Hello everyone, thanks for your patience, I've been looking forward to this chapter the whole time I've been writing this story so I really hope you like it. I was stunned and amused to see the reviews for chapter 6 and I love them all! Let's see a repeat of that enthusiasm this time too, please. Let me know what you think.

Kimberly pulled up to the small, secluded, lakeside cabin, she noticed that there were two vehicles in the dirt driveway, a black jeep and a blue truck. Relieved that someone was actually home, Kimberly jumped out of her white midsize rental car immediately. Lightly jogging to the door, Kimberly had a slight doubt that either she had managed to find the wrong cabin or that maybe Tommy's Uncle had been the occupant today.

Back in high school when she and the gang set out to find Tommy after he lost his green ranger powers, they had never actually found the cabin. Typical to every situation back then, Goldar had managed to ruin their plans once again. But now, Kimberly did recall the route they had taken on the way to the cabin and once she found the town of Shady Mountain it was just a matter of finding someone who knew the local geography. A very nice old man at the gas station had pointed her in the direction of John Oliver's cabin, and this was it.

Kimberly approached the door with caution, squinting her face in apprehension as she timidly pounded on what looked to be a very heavy wooden door. If Tommy's Uncle John had in fact been the one to open the door then she would just simply claim that she was lost and ask for directions. The plan was perfect; she had nothing to be afraid of except for the fact that if Tommy wasn't here then most likely he was with the other rangers and that wasn't exactly a good thing for him or for her.

After a couple of minutes of pounding relentlessly on the front door, Kimberly's hope began to fade faster and faster as she once again began to realize the severity of the situation. It was one thing for her friends to have been captured but it was an entirely different thing for Tommy to have been captured. Kimberly had always felt immense guilt for the ridiculous letter she had sent Tommy back in high school, and she had never really quite forgiven herself for it.

It was true that she had found someone else in Florida, but he certainly was not worth trading in Tommy for. At the time she had just simply been scared, lonely, tired, and well in no shape to make such a decision. But, she had made the decision and she paid for it dearly because when she returned to Angel Grove with Jason that spring, her heart busted into just about a billion pieces when she made the connection that Tommy and Katherine were cozy at the karate tournament. She certainly couldn't have brought herself to apologize to Tommy after that, she could barely stand to even look at him. Kimberly realized that she had in fact made a huge mistake that could only be repaired by hurting sweet innocent Katherine who had been so good to Kimberly, taking her place on the team and all. So, Kimberly thought it best to just let Tommy Oliver go, but she did dump her boyfriend back in Florida anyway because every time she looked at him all she could think was 'I gave up Tommy Oliver for that?'

Since then, Kimberly hadn't seen or spoken to Tommy and she figured that by now he was a complete stranger to her. She'd be lucky if he even remembered her; okay maybe that was a little extreme but it had been a while. Kimberly often wondered how her life would have been different if she had never left to train for the Pan Globals. Sure, it was quite the confidence booster to bring home the gold medal like she had but the high hadn't been quite as great as the first time Tommy had kissed her. Remembering that moment, Kimberly was once again aware of just how important it was that Tommy answer his damn door right now. She began pounding on it even harder.

As Kimberly felt her knuckles finally go numb she heard a rattling inside and before she knew it the front door swung open and standing in front of her was a site incredible enough to make her forget all of her troubles, at least for a split second.

"Oh Tommy, thank God they didn't get you too," she cried as she just about tackled him in the doorway. He looked pretty confused, and well he should, but Kimberly didn't care as she buried her face in his bare chest. She pondered the idea of staying there forever even though Tommy made no move to return her heartfelt embrace. Everything just always seemed so much less complicated when she was in the arms of Tommy Oliver, and for the life of her she couldn't figure out why in the hell she had let him go. But her encounter with perfection was cut short as an interruption came from the back of the room.

