Trent waited outside of school the next day, waiting for Naomi to arrive. He had to step up his game in order to get Naomi to not only trust him unconditionally, but also give him any information she might have on the other three. After a while, he saw her walking up. She seemed distant. He put on a smile.
"Hey." He said. Naomi blinked and looked at him.
"Oh, hi." She said.
"You okay?" He asked. Naomi nodded.
"Yeah, I was just thinking."
"About?" He asked.
"Nothing important." She said. She went to step up the stairs to the building. Trent got up and followed her.
"Oh. Hey, what happened to you last night? You never showed up to Cyberspace." He said. Naomi went to her locker.
"I lost track of time. Sorry." She said, not wanting to tell him about her run in with Ethan. At that moment, Eric walked over to them.
"Hey, Naomi, can I talk to you for a second?" He asked. Naomi got her books out and shut her locker.
"Uh, sure, what's up?" She asked. Eric looked at Trent.
"I mean, alone." He said. Trent glared at him. Naomi looked at Trent.
"I'll see you in class." She said. Trent's jaw nearly dropped. How dare she tell him to go away?
"Sure." He said. He walked off. Naomi looked at Eric.
"Talk." She said.
"What's going on between you, my brother, Kira and Ethan?" He asked bluntly.
"What are you talking about?" She asked.
"You haven't talked to them in days. Ethan's totally miserable." He said. Naomi rolled her eyes and began walking to class. Eric followed.
"I bet he is." She muttered.
"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked. Naomi sighed and looked at him.
"Look, Eric, I really don't think this is any of your business, so butt out." She said. Eric winced.
"Harsh." He said.
"Well, mind your own beeswax and I won't be so harsh." She said as she walked off. Eric's eyebrows rose.
"All right then." Eric muttered.
----
Kimberly was in her office in the hospital. Tommy had given her a ride to work and Trini a ride to school. Kimberly hadn't been sure how long they were going to be in Reefside, so she had decided to just have Trini transferred to Reefside Elementary. At first she was uneasy about leaving her daughter in school alone now that she knew Anton was there, but Tommy eased her worries. The elementary school was right by the high school and Tommy swore that he'd pick Trini up as soon as school was over.
"Dr. Hart," came the voice of one of the nurses as she entered the room. Kimberly looked up.
"Yes?"
"You're next patient is here." She said. Kimberly nodded.
"All right, send the Carson's in." She said. The nurse nodded and stepped out. A young married couple entered in her place. Kimberly gave a warm smile and stood up. "Hi, have a seat." She said, indicating the two seats. The man helped his very pregnant wife ease into the chair before he himself sat down beside her. Kimberly sat down. She looked over at the couple and saw that they were a little worried. "Oh, I'm sorry. I should tell you why I called to make an appointment." She said.
"We were a little worried, we thought you had found something wrong with the baby." Mrs. Carson said.
"No, no. I just wanted to have you two come in so we could talk. As you know, your former doctor retired, and I was given his patients, and I just wanted to meet with you two so you're both comfortable with the change." Kimberly said. The couple sighed in relief. "I hope I didn't cause complications for you guys. I should've had the nurse clarify the reason for this meeting when she called."
"It's all right." Mr. Carson said. "We were actually a little surprise when Dr. Burns retired so suddenly." He said.
"If you don't mind us asking," Mrs. Carson asked, "How experienced are you with deliveries?"
"Honey." Mr. Carson muttered, seeing it as somewhat rude.
"Oh, Mr. Carson, don't worry, I know I may not seem the most experienced, but let me assure you, you're in good hands." Kimberly smiled. "I've preformed three deliveries, one of which was a set of triplets, and I went through my own pregnancy and delivery, so I understand any concerns you may have." Kimberly explained. She opened up the file that was in front of her. "Now, I understand that you are expecting twins, but do not want to know the gender of either babies." She said.
"That's right." Mr. Carson said. He held his wife hand softly and the two smiled. "We want to be surprised."
"Oh, I know the feeling." Kimberly smiled. "When I was pregnant with my daughter, my friends wanted to know the sex, you know, make buying gifts easier, but I wanted to be surprised." Kimberly said. She grabbed one of the framed pictures from her desk and turned it, presenting it to the couple.
"Oh, she's beautiful." Mrs. Carson said. "How old is she?"
"She's seven years old." Kimberly smiled, putting the picture back down. "Now, are there any questions you would like to ask?" Kimberly asked.
