Author's Notes: Hey everyone! I finally got my first negative comment in a review. I feel like a real author now! Do Tommy and Kim have too much sex? Just you wait until the NC-17's. Muuhhhaa...

Chapter 22: An Eye for an Eye

It was the longest four weeks of Tommy's life. He tried his hardest to concentrate on teaching and working out, but the time still seemed to drag on forever. Eventually, the day finally came: Kim and the gang would be arriving by tomorrow afternoon. She was very pleased by his surprise 'plan' to have their old friends help with the move. Jason, Rocky, Trini, and Billy were all able to make it, each of them flying down to Florida from their respective homes about three days ago. Adam couldn't come on such short notice, being in the last year of his Oncology residency, but everyone understood. He was so angry he had to miss it, but promised to be there for the party Tommy planned to have for Kim in a few months. Zack was also tied up. He had become a fairly successful record producer, and was scheduled to fly to London to meet with an artist the label was hoping to sign, but he, too, said not even an attack by a bunch of Putties would keep him from the party.

Tommy decided to hit the sack early this momentous Friday night. When he was a little kid and was looking forward to something, his Mom always told him that sleeping seemed to make time go by faster, so he figured he'd try it now. As he lay there, he thought about how this was his last night in this bed alone. Starting tomorrow, and hopefully for the rest of his life, Kim will be by his side. He knew that thinking about forever might be somewhat premature, but he couldn't help it. It just felt right when they were together. For right now, though, he fought to quiet his mind so that his body would follow. Another part of him seemed to also be thinking about her, but rather than handle it himself, he wanted to wait to unleash all his sexual frustration on her during their own little 'welcome home' party.

As the Black Ranger slept soundly, oblivious to the intruder stalking through his living room downstairs, Elsa moved in silence, having come for a definitive purpose. Looking around the tastefully furnished space, she had to fight to push aside the longing that welled up inside her for a normal life, maybe a family and a nice home. She shook off the feeling, redirecting her emotion towards her mission, which was to destroy Tommy's relationship with 'that whore'. Then when he was feeling down and depressed, Ms. Randall would move right in to help him pick up the pieces. In that kind of vulnerable state, it would be easy for her to use her feminine charm to gain his trust…and the Dino Gems.

She had to find the perfect place to plant the slinky black satin thong with the silver lace she carried in her pocket, and it had to be somewhere it would be discovered by the girlfriend. Ms. Randall looked forward to watching Tommy try and talk his way out of this one. His little goody-goody woman would immediately think he had been cheating on her with that kind of evidence. Once that trust was gone, the relationship would naturally just fall apart. Elsa knew her master would be pleased with her for developing such a brilliant, foolproof plan.

The overstuffed recliner in the corner seemed like a good spot. With any luck, by tomorrow at this time, Elsa would be planning phase two: the seduction. She placed the underwear carefully in the corner of the chair with the silver lace downward as not to attract attention. The black blended into the dark leather just enough that it wouldn't be discovered until someone went to sit there. Hopefully, that person would be the woman. It wouldn't exactly be a disaster if it were Tommy himself that found the lingerie, as long as he found it in her presence, otherwise it would mean she would have to think up another plan. That wouldn't be easy, and this was already plan 'B'. Mesogog was becoming impatient, and she wasn't about to let that moron Zeltrax get the gems before she did. They used to work together, but recently, it had become an unofficial competition between them to be the first to destroy the Rangers. Luckily for her, he was a bumbling idiot most of the time and was usually distracted by either his crush on her or his hatred of Tommy Oliver.

The deed done, she snuck towards the door, wanting to be outside before opening an invisiportal back to her master's lair. Very soon, though, her next stop would be the Power Rangers' lair. The exact location of their command center was a mystery that, once solved, would mean the end of those pesky, spandex-clad do-gooders. Getting Tommy Oliver to open up to her was the key, and now, as she approached the front of the house, she found her mind wandering to the future she was looking forward to despite herself. Romantic dinners with Tommy, dancing, midnight walks on the beach, snuggling on that comfy-looking sofa with pizza and a movie, making love into the wee hours of the morning…Then, shaking her head to refocus her priorities…Crushing the Rangers, Mesogog's praise and approval, replacing that stupid Zeltrax as second-in-command.

