Author's notes: A huge thank you to everyone who's been reviewing this fic, every one of them is greatly appreciated. I hope this chapter will keep you all satisfied for the next month or so. I'll be writing away while I'm without internet access, so as soon as I'm back online the next chapter will be up. Please read and review!
Kim
Panicking is useless. Even though I spend all of Friday night curled up on my couch, relentlessly thinking 'I should have been at Tommy's place about now…. He'd have been serving the dinner in five minutes'. There's no use in wondering what's gone on, when he told me he'd let me in on the gossip as soon as he saw me. His voice sounded more perturbed than overly worried, so if I took things on face value, there would be nothing to tell me that anything was wrong.
So I ignore the tiny voice whispering in the back of my head that is trying to convince me that something more is wrong. There's no reason for me to believe it, so I don't. I watch TV all of Friday night, and then take a stroll around town on Saturday morning, all the while clutching my cell phone, hoping he'll call.
The weather is once again gorgeous, and I take advantage of the sunshine to buy some brightly coloured flowers for my apartment, and some new shoes in which to better enjoy the heat. I spend the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon window-shopping, and don't even realise the time until I happen to walk past City Hall where the large clock tells me it's a little after three.
I refuse to dwell on this. I have every faith that he will call in the next couple hours, apologize for last night once more, and then give me directions to Reefside so I can go to his place for dinner tonight. With that in mind, the best thing for me to do would be to go home and start preparing myself for a dinner with a sort-of boyfriend, who blew you off the night before but then immediately rescheduled your date for the very next evening.
Somehow, I have a feeling most fashion magazines won't cater for this kind of disaster. I make my way back to the building and inside the lobby to enter the elevator (I can't get into the elevator anymore without blushing a violent shade of red), but groan when I see Mrs Jacobs already standing inside.
"Good afternoon, Miss Hart," she says disapprovingly, and presses the button for the fifth floor. Unlike the other night, I'm now thankful for the fact I have a short journey to undertake. "Is your friend not with you today?"
What business is it of hers? I don't comment on anyone going in and out of her apartment. "No, he was only in town for the day; he lives a couple hours up the coast so he went back that night."
"He was a very charming young man," Mrs Jacobs says dreamily, and I stare at her with horror. Is she fantasising about my boyfriend? "And very polite, too. Still," and she snaps out of her daydream to give me a pointed stare. "Noise should be kept to a minimum, you hear? This is a quiet building, and I'd like it kept that way. So, if he should ever come back, be sure to keep the racket down."
"I'll do my best, Mrs Jacobs," I say noncommittally, and thank the lucky stars that the elevator doors open just as she begins to formulate a response. I duck out before her, and grab my keys quickly from my purse to let myself into my apartment. I think she says something after me, but I shut the door before she can drum more principles down my throat. Besides, it won't matter about the noise if he never calls me back, will it?
I sigh, and curl back up onto the couch where I spent all of last night vegetating. My sudden enthusiasm for picking an outfit for tonight has waned as quickly as it appeared, and now all I want to do is sleep. Sure enough, I quickly fall into a light doze, where my broken sleep is punctuated by dreams of Mrs Jacobs brandishing the shoes that knocked against her wall on Wednesday night and running after me and Tommy, shouting "Keep the noise down! This is a retirement facility," and an equally disturbing dream where I can see Tommy across a river but neither of us can jump across to join the other.
I'm not stupid. I know exactly what these dreams mean. This is why I force myself out of sleep, even though it necessitates a pounding headache, and look at my clock, to find it's just gone 5. No chance of dinner…
And even though I've been doing my best to convince myself that everything's fine, suddenly I'm drawn back into the spiral of negative thoughts, and I wish I'd stayed asleep.
TommyIt's days like this that I really wish I'd never become a Ranger.
The thought's normally gone as quickly as it arrives. I've gained too many things to be truly resentful for something I can't change anyway. Still, if I hadn't been drawn in a second time, I wouldn't have this huge black eye which I can't explain away to Kim without her giving me a matching one on the other side to punish me for not explaining sooner.