"Well, actually, yeah." Mr. Carson said. "See, we had been trying to get pregnant for a while and we took fertility drugs, at the suggestion of Dr. Burns. And after we found out we were having twins, he told us that that's most likely a result of the drugs. We were just wondering if we should worry about any other side-effects from the drugs after the kids are born."
"You mean if there's going to be any abnormalities?" Kimberly asked.
"Well, yes. I mean, we're not saying that we'd love our children any less but-"
"You just want to be prepared. I understand completely." Kimberly nodded. "I've done some research on the medicine you took and there hasn't been any incidents of those type of effects. So, you can rest assure that your children will be fine." She said. "We can perform a sonogram and run some tests to be 100 certain, if you'd like." She said.
"That would be wonderful." Mrs. Carson said. Kimberly smiled. She stood up, picking up their file.
"All right, come with me to the examination room." She said. The couple stood up and followed her. Watching Mrs. Carson made Kimberly remember back to when she was pregnant with Trini. She smiled softly. As much as it had been hard, she knew she'd never change having Trini in her life for anything in the world.
---
"I can't believe she said that." Kira said. Conner, Ethan, Tommy and herself were in Tommy's classroom during lunch hour. "She actually said that?"
"Kira, we've been over it enough times. She said it. She told me that if any of us come near her again, our secret's going to be out." Ethan sighed.
"I'm sure she didn't mean it." Conner said, comforting his friend.
"You didn't see her face when she said it. She meant it all right." Ethan sighed. Tommy sat back, watching his students talking about Naomi. He sighed.
"She's scared." Tommy said.
"What?" Kira asked.
"She's scared. That's why she said it. At least, that's what I figure." Tommy said.
"What, of us?" Ethan asked, worried that he had somehow scared her.
"Not necessarily of us. More like the things that we fight against." Tommy said. "She's probably afraid that by getting involved with us, she'll be made a target by the enemy."
"But Haley's involved, and she's perfectly safe." Conner said.
"She's safe because we make sure to keep her that way. In public, Haley's just someone who owns the local hangout. We don't acknowledge her as more then that because our enemies would know how much she means to us and they'd use that against us."
"How?" Ethan asked.
"Oh, I don't know, kidnap her and make us exchange the gems for her safe return." Tommy said.
"Man, you've really been dealing with supernatural threats for a while, huh?" Conner said.
"One of the perks of being a power ranger veteran." Tommy smirked. "But seriously, we keep our friends out of danger, not only for their sake, but for the world's sake, and our own. You don't want to have to be in a situation where you have to decide between the safety of the universe and the safety of a loved one. If that's not psychological warfare, I don't know what is."
"You're right." Kira said, loosing the anger she had for Naomi. "I guess in Naomi's situation, I can't exactly say I wouldn't do the same."
"But we'd never let anything bad happen to Naomi." Ethan protested. "I'd never let anything happen to her." He said softly. Tommy went over and put a hand on his shoulder.
"I know. Who knows, maybe after some time Naomi will change her mind? But for now, we need to respect her wishes." He said. Ethan shrugged Tommy's hand off.
"Yeah, well I don't see you distancing yourself from Kimberly, so don't tell me what to do." Ethan said harshly.
"Ethan." Kira said, reprimanding him. Tommy put a hand up; telling Kira it was all right.
"You're right, I have no right to tell you what to do. But Kim was a power ranger once; she knows the dangers associated with this. Naomi doesn't." Tommy pointed out. Ethan crossed his arms.
"Well, I'm not just going to sit back and let her think that this was a joke and that I meant to hurt her." Ethan said, walking out. Conner went to follow but Tommy stopped him.
"Let him cool down." Tommy suggested.
---
After school, Tommy was waiting outside of the elementary school for Trini. Kimberly had told Trini's teacher that Tommy was a friend and would be picking Trini up so the teachers didn't need to worry about him being some child abductor or something. Trini came out of the building and saw Tommy. She smiled and ran over.
"Hey." Tommy smiled, kneeling down to her level. He was a little surprised when she jumped in his arms and hugged him. This was something a child would do when greeting a parent, not the friend of a parent, especially one she had just met a few days before. Tommy smiled and hugged her back. He stood up and opened the door of his jeep. He took her backpack and put it in the back before he helped her into the car. He walked around and got in the driver's seat. "So, how was school?" He asked. Trini smiled.
"It was fun. Today, in recess.." She chatted along as Tommy pulled out of the parking lot.
---
Trent and Naomi were walking home together.
