled lightly, reliving a sense of deja vu. "Dr. Thomas Oliver."
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Dr. Oliver."
"And is you, Ms. Hart."
BRING!
They jumped at the interruption, but relaxed realizing it was the bell.
Period 3. Already? Does time go that fast? He squinted at the clock with some frustration.
"Well, I should head out." Kim looked at the door. "It may not be safe to have a former girlfriend in the room while you teach."
"But I thought you wanted to see how I taught."
"Yeah. But I would be too much of a distraction. So, I'll see you later?"
"Um...sure." he nodded, looking down. "I'll call you after school. Maybe we can do something."
She smiled warmly. "I'd really like that, Tommy."
He nodded, smiling again. "Well, all right. So, I'll see you later."
And the next few minutes slowed down.
Kim walked up to him, letting her breath tease him briefly before making the move to lay a kiss on his cheek. The sudden physical contact made Tommy's heart melt. The breath sent cold chills down his spine. It was a gentle gesture. A kind gesture. But a tease for things to come. The look in her eyes, met with the alarm in his own had him pondering what was going on in that little scandalous mind of hers. He couldn't move, as she turned away, her hair brushing against him as she walked away. His eyes never left her as she disappeared out of the room, the radiant beauty and warmth in that kiss demolished.
He never felt like that in forever. He could remember the same feeling he had felt when they shared their first kiss back in high school. By the lake when he had anxiously asked her to the school dance. Back when he gave up his powers as the green power ranger to ensure that Rita wouldn't get a hold of it. But at that moment of the kiss, nothing else mattered. Only Kim in his arms.
Now, for the brief moment. Nothing mattered, but Kim. He wanted to hold her close in his arms. He never felt so afraid in his entire life. He just couldn't do it. He still had all this anger left in his heart for the loss she had with him in the past.
He returned to his seat, replacing his glasses and collapsing on his chair with a blank stare. This is going to be a long day.
To be continued........
A/N: Okay, so Tommy is playin' it a little harder than he needs to. He loves Kim. She loves him. It's that simple. But really it isn't when he's been through a lot of hardship in the past few years. Will Kim be able to comfort him like she had done in the past? Stay tuned. And give me a few more chapters before "White Thunder" begins. This just has to be put into place before that, all right? Later Daze.