In her distraction, Elsa wasn't doing a very good job of watching where she was going. A few steps in front of the exit, she tripped over something lying in the middle of the floor, barely catching herself from landing on her face, but still knocking over a large vase sitting on a pedestal in the foyer.

"RRRrrrrrrrrrreeeeoooooowwwwww!" screeched the striped tiger-tabby, highly offended at being woken by a clumsy human. The loud wail cut through the silent house like a hot knife through butter, scaring the hell out of Elsa, causing her to let out a yelp before she stifled herself with a hand over her mouth. Hobo Kitty stood there, eyes narrowed, claws extended and fur standing on end, hissing ferociously. Her feline instinct seemed to have told her that this person wasn't a welcome guest in her home.

Elsa panicked at all the noise they just made. Before Tommy came down to investigate the commotion, she ran out the front door, barely remembering to close it behind her, and stepped off the porch into the front yard. Once there, she extended her arm in the air, opening the portal, and then disappeared into the night.

A piercing crash woke Tommy from a deep slumber. He bolted up in bed, his heart beating rapidly. Untangling himself from the sheets, he got out and opened his bedroom door, listening carefully for anymore noise. He could have sworn he heard a short 'ah!' just after the crash, but that could have been the remnants of a strange dream. Now, though, the only sound he heard was the sharp hissing of a cat.

Tommy wasn't in the least bit afraid of a burglar or other intruder, being a martial artist and Power Ranger, but he crept downstairs quietly anyway as to not scare the culprit away before he could apprehend him. After years of being in dangerous situations on a regular basis, he had developed a sixth sense, sort of like he could feel the presence and intention of someone. The sense had never failed him, so since he didn't have that tingling awareness signaling another person in the house, he relaxed somewhat. When he got to the bottom of the stairs, he paused again, still feeling nothing. Seconds later, Hobo Kitty sauntered into the room from the direction of the foyer. Seeing him, she approached her human, rubbing herself against his bare legs and purring loudly. "Meow," she said, as if it meant something profoundly important.

"Speak English, cat," he replied before a piece of something sharp and shiny caught his eye near the front door. Once in the foyer, he no longer had to wonder about the source of the crash. His one-of-a-kind Native American vase lay shattered all over the floor. It had been a gift from his brother, at one time belonging to their parents. Tommy gasped at the sight, his stomach suddenly feeling sick. He looked down at the kitty. "Did you do this?" he asked, as if he would get an understandable reply.

Hobo's innocent green eyes stared up at him from at his feet. "Meow," she said again, cocking her head to appear her most adorable.

"I know. You didn't do it on purpose. Were you chasing a mouse or something?" Tommy's home in the woods did have its drawbacks, one of them being the occasional furry houseguest. Having the cat was a good arrangement, even if she sometimes liked to bring him little carcasses to show off her talents.

"Meow."

"Yeah, that's what you always say. Learn another word. I'm going back to bed. I'll clean this up in the morning." He was planning on cleaning up some anyway before Kim and the others got there. Taking one last look at the priceless heirloom, he shook off the queasiness that threatened him again, and marched back upstairs.

Several hours later, Tommy was up, finished with his workout, and showered. Kim would be calling sometime this morning to let him know where they were and when he could expect them. While waiting for the phone to ring, he focused on de-bachelorizing the place. The smashed vase was swept up, laundry got done, folded, and actually put away, too. All of the dinosaur knick-knacks scattered around the living room and the office got dusted, and the dishes in the sink were loaded into the dishwasher. The last order of business was the bathrooms, which were the worst. The bathroom off his bedroom was the one he used most often. It was full of shaving stuff, hair gels, and deodorant all sitting on top of a layer of soap-scum. There wasn't a lot of cabinet space to begin with, and if there was to be room for Kim's many girlie products, his junk had to go. He would move his things to the bathroom downstairs, and then they wouldn't get in eachother's way in the mornings. The same went for his clothes. There was a spare bedroom in the back of the house that he only used for storage. He cleaned out the closet, uncovering a bunch of things he hadn't worn in years to donate to charity. While he was moving his current clothing from upstairs, the phone finally rang. "Hey, Beautiful…" he answered, recognizing her cell phone number on the caller ID.