"So, what did Eric want?" Trent asked.
"Oh, he just wanted to check if I got the same answers on the math homework as he did." Naomi lied.
"But you're not in the same math class as him." Trent said. Naomi looked at him.
"Oh, I know…..But our teachers have similar lesson plans." She said, thinking of a quick excuse.
"Oh." Trent said, not believing her. They soon came to her house.
"Well, here we are. I'll see you tomorrow." Naomi said. Trent nodded.
"Yeah, see ya." He said. Naomi went to go inside.
"Naomi." He said, making her turn back. Time to go in for the kill. He thought to himself.
----
Later that night, Kira, Conner and Ethan were sitting in Cyberspace.
"Hey, where's Eric?" Kira asked. Conner shrugged.
"I don't know. He's been acting weird lately." Conner said. Ethan wasn't listening to them. He was too busy watching the doors, waiting to see if Naomi was going to come in. "Speaking of family," Conner said. "My mom wants you and your parents to come over for dinner this weekend." He said.
"Oh." Kira said.
"Yeah, it's so embarrassing and everything but she's insisting." Conner sighed. Kira smiled.
"It's okay. I'm sure it'll be fun." She said.
"If by fun you mean utter humiliation to me, sure." Conner said. Kira smiled and gave him a soft kiss on the lips. At that moment, Naomi walked into Cyberspace. Ethan sat up. Kira and Conner saw this. They watched Naomi go over to the counter and say something to Trent. They all figured she was giving him her order. She smiled at him and sat at an empty table.
"I'm going to go talk to her." Ethan announced.
"Ethan, don't. Remember what Dr. O said." Kira said.
"I don't care." He hissed as he got up and went over to her. "Naomi." He said. Naomi looked at him.
"Ethan, I-"
"I know, you said you didn't want us to come near you again, but we need to talk." He said. He sat down across from her. Naomi looked over to Trent, then back at Ethan. "Just give me a minute." He begged. Naomi glared at him.
"Fine." She said. Ethan sighed. He actually wasn't sure what to say if she let him talk, he was so sure she'd turn him away. "50 seconds." Naomi said.
"OK, ok. Look, I know you think that this was all some dirty trick. But, you've got to believe me, that's not it at all." He said.
"Really? Then what was it?" She asked. Ethan looked down. "40 seconds." She reminded him. Ethan sighed.
"I like you." He blurted out.
"What?"
"I like you, a lot. I…….I was just too scared to tell you. And then….When it looked like you liked…you know…him…I thought that maybe I could show you how I felt through him." He said. "I know, it was still a shitty thing to do but-" He looked up to see that the cold hard expression had left Naomi's face.
"You like me?" She asked. "Like……More then friend like?"
"Yeah." Ethan said. He could feel his heart about to explode, as if she was about to forgive him. Shows what you know, Dr. Oliver. He thought to himself.
"I….I just thought…." Naomi said. "I just thought you wanted an ego boost."
"Of course not." Ethan said. "Naomi-" Trent walked over to them.
"Hey, I just punched out." Trent said to Naomi. Ethan glared at him.
"Good for you, now do you mind? We're kind of talking." Ethan said. Trent returned the glare. The two got into a staring contest.
"He and I have plans." Naomi said. Ethan turned to her.
"What?" He asked.
"Yeah, we've got plans." Trent said with a sneer. Naomi got up.
"What sort of plans?" Ethan asked. Naomi looked at Trent.
"I'll meet you outside." She said. Trent looked hesitant, then looked at Naomi.
"Fine." He said, leaving. Ethan looked at Naomi.
"Again I ask, what sort of plans?" He asked. Naomi sighed.
"The date like type of plans." She said.
"A date?" Ethan choked out.
"Yeah. Trent and I are going on a date…" She said softly.
"Bu…..But…"
"We kissed this afternoon……and we sort of…….got together…"
"You mean…You're boyfriend and girlfriend?" Ethan asked, feeling his heart breaking. Naomi turned to leave. Ethan got up and gently grabbed her arm. "Bu..But what about us?" He asked.
"What do you mean, there is no us." She said softly. Ethan realized she had a point. He released her arm.
"You're right." He said. "Have fun." Naomi looked at his pained expression and felt horrible.
"I'm sorry. I……I'll see you around." She said as she left. Ethan watched her leave as he slowly sank down back to the chair.
"Something tells me that didn't go well." Conner said softly to Kira. They had watched the whole exchange.