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Sunday, November 21st, 2004

Tommy watched on in silence as Kim performed. She was so graceful, so agile; she was in complete control of her surroundings. It amazed him how she was able to maintain her balance on the beam the way she did, flipping and spinning, but somehow always landing on her feet. Even when she was younger, performing in the Youth Center, she was good, but now, he had to admit that Kim was one of the best gymnasts he'd ever seen.

He sat there watching, clapping and nodding along with the others, but truth be told, his mind was a million miles away. He'd try to put it off for as long as he could, trying to give himself the time to think about what he wanted to do. Now, his time was up, and one way or another, everyone was waiting for him to make a decision of some kind. During the competition, he glanced over at Tanya and Adam, who were sitting next to one another. Adam had his arm around Tanya, and she rested her head on his shoulder comfortably. In a way, he envied them. From the moment they met, they knew they were interested in one another. They started dating, decided to date exclusively, and ultimately, Adam proposed to her. It all seemed to easy, so cut and dry. The two of them were happy together, happier than he'd ever seen either of them, and he wondered why it couldn't be that simple for him.

There was a time when he was happy with Kimberly. They never really discussed their feelings for one another, but back then, there was no need to. They were together almost every waking moment of the day. They were in school together, they "worked" together, and in their free time, they were in the Youth Center together. Every now and then they managed to get away from the rest of the group and spend time at the park with one another, and every moment he had with her was special, so there was no need to complicate the issue by talking about it. But now, in retrospect, he wish they had.

After Kim went to the Pan Globals, he met Heather. He was attracted to her, but it was much too soon for him to even consider dating anyone. Besides, she too was in sports, and it would have been a matter of time before some competition drug her half way around the world, keeping them apart. It was one of the main reasons a relationship with Kim wouldn't have worked, and jumping into a similar situation wouldn't have been the wisest decision. Despite her efforts to win her over, Tommy decided that it was best if he and Heather simply remained friends.

His time with Katherine was special to him as well. It was Katherine who made him realize that he had to move on with his life, to get over Kimberly and explore other options. He and Katherine never truly discussed their feelings either, but it was for much different reasons. He was sure that if he tried to complicate things by putting a label on them, it would ruin what they had. He knew how she felt, and she was aware of his feelings for her, and after they stepped down as rangers, they remained quite close. He headed off to school, and the two of them kept in touch as much as they could.

It was in school where he met Hayley. There was something about her, a certain flair that appealed to him. The two of them became friends rather quickly, and soon, found themselves spending a lot of time together. Soon after, he discovered the dino gems, and his life took a drastic turn. Suddenly, he began to shy away from Katherine. It wasn't as if he didn't care for her, but he didn't want to drag her into what he knew would become another situation for her to become a ranger. He knew there was no escaping his destiny, but he didn't want to drag her into it as well. He also began to distance himself from Hayley as well, but it didn't take her long to figure out why. Once she realized he'd found the dino gems, the two of them sat down and had a conversation about it. It was the first time Tommy had realized his secret past to anyone; and much to his surprise, she took it very well. She offered to help him harness the power, creating the dino mophers for him. At the moment they decided to work together, he decided that it was important for them to simply remain friends. He knew that sooner or later, they'd have to use the power they'd found, and he was trying to avoid putting himself in the situation he'd found himself in so many times before with Kim and Kat.

As for Randall, there were times when they felt something. There was chemistry there, an unspoken attraction, but he was always under the impression that she and Anton Mercer were involved somehow, so he never said anything. After the spell Mesagog had over her was broken, she was a completely different person. There was an innocence about her that he found himself drawn to. He wanted to talk to her about it, to express that there was some kind of attraction between them, but expect for a few brief moments here and there, he wasn't sure the feeling was mutual. Shortly after Mesagog was defeated, Tommy became much more interested in putting his life as a Power Ranger behind him and moving on. Before he considered who he was going to be with, that was most important to him, but thanks to an unexpected turn of events, that had changed.