"Hi, Baby!"

"So? Where are you guys?" Tommy asked impatiently. It was already after eleven.

"We should be there by one at the latest."

"Wow! You're making good time!" He hadn't expected them until around four.

"Rocky's driving. He and Billy are in the big U-Haul up ahead. Those things are supposed to be governed at sixty MPH, but somehow, he's hit at least eighty-five. He even got a speeding ticket in Alabama. Me, Jason, and Trini are in the van we rented. It's been hell trying to keep up."

"Have you stopped for lunch yet?"

"No, but we were talking about it. I'm not really hungry. All the excitement has made me sort of sick."

"Well, don't stop anywhere. Get the others on the line."

"Wait a second…"

A few seconds later, Billy Cranston's voice came through the phone. "What's this about not stopping for lunch? I'm not riding in this truck with Rocky if he gets hungry." Billy had gone on to get a PhD. as well, in Astro-Physics. He worked for NASA on the space shuttle project as a design engineer.

"Hey, Billy! If you're only a couple hours away, just wait until you get here. We'll all go out. I'm sure Rocky loaded up on the junk food when you stopped for gas. He'll survive. It will be worth it, I promise." Tommy wanted to take them to BellaRosa's for pizza.

"Yeah, we've got a truck full of Doritos, chocolate milk, and Hostess cupcakes. Alright, we'll see you soon." And Billy cut out, leaving just Tommy and Kim on the line.

"Ok, then you'll be here by one?"

"Probably earlier, especially if Rocky knows there's food at the end of the line."

"I'll be waiting. Tell Jason and Trini I said 'hi'."

"I love you, Tommy." Kim said it softly to keep it a private moment between the two of them.

"I love you, too. See you soon."

"Bye."

Tommy put down the phone and walked back to the spare room to finish putting his clothes away. Kim would be so surprised that she'll have the whole closet upstairs to herself. In reality, there was not enough room in all of Reefside for her entire wardrobe, but it was still better than having to share space, and hopefully she, too, weeded out some of her old items like he had. By the time he was finished relocating his stuff, it was nearly twelve-twenty. Now he was getting excited. They should be there any moment.

Before he could finish the thought, a loud horn blared from outside, and he knew they had arrived. Tommy ran outside in time to see several of his best friends in the world pile out of a white van and a twenty-foot U-Haul.

"OK, Tommy, where's the food?" Rocky was not surprisingly the first to speak up.

"Hold your shorts on, Rocko." Tommy ran to Kim and swept her up in his arms. For a lingering moment, they blocked the others' presence out of their minds, kissing deeply.

"Break it up, break it up! Jesus, can't you control yourselves long enough to greet your friends?" Jason had begun the razzing already. It would be an interesting few days.

"Sure, right after I greet my girl," Tommy replied before resuming the kiss.

"Yeah, Jase, we gotta cut him some slack. He went a long time without getting any, poor guy," Rocky spoke up in his 'defense'.

"Bite me, Rock," Tommy started as he released Kimberly and stepped over to hug Trini. He hadn't seen her in at least five years, although they'd exchanged e-mails fairly regularly. She lived in Seattle and was a successful TV news anchorwoman, having graduated from a small liberal arts college with a degree in journalism.

"How are you, Trini? You look great." And she did. The graceful, strong-willed but soft-spoken Vietnamese woman had only become more beautiful with time. She still kept her shiny black hair long, but had grown out the bangs she wore in high school.

"Thanks, Tommy. So do you." Trini meant it, too. She had been with Kimberly at the Karate tournament all those years ago when they had first seen Tommy, and couldn't deny she also found him incredibly gorgeous. She never thought of him in a romantic way, though. It was obvious that he belonged to Kim from the start.