I'm sitting in my basement with Hayley, who's trying to recalibrate some of the co-ordinates picked up after yesterday's untimely fight. I had just started dialling Kim's number to give her directions when the alarm started screeching downstairs. I hadn't expected two fights in two days, and I definitely hadn't expected Mesogog and Elsa to put up so much resistance to us after we'd done such a good job of draining much of their power only a couple weeks beforehand.
"Are you alright, Tommy?" Hayley asks, pressing the final keys with a flourish, and turning to look at me. I must cut a pretty despondent figure, slumped over a chair pressing the aforementioned bruise as if trying to make it disappear. "I know we weren't expecting them to have so much power so soon, but we'll just have to adjust our overall strategy, that's all."
Would it completely embarrass me to admit that wasn't what I was thinking of? Probably. "Yeah, I know. We'll have to consider mounting a concerted attack in the next week or so to try and drain more power from them again, and then hope they attack pretty soon after that, and hopefully we can finish them." I stand up from my hopeless pose, and catch a glimpse of my watch. I'd thought Hayley and I had only been working for a couple hours since we started at 11, but no. My watch says ten past five, and I am officially a dead man. We still have some repair work to do on the Zords, and I don't think we can afford to leave it till tomorrow. Knowing our luck, Mesogog would attack again, and we'd have no Zords. "I'm just going up to make a call. We'd better get started on the repair work once I get back."
Hayley nods, and stretches her arms above her head. "That sounds like a plan to me. I'll get the tools ready and make a start."
"Thanks." I make my way upstairs, and frantically start thinking of excuses to keep Kim on my side until I can see her in person. I will explain to her why I couldn't make it either last night or tonight. She deserves nothing less… And she also deserves to be told in person, not over the phone. But I can't bring her here to tell her, she and Hayley don't get along, and the Zord work's going to keep me busy until late. It sounds like time to bring out one of the excuses that used to keep my parents happy when I was off saving the world. Only problem is, she invented half of them.
The thought of not calling her at all crosses my mind, but I know Kim well enough to realise that if I do that, she'd never speak to me again. Can I evade the subject for long enough to make it unnecessary for me to lie at all? It's unlikely, but I decide to give it a shot.
I dial her number quickly, and pray she won't kill me straight off for having left it this late to call her. She picks up after three rings, and I think she already knows it's me on the other end of the phone, as she growls "Hello?"
"Hi, it's me," I say warily, suddenly unsure as to what to say to her. I can hear a yawn in the background, and then she comes back on the line.
"I guess dinner's out of the question then?"
Much as I would love to cook dinner for her tonight, and explain why I've been acting so strangely for the past couple days, it's out of the question. Unless…
"Not necessarily. I've got to finish a couple of things here, but we could grab something to eat somewhere else if you want. I won't have time to cook anything, but I really need to see you." My courage could well fade if I don't see her now I've made up my mind to confess, as it were. And the fact I've missed her like crazy since Wednesday night also plays its part, of course.
"I hate to say it, but I'm exhausted," Kim admits, and I suddenly realise what could be going on here – too much evasion will give Kim the impression that I'm not interested, when in fact nothing could be further from the truth. "I don't think I could face the drive to Reefside, and if you're not going to be finished with whatever it is you're doing till late, I'll probably be falling asleep at the wheel. Ever get the feeling fate's conspiring against us?"
"Every day," I admit, and sink down into my sofa. I can't spare enough time for dinner, but I need to reassure Kim out of the paranoia I think she's feeling. Hayley knows more about the technology than I do, so she'll be able to make a start on the repair work while I'm on the phone. "It happens, we're at strange times in our lives, and we both have other problems going on. I know it's weird that our friendship's suddenly changed again after all this time, but I'm willing to do anything I can to make it work."
Thankfully, Kim's dubious mood seems to have lifted. "It is weird, but everything happens for a reason, right? Although if you keep cancelling dates then I will have to find my own way to Reefside and kick your ass."
"I've got no doubt that you'll do it," I tell her, and she laughs.