Kim would only be in town for a few more hours, and she was expecting a decision of some kind. Whatever decision he made would directly effect everyone involved. To decide to be with Kim would mean abandoning hope of ever being with any of the others. To decide to be with Katherine would put an end to any possibility of ever being with Kim or Hayley. To make his decision even more difficult, he had to live with the fact that even if he did make his decision, there was no guarantee that the woman he picked would want to be with him too. Kim was his only sure thing. She'd already told him what she wanted to her, what her intentions were. The others, in his opinion, were more interested in seeing what would happen than they were in actually being with him. Whatever he was going to do, his time was up.

His thoughts were broken as the crowd began to cheer. Tommy snapped out of it, clapping as well, giving everyone involved in the competition a standing ovation. The crowd stood up, making their way out the building.

"Kim was amazing in there," Tanya mentioned as they headed towards their car.

"Yeah, she was awesome. I'd seen her work out before, but not like that. She was great," Adam added.

"What did you think Tommy?"

"Huh? Oh, I thought she was great. They all were. It was a good show," he said.

"I've never been to one of these kinds of shows before, but I have to say I was very impressed. All of the gymnasts were extremely good," Hayley commented.

"We're going to head back to the hotel and pack our things, but if you guys wanted to get together afterwards, that would be nice," Adam said.

"Yeah, we should all meet up at Hayley's Cyber Space. Tommy is always ranting about that place, maybe we should all check it out," Rocky suggested.

"I don't know if I can make a smoothie as good as Ernie, but Tommy says it's pretty close," she said.

"Great. We'll all meet there in about an hour?"

"Sounds good to me."

Adam and Tanya said their goodbyes, got into their car and pulled away.

"I'm going to head home too, there's something I have to do, but I'll meet you all there," Jason said.

"I'll go with you, I need to run by my hotel and pick up some things," Rocky added.

Jason and Rocky both got into their car, pulling away as well.

"Well Tommy, looks like its just us," Katherine said, grabbing his arm.

"We could head down to Cyber Space now and I could whip something up for us," Hayley mentioned.

Just then, it was Kimberly who rushed out of the building, running over to them. "Guys," she squealed. "So what did you think?"

"You were awesome out there Kim," Katherine said.

"Yeah, you were great."

"I was hoping to get a few minutes alone with Tommy. Can I steal him away from you for a second?" she asked.

"Actually," Tommy cleared his throat. "I'm glad all of you are here. There's something I need to talk to all of you about, and I'm not sure how to say it, so bare with me here, okay?" he sighed. "Whether you know it or not, the last day or two have been hard for me. I've been doing a lot of thinking about my life and what I want to do," he paused. "Who I want to be with, and I think I know the answer to that now. I think all of you do really," he said.

"Oh Tommy, we're going to be so happy together," Kim said as she ran over to him, wrapping her arms around him.

"Kim. I do care for you, and we've been through a lot together, but I think its best if we just stay friends… for now," he told her.

"But Tommy, I…"

"I think this is for the best, I really do," he sighed.

Kim leaned up, kissing him on the cheek. "I understand," she sighed, walking away slowly.

"Tommy, I don't understand, you loved her. She was your whole world, why did you…" she was cut short.

"It was you who taught me that I can be happy without Kimberly in my life. I've been through a lot in the past few months; being a ranger again, putting my life on hold to do what I thought was right, but I'm not willing to put my life on hold anymore. Believe it or not, I'm not as young as I look," he told them.

"So if you don't want to be with Kim, who do you want to be with?" Katherine asked.

He could almost see the hopeful look in her eyes, the part of her that wanted him to say her name. There was a part of him that wanted to say her name, too. Tommy took a deep breath, knowing that his decision was going to change his life forever. Picking one of them would mean alienating the other. He'd thought long and hard about it, and suddenly, now that he was faced with making his decision, it didn't seem as hard as he imagined it would be.

"I think that before I can be with anyone, I have to get my life in order. Eventually, I'd like to settle down, get married, maybe even have a baby, but not right now. I've been stressing myself out over the last few days thinking I had to make a decision right now, but the truth is I'm ready to be with anyone yet," he explained.

"Sounds like you really have thought about it," Hayley said.

"I have."

Katherine leaned over, kissing him on the cheek. "Whenever you're ready," she sighed, walking away.

Hayley could see that Tommy's decision wasn't made lightly, and that it hurt him to say what he said. She wrapped her arm around him. "We've got a little time before the others make it to Cyber Space, let me make you a smoothie," she sighed.

Tommy smiled.