Tommy moved over to Billy. "Hey, man. Glad you could make it."

"It was no problem at all. I had a lot of vacation time banked," Billy replied. It had been a while since he had gone on a road trip. His life in Houston was great, but sometimes he still needed to connect with the old gang. They were a unique combination of personalities, each complementing each other without clashing. It was a refreshing change from the people at work he usually hung out with at home, who were all scientific types like him.

"OK, now that everybody's said 'hi', what the hell are we eating?" Rocky's obsession with food was legendary, so his career as a chef couldn't be more fitting. He had kept himself from gaining the excess weight that plagues most chefs, though, by continuing to practice martial arts at least five times a week.

"Alright, alright, Rocko. Let's leave the unpacking for later. I think we'll all work harder once we've eaten. I'm taking you guys to a great Italian place. We're going to have to take two cars, though. All six of us won't fit in mine. Jase, you wanna drive the Jeep or the Durango?"

"Neither. I've done most of the driving for the last three days. Billy or Trini can drive." Jason looked forward to kicking back and relaxing with his buds over a large pepperoni pizza and a pitcher of beer.

"I'll drive, Tommy. Give me whichever one you want." Billy had played the role of navigator throughout the trip, and only logged a few hours of driving time. He felt perfectly alert.

Tommy tossed Billy the keys to the Jeep. The gang naturally split in two, with Kim and Trini going with him in the Durango, with Rocky and Jason riding with Billy. "Follow me. It's about a fifteen or twenty minute drive."

Soon they were all gathering on the sidewalk outside BellaRosa's. They were lucky to find two good parking spaces, especially since it was lunchtime on a Saturday. Once assembled, they filed into the little restaurant. Upon hearing the jingle of the bell on the door, Mama Rosa came waddling out of the kitchen. Seeing Tommy and Kim, her eyes lit up and a smile as bright as the sun appeared on her plump face. "Gaetano! And-a you have-a you pretty girl with you. Oh, and more friends! Come in, come in. Welcome to BellaRosa's. I'm Mama." She embraced Tommy, nearly squeezing the breath out of him, and took Kim's hand, leading them to the dining room. "Carla, we got-a six hungry people here. Move-a those tables together and get-a the menus." Mama fired off orders like a Marine drill sergeant, and her granddaughter immediately jumped up to follow them.

Once they were seated, Carla approached to greet the group. Upon seeing Tommy walk in, her heart had leapt in her chest, but when she saw Kim, it quickly sunk to her knees. Her hopes that he was single had risen in the last few weeks because he came in a couple times alone. Now they came crashing down as the couple walked hand-in-hand to the tables, Tommy placing a brief kiss on her forehead once they were settled. The young waitress realized she had been kind of rude to Kim the last time they were there, but he didn't seem to hold it against her. Accepting that he would probably never be hers, she politely went about her job, treating Kimberly with the same hospitality she showed all of her other customers. Besides, there were three other guys with them today, and they were all pretty hot. "Hi, welcome to BellaRosa's. I'm Carla," she introduced herself for the sake of the newcomers. "Tommy, Kim, it's nice to see you again. Can I bring you something to drink while you look over the menus?"

Rocky spoke up first. "Can we get a couple pitchers of beer, please?"

"Sure. Would anyone like anything else?"

"Oh, can we have a large order of mozzarella sticks, some stuffed mushrooms, fried calamari, and the bruschetta, too?" Rocky added, obviously starving.

"Sounds good. Is that all?" As if that wasn't enough, Carla thought.

"I'd also like a glass of water, please," Kim asked. Then to her friends, "I'm feeling better, but I don't want to jinx it with beer. Maybe I just need to eat."

"Alright. I'll get your drinks and appetizers while you look over the menus." And she ran off to the kitchen to get started on the food and to have Mama bring out the beer, since at nineteen she was still underage to serve alcohol.

While the gang was waiting, they discussed what they were going to order. Although Rocky had already had enough appetizers coming to feed an army for a week, they still needed to decide on everything else. "OK, what do we want on our pizzas?" Tommy asked, even though he was sure he already knew. These good friends had sat around a table and ate pizza more times than he could count.