"So, when is whatever's keeping you away from the kitchen going to be done?"
Thank god she's not probing deeper, because now it's come to the crunch, I really don't think I could lie to her, and I know that if I tell her over the phone I'll mess it up. I need to see her, and make sure she understands I honestly didn't realise she hadn't been told. And then grovel for a thousand years when she yells at me for not telling her straight off. "Once the weekend's over, I'll be free, but I've had second thoughts about cooking for you. I don't want to subject you to food poisoning before we've had a first official date."
"Not counting the three years in high school, of course," Kim reminds me, and I shrug. I have a cunning plan that should go a long way towards appeasing her when I finally get the chance to break the news to her.
"First date where we're not teenagers, that is. Anyway. Do you know San Felipe at all? It's halfway between Reefside and Surfside."
"I've heard of it, but I've never been there. Why?" she asks curiously.
"There's an amazing Chinese restaurant there, and I thought we could maybe go to eat there. It'll cut down on the driving time for both of us, and I don't have to do the dishes afterwards."
"Yeah, and I won't have to take a week off work to deal with the after-effects of food poisoning," Kim jokes. At least, I hope it's a joke. My cooking really isn't all that bad; most of the hype around its quality has come from Jason and my parents in equal measures. Living by myself for the past few years has meant I need to cook most nights of the week, and a combination of my mother's advice and trial and error have ensured I can make adequate meals, at least. If you listen to Jason, you'd believe I ate take-out six nights a week and went to my parents to be fed on a Sunday.
"That sounds like a good idea, but I don't know if I'll be able to navigate myself around somewhere I've never been before, even with directions," Kim admits, and I grin triumphantly. For someone who was perfectly capable of navigating an airborne Zord for three years, when out of uniform she has an appalling sense of direction, and for the past few years it's become a running joke between us that she couldn't find her way out of a paper bag.
"Finally, you're admitting you have no sense of direction," I say playfully, and am rewarded with a high-pitched squeal, and a retort of,
"At least I don't forget where I'm meant to be going!"
"Okay, okay, truce," I laugh. I hadn't thought of how she'd find her way there though, and the streets in San Felipe are notoriously narrow and confusing. I think for a moment, and then come up with a suggestion. "How about I meet you somewhere outside the city, you leave your car somewhere safe, and then I drive the both of us in? There's a roadside café about ten minutes outside San Felipe as you'd be driving in from Surfside, and there's accommodation there too, so your car should be safe enough there." What I leave unspoken is the hope that she won't want to drive back to Surfside at the end of the night, but I'm aware of our somewhat precarious status. Even though both of us have admitted openly that this is what we want, I'm also worried that my news will send her running. In theory, I know that she wouldn't run away from the news that I am a ranger once again, per se. She'll probably just kick my ass to Alaska for not telling me first, and it'll be the trust issue which will make or break us as a couple.
"Safety isn't an issue, my car's so old that no criminal with any self-esteem would want to steal it," Kim reassures me. "So when were you planning on this date?"
"Monday? I might as well start grovelling as soon as possible for messing you around this weekend, and I really need to tell you what's been going on."
"When you tantalise me with gossip and a free dinner, you know I'll be there."
I'm slightly affronted, although only slightly. "What about the pleasure of my company? We haven't seen each other since Wednesday, and even then we each spent half the evening staring into space or stirring our coffee twenty thousand times."
"Yeah, but the other half of the evening was spent in a much better manner," Kim reminds me. "It should go without saying that I want to see you. And not just for the free dinner."
"I can't wait to see you either," I say sincerely, and it's true. I miss her like crazy, even though I'm aware it's ridiculous, we've been best friends for the past ten years and now are taking the first tentative steps towards being a couple once more. The timing couldn't have been worse for either of us – me with trying to save the world from aliens, Kim with starting a new job where she seems to think everyone hates her – but what we're both feeling can't be wrong. Can it? "Is there any chance you could get off work early? Otherwise we'll both be stuck in rush-hour traffic. We could go grab a coffee before going to dinner if we meet earlier as well."
