Backwaters

Part Two: Hospital Dinners

By: Kryptonite

Disclaimer: *takes a deep breath* I do not own Power Rangers. If I did I would not have to worry about money ever again.

Spoilers: Only slight if any at all. I won't have a whole lot of reminiscing so this shouldn't be a real concern.

Summary: AU. Kimberly's back after two years in Florida and five in hiding in her old house. She has a younger sister and everything past MMPR is void. It never happened. The Rangers aren't needed anymore and they all have their own lives. The following pairings will be present this whole thing: Jason/Kimberly, Tommy/Kat, Billy/Trini, Adam/OC, Rocky/Aisha and possibly Zack/OC, but I'm not sure if he'll show up.

A/N: Okay, second chapter (woo-hoo) and the reviewers' thanks are on the bottom. You each get a cookie :) This is probably just as confusing as the first chapter but I wanted to get Riley's personality across a little bit more. So R/R and tell me what you think, okay?

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" Don't just stand there." The girl spoke, before bustling towards the group. " Make yourselves comfortable, take off your coats. If this goes the way it's supposed to, you'll be here a while. Name's Riley, by the way." Riley walked past them, closing the front door and locking it tight.

" Hi guys." Kim was suddenly quiet, shy, everything she had never been. She just wasn't sure how to talk to these people anymore. Adam watched as Riley tried to think of something and then sprinted up the stairs.

" Hey Kim. How are you?" Jason tried, sitting awkwardly on the couch. Riley came back through the living room and headed through the swinging door into the kitchen.

" I've been better. I'm sorry I didn't talk to you all sooner." Riley came back with a glass of water.

" Drink." She commanded, handing over the glass and two small capsules. Kim rolled her eyes and did as she was told. Riley set the half-full glass on the table and was turning to say something when a crash was heard from the kitchen. " What the…" She walked back through the swinging door.

" So I guess Riley gave you guys my message."

" Yeah, she was… quite forceful." Tommy added, referring to her little rant.

" Dammit Bryan!" Riley's voice shouted followed by a bunch of 'ow's. She came back through the door, this time dragging a twelve-ish year old boy by the ear. " How many times do I have to tell you to use the door? Next time you come through the window I'm looking you in the tool shed. Now, try this again." She threw him out the door and shut it behind her. " Sorry." The doorbell rang, as the group looked on, happy for the distraction.

" Was that so hard? Any homework?"

" No and yes. Thanks Riley. Hey Kim." The boy came back in, bouncing on air as he came into the living room, ignoring the tension.

" Hey Bryan. Dad home?" Bryan just gave her a look that said 'what do you think?' before settling himself on the floor in front of the coffee table.

" Need any help?" Riley called, paused at the door to the kitchen again.

" No." Bryan answered, not looking up from the math problems.

" Are you staying for dinner?" This was directed to the ex-power rangers. They looked at each other in confusion. " I won't poison you. I'm going to be eating it myself."

" We don't have any other plans," Aisha pointed out from where she was sitting across from Kim.

" Alright then. Kim if you move I'll strap you to that chair myself, understood?" Riley disappeared before she could answer.

Tommy spoke up, looking at the cloth on her arm. " What did you do?" He gestured towards her arm so she'd know what he meant.

" Oh, this. I, I'm so stupid, I was trying to get dinner started for once and I ended up burning my arm. I never was good with all that domestic stuff." The last sentence got a derisive snort from the kitchen that was just barely heard over the heavy metal playing from a radio. " Okay so I can't do anything domestic other than push a broom. Happy?" She called over her shoulder, laughing at something or other.

" How did the gymnastics thing work out?" Kat asked, remembering the original reason Kim had moved.

" It went great for two years then Mom and Dad had their accident and I brought Riley home with me."

" How come you never mentioned Riley?" It was Aisha's turn to ask a question. Kim shrugged as she tried to think why.

" Riley was… never home. She lived with my Aunt and Uncle since she was one, I only really saw her on vacations. For a long while I thought she was just my cousin. Mom and dad just sent her away, as a replacement for my real cousin, Sharon, who died shortly after being born. Aunt Jasmine was so devastated. I didn't really know she was my sister until I was ten and by then I was just so used to not thinking about her that I just never brought it up." Kim shrugged again as a couple of curse words streamed out above the music.

" Bryan!" Riley called, causing the young boy to run into the kitchen.

" What?"

" Clean up this mess!"

Bryan could be heard groaning. " Do I have to?" He whined.

" What about you guys? Did you and Jason open that dojo you wanted?" Kimberly asked, distracting them from the argument in the kitchen.

" Yeah, it's going okay. We have some budgeting problems to work out but other than that it's fine." Kimberly nodded her head, biting her lip.

" That's good. What about you Rocky? Still working at the school?"

" Fuck!" Riley and Bryan came back out of the kitchen. " Sorry folks. Dinner's simmering since I now have to make another stop to the emergency room for more stitches."

" No, come on Riley. Please don't make me go, ah." The boy clutched quickly at his stomach before looking back up at her in fear.

" Get your coat. Kim, I'll be back soon I hope. They have a doctor on call for all of Bryan's 'accidents' and a room waiting. Hopefully they aren't busy. Keep the cloth on your arm, finish the water, add a pinch of salt to the stew in about five minutes and let it heat up for another thirty. Someone should place the biscuits in the oven as soon as the red light goes off, which should be soon. We'll be back." And with that Riley and Bryan left, leaving the room in stunned silence.

" Your sister's real… forceful." Rocky commented, once again breaking the silence.

" Yeah. She's something all right. She was one of the reasons I moved down to Florida in the first place." At Billy's look, Kim explained. " My Aunt and Uncle live in Florida, near where I was training with my coach. I was able to get to know my sister because I was so close to her. I got to see her almost every day." Kimberly's face was lighted with a small smile at the memory.

Remembering Riley's comments about the dinner, Adam made his way slowly and quietly into the kitchen, letting the rest of the ex-rangers talk. Walking into the kitchen his first thoughts were clean. The walls were a light blue, the ceiling white, and the tiled floor seemed to sparkle. The cupboards looked to be pine stained a dark red. The fridge was next to the stove and the sink was on the other wall under the window facing the back yard.

Walking to the stove he noticed there wasn't a red light on. Pulling a glove on, he slipped the tray of biscuits into the stove and pushed the start button on the timer. Adam took the lid off of the stew, taking a smell trying to determine what was in it. Throwing in the pinch of salt he registered the sudden burst of laughter from the living room and smiled slightly.

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A/N: To Twitch1 and EclipseKlutz. I'm glad you liked this. Hopefully Twitch, it stays up to your standards :) And hey, if you liked this, go check out some of my other stories. Who knows, you might like them too.