"Ahhhemmm," came an unfamiliar female voice, which forced Kimberly to let go of her rock and finally get a good look at him. He was even taller than she remembered and even more handsome than she ever thought possible. His hair was short now but it made no difference because his eyes were as deep and absolutely as mesmerizing as ever. And once Kimberly noticed that Tommy was in fact shirtless and had a better physique than he'd had in his teenage years, she thought that her luck had most definitely changed. But boy was she wrong as her eyes unintentionally darted in the direction of the intruder on the other end of the room. To Kimberly's misfortune, it was a beautiful, tan, thin, and downright gorgeous woman with golden blonde hair and a face and a body that could surely stop traffic. She did look somewhat familiar though, but Kimberly couldn't place exactly where she knew her from.

Now, the woman looked royally pissed but that really didn't bother Kimberly, what bothered her was the fact that the she was clearly wearing Tommy's old T-shirt and nothing else. Kimberly's knees buckled as her expression faltered and had Tommy not interrupted her thoughts she surely would have made a complete full of herself.

"Kimberly," stated Tommy, blinking his eyes in amazement. She was the last person he had expected to find on the other side of the door, but he couldn't decide exactly how to feel about her unexpected visit.

Kimberly stared at Tommy for a moment trying to decipher the best way to do this. "Hi Tommy," she began, neglecting the other woman who had just taken her rightful place at Tommy's side. "I uh, didn't mean to bother you but I just really need to talk to you." She stared into Tommy's eyes pleading with him to take a hint, but he was Tommy and she couldn't expect too much of him. "Could we take a walk or something?" Kimberly's hands fidgeted as she nervously struggled to keep eye contact with her ex-boyfriend.

"Um, we're a little busy, right now," cut in Heather with the force of an axe. But Tommy raised his hand silencing her, this was his battle not hers.

"Gee Kim, it's not that it isn't great to see you and all but we are kind of busy," he blushed the brightest shade of red. "Maybe I could call you later or something." Tommy couldn't believe what had just come out of his mouth, it just sort of slipped and he had no control over it. He didn't really want Kim to go and a part of him was dying to hear what she had to say, but the other side of him was stronger and forced him to reject her just as she had rejected him. It was petty but Tommy had been most deserving of the satisfaction.

Kimberly was completely dumbfounded, the nerve of him. She sighed in irritation, "I don't think it can wait…" she continued, rolling her eyes.

But once again Heather stepped in, making the connection that this woman had in fact been the same Kimberly who had broken Tommy's heart all those years ago, and she wasn't about to let her rehash it. "Listen, honey," she began, shocking Tommy with her feisty attitude, "if you think you're going to come back here to clear your conscious or whatever then don't even bother, okay. High school was a long time ago and believe me, Tommy's over it. So, if you don't mind we'd really appreciate it if you just left us alone."

Kimberly stared at the woman stunned and Tommy knew that Heather had definitely made a mistake of monstrous proportions. Even though Kimberly had been a total sweet heart in high school, she was not at all somebody that you wanted to piss off and Heather had successfully done that.

"Excuse me, I'm sorry," replied Kimberly, scowling hatefully, "and who exactly are you?"

Before Heather could answer, Tommy cut in hoping to avert a conflict but he was just a tad bit late. "This is Heather," he paused, "my girlfriend."

Kimberly's day just kept getting worse and worse. It was one thing for Tommy to have a girlfriend but it was something entirely different for him to have his very own wench. Not only that, Kimberly looked so homely and frankly unattractive in her old tattered and now stained jeans, and oversized gray hoodie sweatshirt. To top it all off, her hair was in a massive knot on the top of her head and the circles under her eyes were the size of a plum. She struggled to hide her disappointment and downright rage for the situation, and she did do a pretty good job of it. But it was on now and she surely would have put the blonde parasite in her place had it not been for the fact that somewhere out there her best friends were depending on her to save their lives, if she wasn't too late already.

"It's a pleasure," said Kimberly sarcastically, moving on to the task at hand. "Look Tommy, I really don't have all day, I've wasted enough time as it is," she glared at Heather, suggesting that she had been the waste of time, "but, I really do need to talk to you and I think you know why." She pointed at her bare wrist quickly, indicating to Tommy that it had something to do with the rangers.