"All we seem to do these days is drink coffee. Oh, and break public indecency laws," Kim laughs, and I grin back. "I'll say I have a doctor's appointment, and I'll leave work at about half 3. How long will it take me to get to wherever it is I have to go?"
"It should be about forty-five minutes during the day. I think it's called Betty's Roadside Café. Take the freeway to Reefside, then take the exit for Roseland, and it's just as you get to the junction coming off the road. We'll have to avoid any public displays of affection there though; we may get hounded off the premises from Betty. I've heard stories about her aversion to the male of the species."
"Freeway to Reefside, exit at Roseland," Kim mumbles, and I can hear the faint scratching of pencil against paper in the background. "Okay. I guess I'll see you Monday, then."
"I'll call you tomorrow if I can," I say, uncomfortably aware that I'm leaving her hanging slightly with my aversion to the emergency that has arisen, but if I tell her I'm needed to repair Zords when for all she knows, our last involvement with them was twelve years ago, she'll faint. I know we've grown up, but I'm sure Kim still has a predilection to fainting when she receives shocking news.
"If you don't, I'll call you," she threatens. "I'm dying to know what this mysterious gossip is. I have half a mind to ring you every hour on the hour and squeal at you until you break and let me in on the facts."
"And I really need to tell you, but not over the phone. Trust me, you'll understand when I tell you," I say earnestly. "And, of course, there's the small matter of me wanting to pick up where we left off with the kissing on Wednesday night, but I guess that comes second to the gossip."
"You'll just have to wait till Monday afternoon I guess, won't you? Now go and finish whatever it is, so you can definitely make it then, and I won't begin to think it's something I've said which is putting you off seeing me again."
"Believe me, it's nothing you've said," I reassure her, all the while uneasily aware that it's more likely to be something I will say which will put her off rekindling anything. "I'll see you Monday, about half past four."
"Bye," Kim says. I hang up the phone, and turn to find Hayley standing behind where I'm sitting with a strange expression on her face. "How long were you standing there?"
"Long enough to know that someone's keeping secrets," she admits, and walks closer to me. "So, who's the lucky lady?"
"It's none of your business," I say briskly, and begin walking back down to the basement to get on with what it is that's keeping me away from Kim.
"If it's going to distract you from your duties as a Ranger, then it is my business," Hayley points out. "Are you going to be contactable on Monday, or are you going to switch your cell off and leave the rest of us to deal with the fallout?"
I'm not completely dense, and I know that at one time, Hayley had feelings for me. I've only ever seen her as a friend, and I thought we were clear that that's all we were; but if I'm not mistaken there's a subtle hint of jealousy in her tone. I decide that the 'ostrich's head in the sand' technique has worked well so far, and ignore the hostility. "Of course I won't switch my phone off. I won't be all that far away, and if you need me, you know what to do. Just try and keep it quiet, I don't want to be grilled by the others about my love life."
"Does that mean I can grill you?" Hayley asks, and luckily she's smiling and the harshness has disappeared. "Who is she? You've been doing a good job of keeping it quiet, whoever she is."
"It hasn't been going on for long," I admit as I arrive in the basement, and grab some of the equipment we'll need to fix the Zords. Both Ethan and Trent's Zords are pretty badly damaged, and it'll take the rest of the day and most of tomorrow to get them back online. "I've already had to cancel two dates on her because of commitments here, so we need to work quickly to make sure third time's the charm and I actually make it to the third. If you take Trent's Zord and I take Ethan's, we should work quickly."
"Just because I'll be fixing things doesn't mean I can't interrogate you," Hayley teases, but she takes the hint when I fix her with a death glare, and holds her hands up in surrender. "Alright, alright, I'll give it a rest. But you'd better be careful or the gossip hounds otherwise known as your students and the rest of the team will get to hear of what's going on, and they won't be as merciful as I'm being."
"And don't I know it," I say under my breath. In a louder voice, I continue, "They won't know about it. Now, let's get on with fixing these Zords so the next time Mesogog decides to attack, we'll be ready."