"Anything but anchovies!" Trini blurted out, in case they somehow forgot how much she hated the salty, fishy things.

"We know, Trini." Kim said with a laugh.

"Well, why don't we get one pizza with everything, and one with just pepperoni?" Jason reasoned. Everybody likes pepperoni.

"I want a Hawaiian pizza, with ham and pineapple," Kim threw in as Billy, Tommy, and Jason stared at her like she had grown a third eyeball.

"Beautiful, that's just gross." Tommy responded.

"It is not! It's good…have you ever tried it?" she challenged.

"No, and I don't want to. I like Jason's idea. That's what we always did before."

"I concur with Tommy. It is the most sensible solution to the dilemma." Billy agreed in his usual genius-speak.

"Whatever! It's settled then," Kim gave in just as Carla and Mama appeared with the beverages. She took a long gulp of water, hoping to quell the nausea that seemed to be creeping up on her again.

"Have you decided?" Carla asked.

"Yeah," Rocky had nominated himself spokesman for the group whenever food was involved. "We'll take a large pizza with everything, and a large pepperoni, please, both with extra cheese. Oh, and I'll have a house salad with ranch dressing, too. Thank you."

"Save some food for the rest of the customers, Rocko." Jason laughed.

"It was a long trip. I'm hungry!"

The twenty minutes or so they had to wait after the appetizers arrived passed quickly. The friends talked about everything from their old Ranger days, to their jobs, to past relationships, all the while laughing, teasing, and eating. By the time Carla appeared holding two large, round trays with thick-crusted, cheesy, Sicilian-style pizzas on top, space on the table had become scarce, so she cleared away the first course's dishes to make room.

The deluxe pizza was put down first, still piping hot. The smell of the homemade crust and the fresh toppings caught all of their attention, but it wasn't a pleasant scent for everyone at the table. As soon as Kim got a whiff of the anchovies, one hand automatically flew to her stomach while the other frantically covered her mouth. She jumped up and darted to the ladies' room before anyone even noticed her reaction.

Tommy was momentarily confused by Kim running off like that, but the confusion rapidly dissolved into concern as it became clear what was happening. He was tempted to storm right into the women's restroom to check on her, but thankfully gained control over that instinct before he scared the hell out of some unsuspecting lady touching up her makeup in there. "Trini, could you see what's wrong with Kim?"

He need not have said anything because Trini was already out of her chair and halfway across the restaurant. Once inside, she could hear the distinctive sound of retching coming from the corner stall. Luckily, no one else was in there. She grabbed some paper towels off the role, wetting them with cool water before approaching the door. "Kim? Are you OK? Open up, I have some towels here. Let me put them on your neck."

A couple seconds later, Trini heard the latch unlock. She hesitantly pushed the door open and stepped inside to find Kim on her knees in front of the toilet. Her eyes were watery and her face was flushed red. "And you thought you hated anchovies…" she joked with as much of a smile as she could manage. Now that she had thrown up, she felt much better. Trini knelt down next to her and pulled her long, auburn hair back, placing the damp towels on the back of her neck. "Thanks, Trini. That feels good. I don't know what's wrong. I've been sick to my stomach on and off for about a week now, but I never puked. All this excitement must have gotten to me, what with the move and seeing you guys again, a new job…"

"Are you feeling better now?"

Kim nodded.

"Then let's get you cleaned up and back out there. Tommy's got to be worried to death. I thought he was going to come crashing in here himself. I could just see it in his eyes."

"Yeah, that's Tommy, always the hero."

Kim was the type of girl that came prepared for anything. Her bottomless pit of a purse had everything from a needle and thread to a roll of masking tape. At this point, she was just glad she had a toothbrush and toothpaste. She quickly brushed her teeth and ran a comb through her hair. Feeling semi-presentable, the two women left the bathroom and headed back to the table.

Tommy stood up as soon as he saw them coming. He was relieved to see the smile on Kimberly's face, but was still worried. "Hey, how're you doing?"

"I'm fine now. I must have caught a bug or something." She sat down, glad to notice that she had somewhat of an appetite.

