Hello everyone!  First of all I want to offer my deepest apologies for taking so long to update.  Life's been pretty hectic latetly.  But, I would like to thank those of you that never forgot about me and continued to poke and prod me to continue the story.  It worked.  Enjoy!

Kimberly sat picking at the disgusting conglomeration of what the restaurant called food, on the plate in front of her. She honestly couldn't remember the last time she had been so bored. It was a beautiful night on the outside dinning porch at Piere's. The stars were twinkling bright, the moon was full, and there was a slight breeze in the air. The only problem was the desperate man sitting in front of her whose attempts to impress her this evening didn't go unnoticed, but were not at all impressive in Kimberly's eyes.

'What in the world was I thinking?' asked Kimberly herself. 'Making Tommy jealous really was not worth all this.' She pictured the look on his face back at the Youth Center when she accepted Skull's invitation for this evening. 'On second thought maybe it was worth it.'

"Kimberly? Kimberly?"

"Huh, what?" she asked as Eugene Skullovich pulled her out of her thoughts.

"Did you hear what I said?"

'No, and I don't care,' she thought to herself. "Um, I'm sorry I'm just a little distracted this evening is all."

Skull looked perturbed. "It's Tommy isn't it?" there was a silence. "Man that guys got a heck of a lot of nerve coming back here like that after all this time." Skull's rage was starting to build.

"No Skull, just calm down," said Kimberly rolling her eyes. "It has nothing to do with Tommy," she tried to think of another excuse. "I was thinking about tomorrow, since it's Monday and all. I was just thinking about a student that's been giving me problems."

Skull was by no means convinced, "Nice try Kim but I know you better than that. You still love him don't you?" He definitely caught Kimberly off guard with that one.

"What?" she asked as her eyes grew wide.

"Come on Kim, you haven't heard a word I've said all night. Here I am trying my best to impress you and you have not once even acknowledged any of it." Skull sank back in his chair crossing his arms over his chest.

He was right of course; Tommy had not escaped her mind for even a minute since their encounter this morning. After Goldar's attack Tommy seemed somehow relieved and relaxed. The rest of their walk to her house was truly like old times. He had shared with her his history from the time he left Angel Grove up until now. He even mentioned the woman from the Cyber Café.

Her name was Haley and she was an MIT graduate. He called her a friend but Kimberly couldn't help but wonder if he was actually telling the truth. She was however very much involved in the creation of the Dino Thunder Rangers, which meant that she knew everything about him, and about high school. At first Kimberly became angry when Tommy told her. How could he have possibly trusted anyone with that information? But as he elaborated more and more on his reasoning she realized that he had done it out of desperation. Tommy had never ever wanted to make trouble for as long as Kimberly had known him. All he wanted to do was help people and this planet. Haley was his only option. But, Kimberly still wasn't dropping the whole girlfriend thing because that hug back at the Cyber Café was pretty friendly.

Tommy also seemed very interested in her life since they last saw each other. She gave him the run down about college and teaching at Angel Grove High. The whole time she was fearing that he would question her about the letter and about the guy whom she had supposedly left him for. But he never brought it up. In fact he did not even once question her about other relationships.

When they finally reached her front door they both just kind of said their good-byes, and Tommy turned around and left just like that. Neither one of them brought up the idea of seeing each other again or even getting together one last time before Tommy went back to Reefside. It was kind of sad really, Kimberly knew that there was no reason for her to continue the torturous game any longer because she had her orders, and they were to destroy Tommy Oliver. She could already feel her self going soft and that just was not acceptable right now. But, she did find it odd that Tommy made no efforts to keep in contact with her. In a way she was disappointed because after seeing the way he looked at her even after all this time, a small part of her believed that he still had feelings for her. But, she must have been mistaken.

"You're right Skull," Kimberly said finally responding to his question, "I was thinking about Tommy," she paused. "Do you actually think a university would be dumb enough to give him a doctorate?"

Back in Reefside Dr. Oliver fumbled with his keys in the dark trying to decipher which one opened his front door. Finally finding a match he leaned into the door as he turned the knob. As he passed from the darkness of the outside into the darkness of the inside he realized just how unfamiliar this home was to him. Going back to Angel Grove had definitely taken its toll on him emotionally and judging by his heavy eyelids it had taken a toll on him physically.

After finding Kimberly and talking with her he had reached the conclusion that she was not the evil Pink Ranger. And as he walked away from her house he was feeling pretty good about how everything had panned out. Kimberly was okay and for the first time he realized that he was going to be okay too. Their lives were different now and just as everything must end, so did they.

He took a deep breath as he sat down his luggage and flipped on the light switch.

"Hey," he heard a groggy female voice say.

He turned and looked at the couch, it was Haley and she had been asleep.

"How long have you been here?" he asked concerned that she was unnecessarily stressing herself out.

"Since this morning. After you called me and told me you were on your way home I figured I'd check things out just to be on the safe side. It's been over twenty four hours since the Pink Ranger has attacked."

"That's true isn't it," stated Tommy as he sat down next to her. "I wonder what her plan is?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," replied Haley. "So, how'd things go in Angel-," she caught her self, "I mean wherever it was you were?"

Tommy glared at her, "I can't believe you used the computer to track me down after I specifically told you that it was in everybody's best interest that you not know where I was going."

"I'm sorry Tommy," Haley whined, "but I couldn't help myself I was worried about you."

"Well, as much as I appreciate your concern I don't appreciate you undermining me!" he banged his fist on the coffee table, knocking some magazines onto the floor.

Haley looked shocked at his outburst, but she quickly went on the defensive, "Don't you dare raise your voice at me Tommy Oliver because I spent these past two days worried sick about you. And whether you like it or not I am always going to be watching your back, because I care so much about you!"

Tommy immediately realized he was being much too harsh on the woman. "Haley, I'm sorry," he pleaded, "I guess this whole situation has just been so stressful for me. It wasn't exactly easy for me to go back to Angel Grove, and it especially wasn't easy for me to investigate the possibility that the love of my life may have been that horrible creature that nearly destroyed us yesterday."

Haley was silent. "Oh Tommy, I didn't realize it was Kimberly that you went to find. I'm sorry sweetie, we don't have to talk about it anymore if you don't want to."

"No it's fine," said Tommy softly, "it might do me some good to get things off my chest." He took a deep breath, "Luckily Kimberly is not the Pink Ranger. When I finally found her she said and did some things that I have to admit were rather odd. But, looking back on it I probably did the same thing. It was just so weird for us to be together again and there was just so much tension."

Haley rubbed her hand up and down his back offering her support, "Go on."

"Well, I guess the hardest part was realizing that Kimberly and I are just two totally different people and we could never mean anything to each other like we did before." He looked sad.

It was then that Haley turned to him and gathered the hurt and wounded man into her arms.

Flying high above the Earth in Serpentera II was the evil and malicious Lord Zedd and his wife Rita Repulsa who had just caught the end of Tommy's outburst.

"Aw, poor Tommy dear," giggled Rita thrilled at the Black Ranger's sorrow.

Lord Zedd and Goldar were too busy laughing to offer a response.

"Zeddy," yelled Rita over the laughter, "don't you think right now would be an excellent time to launch another attack? The Black Ranger is so low I'd feel sorry for him if I didn't despise him so much."

"No my dear wife," responded Lord Zedd, "although it may seem like an excellent time to wound the already wounded I have an even better idea." He turned to his servant, "Goldar, bring me my Pink Ranger."