KimSo, two dates cancelled and still I go running back for more. It really is as though I'm sixteen all over again, even down to the minute dissection of gossip with Aisha on the phone on Sunday afternoon. She's on call, despondent and bored, and I'm in my apartment doing nothing in particular. A phone call was inevitable.
"Let me see if I've got this straight. You arranged to meet on Friday, he cancels but says he's incredibly sorry, and immediately reschedules for Saturday. Yet, on Saturday evening, he calls to cancel yet again, and reschedules for Monday. It's official, the fearless leader is a mass of contradictions," Aisha says. "If it were under any other circumstances I'd yell at you for being a sap, but it sounds as though something's up. Did he give you any kind of clue as to what made him cancel?"
I sigh, and wriggle to get in a more comfortable position on my couch. "No, except it was urgent, he was really sorry, and he wanted to explain it to me in person rather than on the phone. I thought it might have been something about work but I would have thought he'd tell me about it over the phone rather than make it sound so secretive."
"You know Tommy, ever the drama queen," Aisha reminds me, and I grin. He always did have the tendency to overreact at the strangest times, yet remain annoyingly calm whenever we were about to go into battle. "I think it'll be something small like he didn't have any clothes to wear, or has had a bad haircut and is waiting in vain for it to grow before he sees you again."
"He's promised me a Chinese meal on Monday," I inform Aisha. "I'm half-expecting him to cancel again, and the other part of me is stupidly excited about seeing him again. Am I setting feminism back fifty years?"
"Don't worry about it Kim, you and Tommy have always been the exception that proves the rule," Aisha assures me. "I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation – at least, reasonable by his standards. Let me know as soon as you do, then I can call him and laugh at him for being vain."
"I will, I will," I say, somewhat pacified by the reassurances of a best friend. "When will you be getting here over the weekend?"
"My vacation time starts Friday afternoon, so I'll start the drive early afternoon, and should be in Surfside by five," Aisha tells me. "I spoke to Kat earlier and she'll meet us in town while we're out. Trini has to wait for Jason to get home from work before she can leave Sally, but she said she shouldn't get here too late. I can't wait to go out with you guys and forget everything that's going on."
"Any developments on that front?" I ask.
"It's improved a little since we last spoke, he's graduated from being silent to merely skittish. He's talking in full sentences now, which is a step up from grunting to me, but he's hiding something, and I'm not sure what. Hopefully he'll snap out of it when he realises he can't get me to cook for him all over the weekend, and realise what he could be missing out on." There's more than a hint of bitterness in Aisha's tone, and I ask curiously,
"Do you really think he was considering ending it?"
"If there's no future in it, I'll end it myself," Aisha threatens. "Kim, I don't want you to doubt that I love him. I do, I love him more than anything, but if we're just coasting along and he sees me as someone to fill the time with, then I'm not willing to put up with that. I shouldn't have to."
"I know you shouldn't, but I've seen you two together, and I know that he feels the same way about you that you do about him," I comment. "I think you just scared the living daylights out of him, and he's taking a bit longer to recover than most people. Let's be honest, it's Rocky- the amount of food he's consumed over the years has probably finally slowed down his reflexes."
"We need a short break," Aisha says firmly. "And what better way to spend a weekend apart than with my best friend? I hope you're not going to be sickeningly loved-up with Tommy, and unable to console me. For the past three years, you've been my link to the single life, I don't want you to abandon me when I need someone to tell me men are stupid."
"I won't abandon you when you need me, Sha," I say. "Girls' night all the way."
"Good. Forget about the boy until tomorrow, Kim. Call up one of the people you work with, and see if they want to meet for drinks. Get out of the house, do something to take your mind off things."
"I'm throwing that advice right back at you," I tell her, knowing that she's right. I won't call anyone from work, but I'll go for a walk. That much I can do. "I'll speak to you during the week."
"Damn right you will, I want to know how tomorrow night's date goes," Aisha warns me. "I expect a phone call bright and early on Tuesday morning, full of gossip and things to entertain me while I'm at work."