The gang finished off the pizzas over the next two hours between reminiscing, laughing, and goofing around. Once finished, Carla brought the bill. Tommy snatched it up before the others had a chance to see it and pulled out his bankcard, ready for the young waitress to take it. As soon as Jason noticed, he reached across the table and grabbed it, handing Tommy back his Visa.

"Bro', what the hell? I'm taking care of this." Tommy protested.

"No way. It's on me," Jason argued.

"Come on, it's the least I could do after all of you took time off to help us out." Tommy thought it only logical and fair.

"I'm all for either of you paying. I won't fight you for it," Rocky piped up, always interested in a free meal.

"Yeah, we know, you mooch. Lord knows you ate fifteen times more than the rest of us put together," Jason said, but he was just teasing. The bill was almost one hundred dollars, but on his salary, it was nothing. "Tommy, you're a high school teacher. How much could you possibly make, five dollars an hour?"

"Not even," Tommy agreed. He reluctantly let Jason take the bill.

The bill settled, the group wove their way out of the busy restaurant and back to the cars. The plan was to pick up some beer and unpack the truck. They would probably be working far into the night, so they wanted to have some fun with it.

After a stop at 7 Eleven, with a couple cases of Miller Lite in hand, and some chips and salsa that Rocky threw in, they were back at Tommy's. The guys unloaded the heavy stuff while the girls worked upstairs in the bedroom organizing the closet and the bathroom. When Kim saw the empty bedroom closet just waiting for her things, she ran outside and took Tommy by the hand, leading him away from the others. He was alarmed at first by the suddenness of her rushing toward him, but when she grabbed him by the back of the neck and pulled his mouth down to hers, he relaxed and threw himself into it. A hot, wet kiss followed, right there on the lawn, in front of everyone.

"Damn, you two. Can't you wait until were finished here?" Rocky teased as he threw a pinecone he found on the ground at them.

After they finally broke the kiss, Tommy took a few seconds to catch his breath before he could speak. "What was that for?"

"Just for being you. Thank you for the closet space, but where are your clothes?" Kim inquired.

"In the downstairs bedroom. I've also moved my junk into the bathroom down there, too. The upstairs is all yours."

"I hope the bed's not all mine…" she whispered suggestively.

"You willing to share?"

"I insist." As tempting as it was to drag him up there right now, they had lots of work to do, so she gave him one last quick kiss before getting back to unpacking.

Several hours later, the U-Haul was empty, the boxes were broken down and put into the shed in the backyard, and the crew was crashed in the living room, beers in hand. Except for Kimberly. She had begun to feel ill again halfway through the job, and was lying on the sofa, looking a sickening shade of green. Tommy sat down next to her and laid a hand on her forehead, checking for a fever. She felt perfectly normal, but he was still concerned. "Can I get you anything, Beautiful?"

"No, Tommy. Thank you, anyway. I just need to rest. I've worked my ass off these past few weeks, and it must be catching up with me. I'll be fine after a good night's sleep. In fact, it's after eleven. I'm going to turn in now," Kim announced as she forced herself to get up.

The sudden shift to a vertical position must have done something to Kimberly's equilibrium, because no sooner than she was on her feet, she was running to the bathroom. This time, Tommy went after her, but Trini stopped him. "Better let me go, Tommy. Girls don't like to let guys see them barfing." He nodded, not entirely happy about it, but he knew she was probably right. It wasn't the most dignified activity in the world. He moved to the leather recliner in the corner and prepared to sit down and wait when a shimmer of fabric caught his eye in the corner of the cushion. Confused, he reached down to pick it up, and found himself holding a pair of black satin and silver lace thong panties. "What the…"

Before he could tuck them away, the other guys took notice. "Yours, Tommy?" Billy asked with a grin.

"Ha, ha, ha. They're Kim's. When she was here a month ago we, uh, lost them. I can't believe they were tucked away in this chair all this time. Shows you how much time I spend sitting around here," Tommy explained, turning red.

"Lost them? I won't even ask…" Rocky started.

