Tommy lay on a bed asleep in the dino cave. Hayley was running scans over him, checking to make sure he was okay. Kimberly sat close to Tommy's side, keeping her eyes intent on him. So this is what he's been up to. It had been so long since she had last seen him, so much had changed; things she never thought would happen, had. Tommy's hair was cut very short, he was a high school science teacher, and somewhere down the line, Tommy had just disappeared off the face of the Earth, losing contact with everyone he ever knew.
No one had heard from him in a while, the last time anyone from Tommy's past had contact with him was when Tommy had called Jason out of the blue, for the mission on the moon. And after it was over, that was the last Jason had seen or heard from Tommy. How had that happened? We all used to be so close.
Hayley set the scanner down on the counter. Eric and the teens stared at her. "He's going to be just fine. All he needs is some rest."
The teens all gave a sigh of relief.
Kim stared over at the teens, Conner, Kira, Ethan and Trent. In some ways they reminded her of the time she and her friends had been rangers. Jason, Billy, Trini, Tommy, and later on Rocky, Aisha and Adam had entered their lives, following Kat. That seemed so long ago now.
A lot had happened since then. Jason was engaged to be married to Emily, his high school sweetheart. Billy was living on another planet; every so often they heard from him. Trini had died in a car accident a few years ago; everyone had shown up for the funeral, except for Tommy. Did he even know? Rocky was married with a couple of kids. Aisha was still in Africa working as a vet, taking care of the sick animals with her family. And last, Kim knew Adam was in Texas running a martial arts school, with his long time girlfriend Tanya.
How had it come to this? She knew what everyone else had been up to. She even knew what Kat had been doing, she had been in England the last few years dancing for plays and ballets. How did this happen? Why is it that no one knew what Tommy had been up to? But now Kim knew, hearing things from Hayley and kids. What they knew; how it came to be that Tommy was a ranger again, why they were too, why Hayley knew everything about the past rangers.
"Are you sure, Hayley? I mean it looked like it was a pretty hard hit he had taken….What if……" Conner couldn't even finish. But they all knew where he was going. What if they lost Tommy, just like they lost Wes?
Kim sighed. She had learned from the last few hours sitting there about Wes. She had heard a little bit about Wes from Jason. He seemed like a nice all around guy. "He'll make it. He's been through worse," she told them.
And she would know. She had once fought alongside him, saving the world from destruction.
"Kimberly's right, guys. Don't worry. He's going to be just fine. Now you four should head home," ordered Hayley, knowing the four would stick around all day with their heads hanging low until Tommy woke up.
Reluctantly the teens gave in to Hayley's orders. They walked up to Kim, saying their goodbyes.
"It was really nice to meet you, Kimberly," said Kira as she shook the former pink ranger's hand.
"Yeah, it's an honor to meet another ranger just as great as Tommy," stated Trent.
Kim had to grin at that. She had never seen herself as good as Tommy.
"Well, it was nice meeting you. Oh, before I forget," Ethan pulled out an envelope from his pocket and handed it to Kim. "Here's your plane ticket, it leaves for Florida tomorrow night around 7:00."
"Thanks," replied Kim. An hour ago she had called her boyfriend back in Florida, explaining to him in simple terms what had happened to her. Saying that some guy had kidnapped her and she ended up in California, it wasn't easy, but she got him to believe it.
"It was nice to meet you. I hope you have a safe flight," said Conner softly. It was almost close to a week since Wes was in that fire and Conner still hadn't gotten over it. No one had, but he had taken it pretty hard.
"It was nice to meet all of you, too. I'm glad to know the tradition is being carried on," smiled Kim.
The teens smiled and then headed upstairs to go home.
Eric for a long moment stared at Tommy's still form. It hadn't even been a week and they had come close to losing another one of their own. He knew Tommy was going to be okay, but he couldn't help but think that things could have been worse. What if Zeltrax had killed Tommy? What would happen then? What would become of the teens, who looked up to Tommy, worshiped the ground he walked on. Eric wasn't sure, if it ever came down to it, that he could replace Tommy.
His eyes then fell on Kimberly. The Kimberly Jason had talked about, the one who Tommy had been in love with, maybe still was. She was everything and more than Jason had said she was. Beautiful, kind, full of life and bright spirited. No wonder Tommy had such a hard time getting over her, and according to Hayley he never did.
Eric turned around, looking over at Hayley who was working on the computer. He laughed to himself. How had it come down to them falling for each other? From the moment they saw each other they were on the brink of tearing each other apart and then somehow they ended up liking each other, maybe even loving each other. How did that happen? How had it gone from hating each other to loving each other? Was this what it was like for Wes and Jen? The two in the beginning had always gotten into arguments and then one day something clicked and they were falling in love.