His eyes widened immediately and he agreed to fallow Kimberly out the door, but first he had to reassure Heather. She was genuinely offended by his gesture and appeared in no mood to grant him permission to be alone with his ex, but she had no choice.

"I'm sorry Heather," he said quickly, "it will just be a minute."

"That's what you said five minutes ago," she snapped back, revealing a whole new side of herself to her boyfriend. There was nothing left for Tommy to do but stare at her apologetically and then turn and follow the petite, brown haired woman down to the lake.

Once Kimberly reached the shore she took a very deep breath, staring into the wavy calm. This was it, whether she was ready for it or not she was going to have to find a way to suck up all of the awkwardness and embarrassment and work together with Tommy to rescue their friends. She just kept reminding herself that she was doing it all for them as Tommy approached her. He took his spot beside her, also choosing to stare into the lake, rather than speak to the woman face to face.

"So, what's the deal?" asked Tommy straight up. A part of him was actually angry with Kimberly for interrupting his life just as it was all starting to make sense again.

"I don't even know where to begin," answered Kimberly, folding her arms to her chest nervously. She could feel Heather's eyes on them from all the way back at the cabin. She knew the woman was staring out at them through the living room window, monitoring Kimberly's every move. "I guess I'll start with my trip to Seattle. I wanted to surprise Billy and Trini with an early visit from France, but when I got to Trini's no one was home..."

Tommy had difficulty paying attention to exactly what Kimberly was saying, he was still in shock and in no shape to process so much information as the woman continued her story. So, he listened in silence.

"It appeared that they hadn't gone anywhere because I found Trini's purse, Billy's luggage and other clues to suggest that they had not planned an outing. But most importantly, I found this dried up flaky stuff on the entry way floor and I had never seen anything like it. So naturally I called Jason." Kimberly appeared to fall into a trance as she reiterated the story, she had no option, and if she thought about it too hard then she would go hysterical. "But, he didn't answer his phones and neither did Adam, or Aisha, or Zack, or Rocky, or Katherine, or you," she ended casually not really wanting to admit that she had made great efforts to get a hold of Tommy, although it was pretty obvious at this point. "I was beginning to get really worried, so I got in my rental car and headed towards Angel Grove, and that's when Adam called me." Kimberly finally found the strength to look at Tommy, hoping for support but all she got was a cold shoulder. "Anyway, I so relieved that he was okay but not so relieved to hear that everyone had disappeared."

Finally, Tommy returned her gaze, "What do you mean disappeared?" he asked with great concern.

"Well, just that exactly," responded Kimberly, turning her body directly in Tommy's direction and he mimicked her movement. "Adam had contacted anyone and everyone he could that might know somebody's whereabouts but the simple fact of the matter was that one by one everyone lost contact with the world, it was like they just vanished."

"It could all be just a coincidence," interrupted Tommy, not wanting to believe a word of Kimberly's preposterous lie.

"No Tommy it isn't," snapped Kimberly, "Adam went to everyone's house to investigate and all he could find was that same dried up flaky stuff like I had found at Trini's." Kimberly grew silent, allowing the information to sink in.

"So then where's Adam?" questioned Tommy finally. "I don't really think it was the best idea to split up," he glared at Kimberly with disapproval.

She ignored his scowl as she continued with the story, "Um, we never did split up because by the time I reached Adam's house last night nothing was left but some weird gel substance that looked exactly like lime jello in Adam's entry way. Adam didn't make it Tommy." Tears finally infiltrated Kimberly's eyes, as she fought them back desperately, not wanting Tommy to see her cry.

Tommy now understood why Kimberly had been so urgent back at the cabin and he felt like crap for not taking her seriously and for nearly turning her away. He wanted to apologize but he just couldn't, his ego was too proud. Noticing the tears gathering at the corners of Kimberly's eyes he did the only noble thing left to do and gathered Kimberly into his arms. She didn't fight his advances even though she should have, it was clearly out of sympathy that he was even willing to touch her but she was really hurting. And of course there was the satisfaction of knowing that that tramp Heather was at this very moment getting her panties in a twist with jealousy. Kimberly wrapped her arms around Tommy's neck, encouraging him even further.