"Yeah, please don't," Tommy begged.

Trini walked to the back of the house to Tommy's bathroom. She could already hear the water running, so Kim must be feeling better already. Knocking lightly, she didn't wait for Kim to answer before she walked in. Her friend was standing at the sink, splashing her face with cold water. It might not be the best time to bring up the sneaking suspicion she'd been having since lunch, and it was really none of her business anyway, but they had been friends since grade school. There wasn't anything she couldn't talk to Kim about.

"Kim? Hey, how're you doing?" Trini started gently.

"OK, now. God, Trini, what a crappy time to get a tummy bug!" Kim moaned. She looked forward to spending the night making love to Tommy, but right now, she didn't feel like doing anything but putting on her coziest pajamas and passing out for two days. Tommy would certainly understand, but it still sucked.

"Are you sure that's what it is?" Trini asked delicately. She hoped Kim understood what she was implying without her having to come right out with it.

"I don't know what else it…" Kim paused, concentrating on recapping the past four weeks. They had gone by in a whirlwind. Between her last days at the old job, the garage sale, packing, arranging the truck rental, etc., etc., she had not realized that she hadn't had a period since a couple weeks before she was here last time. It took a few moments for the idea to sink in, but once it did, she turned greener than before. "How…no way. I can't be pregnant. I'm on the pill."

"Were you taking it regularly while you were here?"

"Yeah…well, not exactly regularly. I hadn't planned on spending the night with Tommy the first time, and I missed a day. I usually take it before bed, but they were back in the hotel. Stupid, stupid, stupid! I go two years without sex, and I never missed a pill anyway. Then as soon as I get some, I go and forget. How could I have been so dumb again?"

"Again? What do you mean?" Trini didn't understand what Kim was talking about.

Taking a deep breath, Kimberly started to tell Trini the story of her accidental pregnancy and subsequent miscarriage nearly thirteen years ago in Florida. No one else knew except Tommy, but sharing it with a girlfriend felt good. She knew that her oldest friend would never judge her.

"Kim, I'm so sorry, but you have to forgive yourself. Tommy has. Besides, you're adults now. You two are mature and responsible enough to handle becoming parents. It will be the first Ranger baby!" Trini was already mentally planning a baby shower.

"Yeah, I'm really responsible. God, what is Tommy going to say?"

"I think he'll be thrilled, but I wouldn't tell him until you know for sure. No sense getting him excited about a false alarm."

"I have to know, Trini, although now that I think about it, this is a pretty familiar feeling. Come with me to the drug store," Kim implored her.

"Now? How are you going to explain taking off at eleven o'clock at night?"

"I'll think of something, but I need to know tonight." Kim's tone left no room for Trini to argue.

"Alright. Let's go…" And the two women took off for the twenty-four-hour Walgreen's, telling the guys that they needed some 'girly supplies", knowing that was a subject they wouldn't want to know anything about.

Elsa and Zeltrax watched the last few hours unfold at Tommy's house on the viewing screen in Mesogog's lair. She was incensed at having her brilliant plan foiled. What were the odds that little Miss Kimberly would have the same underwear, and that they had been lost in Tommy's living room? Her master was going to be furious.

Zeltrax was initially delighted that Elsa's set-up failed again. It wasn't that he didn't want to ruin Tommy Oliver, but he wanted to be the one to do it. He didn't exactly have any ideas himself just yet, but after hearing the conversation between Tommy's girl and her friend, he was struck with a sinister plan.

Several months ago, Zeltrax created a new monster, but for some reason, the creature thought it was his son. The golden cyborg was blindly devoted to him, and it wasn't long before Zeltrax began thinking of the thing as family, too.

Not long after, his 'son' was destroyed by the Black Ranger. From that day on, Zeltrax vowed to have his revenge on Tommy, adding the slaughter of the only family he'd ever known to the list of reasons to kill the man.

Here was the perfect opportunity to get even with the good Dr. Oliver. Zeltrax would capture the woman, kill her, and thus kill Tommy's unborn child.

We'll see how you like it, Tommy. An eye for an eye…