Few hours later…
Kim was still by Tommy's side, watching him sleep. It had been a couple of hours since Eric and Hayley had left and left their numbers with Kim, just in case anything happened.
Tommy's eyes slowly opened. At first everything was blurry and confusing, but slowly everything came back to him. Kim, the fight with Zeltrax, everything. That's when he saw Kim looking down at him. She was all the more beautiful than he remembered.
"Hey tough guy, welcome back."
"I take it you know everything," stated Tommy, as he sat up. He figured since he was in the dino cave, the others must have shown up and brought him here and from them Kim must have learned everything, well, almost everything. Tommy sighed, there were things not even Hayley or the kids knew.
"Pretty much." Kim sighed, wondering why Tommy had never contacted anyone, telling them what was up. She knew that he knew they would have helped in any way they could. "Why didn't you contact any of us? Jason has been trying to get a hold of you for the last year and half."
Tommy sighed. "He found me, but…I haven't returned his call and I don't intend to." He got off the bed and started to head over to the computer. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some work I have to do. There's food in the fridge and the guest bedroom is down the hall from the kitchen."
Kim watched as Tommy sat down and began to work away at the computer. And one thing was very clear to her. He wasn't the Tommy she remembered.
Eric walked into the small study where Alex had left the communication device to contact the future. It had been a few days since Eric had returned to the house. He had been staying at Hayley's mostly. It just didn't feel right staying here, alone. Alone. There was a time when that's all he wanted was to be, alone. Not having to worry about anyone else but himself. But then he became a part of the Silver Guardians, and became a ranger. He and Wes became partners, more than partners; best friends, brothers. And to be here alone, with him not here, and with Alex and Jen gone, it seemed unbearable to be here by himself.
He sighed as he sat down in front of the screen, getting ready to contact Alex and see what was up. Eric pushed a button and a second later Alex appeared.
"Eric, it's good to see you. Jen and I should be able to return any day now."
"Good," Eric sighed. "How is she?" Eric had known Jen had taken it very hard.
Alex was silent for a moment. "Okay. She's still, you know..." Alex bit his lip. It hurt even to talk about what Jen was going through. And he had no way of knowing how to handle it. He didn't like Wes much, but that didn't mean he wished him dead. It was all so confusing to Alex. He wanted to help her, but he didn't know how. Perhaps that was one of his faults with her. When she had thought he was dead, Wes seemed to know how to handle that with her, in ways he'd never know. "How are you doing? And everyone else."
"Everyone is doing all right for the most part. Connor's been taking it pretty hard."
"And you?" Alex didn't fail to notice that Eric had left himself out.
"I'm... I'm just getting by one day at a time."
Alex nodded his head. "Yeah. Has Janixsaur shown up lately?"
"No. Haven't seen or heard from him."
"He's probably waiting for us to come to him. He's clever and smart. I did find some information about him, but I'm afraid it's not good."
Great."Okay."
"Janixsaur has the ability to turn any living thing into a monster creation like himself. It happened here about six or seven years ago; most of the victims died after his effects wore off; only a few survived, just barely. So next time we go into battle with him, we should be cautious."
"I'll let the others know."
"Good. Well, I should be going, see you soon and tell everyone to hang in there."
"I will. And tell Jen I said hello."
Alex gave a faint smile. "I will."
Kim walked around in Tommy's house. It was nice, two bedrooms, one large bathroom, kitchen, and living room. It was homey. But Kim could feel the loneliness in it. The emptiness.
She walked into Tommy's bedroom, looking around. His bed was made and his clothes were put away nicely in his dresser and closet. There were tons of books on every kind of science on the small table next to his bed. Kim had to laugh at that, she never would have thought of Tommy as a science teacher. Now Billy, that's another story. Her eyes then fell onto a photo lying next to the books.
She walked over to it and picked it up. In the photo she saw Tommy with two men, two men who looked older than him. Kim didn't recognize them as anyone she knew. She flipped the photo over and on the back she read: 'Tommy, Smitty and Anton, dig site, location 6, Oct. 5th 1999.' Smitty That's what he called that creep, Zeltrax. She turned the photo around and looked back at Tommy and the other two men. "What happened to you?"
Kim wandered back down into the basement wanting to talk to Tommy, maybe even cook him something to eat. But she found him sound asleep at the computer. She just shook her head, smiling. Wondering how well he had been taking care of himself. Had he been sleeping and eating enough?
She grabbed a blanket from the medical bed and walked over to him, wrapping it around him. "Sleep well, Tommy." She gently kissed him on the head and headed upstairs to get some sleep. Perhaps before she left for home, she'd be able to talk to him, find out what really had been going on.