Eventually, Tommy noticed that Kimberly had once again gained her composure and he gently let her go. "So what now?" he asked, taking a step back.

"Your guess is as good as mine," replied Kimberly, wiping her nose with her sleeve. "I figure I did my part already." Tommy stared at her quizzically. "I found you, Tommy. Isn't that enough?" she giggled, finally loosening up.

"I suppose that was a big enough challenge," said Tommy, silently scolding himself for having forgotten to charge his cell phone the whole time he'd been in Shady Mountain. "But I can't do this alone, and by the sound of things it's just you and me Kim."

As Tommy entered the cabin the first thing he saw was Heather's disapproving scowl as she stood in front of the fire place with her arms crossed, still wearing nothing but Tommy's T-shirt. "Is she gone?" she asked, matter of factly.

Tommy closed the door behind him, preferring that Kimberly didn't hear the argument that was about to arise. "She's back in her car, but she's not gone," he replied almost whispering.

"Well, when will she be gone?" questioned Heather, tapping her bare foot on the wooden floor.

Tommy walked over to his girlfriend, avoiding any eye contact, knowing she was not at all going to like the answer that he was about to give her. "Um, that's the thing Heather, you see…Um, I'm sort of going with her." Tommy braced himself for impact, sure that sparks were going to fly.

Heather stared at him speechless, surprised that she was actually surprised. It was just so characteristic of Tommy but it still stung with the pain of a thousand bee stings. Tommy waited impatiently for Heather to respond but she never did and he wondered if this was going to be the cause of the end to his happiness.

"Well, say something," he said finally.

"What do you want me to say?" asked Heather, sniffling in an effort to conceal her tears. "Man, Tommy, all she had to do was strut in here for two seconds and just like that you took her back…"

"Woe, woe, woe, Heather slow down," cut in Tommy, not liking the conclusion Heather had come to. "It's not like that at all and I know this is going to be hard for you to understand but I can't tell you exactly why I'm going back to Reefside with Kimberly but I assure you that nothing's changed and nothing will change."

Heather stared up at him with tremendous doubt in her eyes. "I promise," finished Tommy.

"Why is it that it's so hard to trust you and yet I still do?" asked Heather, through the tears. She did understand, well sort of. This was surely not the first time that Tommy had abandoned her for some unexplained reason and it probably wasn't the last either. Tommy's mysterious ways were just simply something that Heather was going to have to get used to if she wanted to love him, and she did, desperately. "Okay then, I'll be here when you get back, but when do you think that will be?" It was so hard for Heather to make that promise but she loved him more than she could ever be angry with him.

"I don't know yet," answered Tommy, sadly, "it could be days, it could be weeks, hopefully not months."

Heather stared at him bewildered, what in the hell had she gotten herself into. She was dying to know what in the hell could be so important but she knew that even if she asked she wouldn't receive a truthful answer. "Alright," she replied, "I'll see you then." And with that she turned around walked into the bedroom and closed the door.

Moments later Heather re-emerged, fully clothed and on her way to the front door. Tommy watched her in silence as she pulled the door open and suddenly the outside light surrounded her. Realizing that this might be the last time that he would ever see Heather again Tommy followed her outside with only one intention in mind, a proper goodbye. He paid no attention to Kimberly, who sat bored out of her mind in the small rental car with the air conditioner cranked up as high as it would go and the music on loud enough to be heard from the outside. Tommy paid no mind to anyone or anything at that moment, just Heather. Swiftly he caught up to her as she reached her truck, and spinning her around he pulled her to him forcefully. Caught off guard, Heather gasped in surprise but had no time to recover as Tommy's mouth suffocated her with the most intoxicating kiss.

From inside the car, Kimberly had no choice but to be a witness to the over the top farewell, a gesture that could never be done justice in the movies. She wondered to herself if Tommy had ever loved her that much, and if so then why hadn't he ever tried to win her back? She supposed it didn't really matter now because at least he was happy and at least he was still alive. Right now was no time for jealousy or regret because there were more important matters to contend with than high school romances.