"I'm not promising anything," I demur, and smile. "If you're speaking to Rocky, tell him I said hi, but frown while you do it so he knows I'm not happy with him."
"Now, that I can do," Aisha says. "I'll call you Tuesday."
I hang up the phone, and determine that I will do something productive. I'll go to the gym. I haven't done any regimented exercise for quite some time, but the routine of the gym should keep my mind off wondering if I am being walked over, despite what Aisha said, and with the bonus of burning off more calories than sitting on my couch vegetating. Ever since I gave up gymnastics I've tried to keep myself in shape, and have done pretty well considering I work long hours and have lost much of the willpower which kept me going during my training.
I go to my bedroom and find my gym bag, and start to pack workout clothes, my Walkman and a bottle of water. If I don't think about it, maybe it'll all turn out okay. Maybe Tommy's secret will turn out to be something innocuous. Maybe my mother will decide she really doesn't want to come visit and I won't have to deal with entertaining her and my stepdad for two weeks. Maybe tomorrow the problems at work will miraculously disappear and I won't have to resign like I've been thinking about.
Then again, maybe I'm only putting it off for a day, and the problems will all come back tomorrow. Any respite from bad thoughts is better than none at all…
TommyI'm pretty sure now that the fates are indeed conspiring to piss me off as much as is humanly possible. I can think of no other reason why as soon as I get into my car to drive up to San Felipe, my communicator chimes. I hope against hope that it's Conner playing with the system again to tell me that something cool has just happened at the Cyberspace, but no. Apparently, that's too much to ask for.
"Tommy, it's Hayley. I know you had other plans today but you're going to have to get back here right away. Mesogog and Elsa are wreaking havoc once again, and we're going to need all five of you to finish them off."
I sigh loudly, and restrain myself from banging my head against the steering wheel. "Alright, I'll be straight there." I turn the engine on, and speed to my place as soon as possible. Surely the threat can't be too dangerous if I'm being summoned to my place rather than the battlefield?
No such luck, as I get home in record time to find all five of my cohorts huddled round the viewing screen, looking at the scenes unfolding in what can only be described as horror. From what I can see over their heads, Mesogog, Elsa and Zeltrax have got a group of school kids about six years younger than the Rangers hostage.
It's times like these where I forget I've seen most of this before. Until you've lived through it yourself and come through the other side, you tend to forget that evil aliens can do terrible things, and you have to use your horror at the situation against them in order to defeat them.
"Okay guys, here's what we're going to do," I say authoritatively, and five people jump in unison, none of them having heard me make my way into the basement. I refrain from commenting on their lack of awareness skills, instead issuing orders as to how we're going to rescue the school kids. "I'll take Ethan and Trent, and we'll distract the head guys – using the Zords if we have to, but we'll avoid it if we can, as they're still not 100 after the fight on Friday. Conner, Kira, I'm going to need you to get into where they're being kept without being seen, and rescue the kids. I don't care how you do it, but they can't be harmed in any way. Any questions?"
"Yeah, what were the other plans that you had for this afternoon?" Conner asks wickedly, and I sigh. He's matured a lot since becoming the Red Ranger, but it's days like these when you remember they're still only seventeen, and strangely fascinated with the life of their mentor.
"Something that shouldn't have to wait, but is going to have to," I say briskly. "We won't leave the scene until they give up – we're not at completely full strength, but they won't be either. Hopefully they'll have fewer resources than us, and we can finish it quick enough. Let's go." I prepare to morph, but Hayley suddenly shouts,
"Tommy, wait!" I turn to her, exasperatedly, and she says quickly, "Do you want me to ring and cancel your dentist appointment? They charge you if you don't make your allotted slot." The look in her eyes as well as the subtext hammers it home that she's talking about Kim, although she doesn't know the subject of the appointment. I look at my watch, and quickly calculate that if the fight goes well, I can make it without being too late.
"If this goes well, I should make it on time. Thanks for offering Hayley, but it'll be fine." With that, the team morphs hurriedly, and we run to the site where the hostages are being kept, an abandoned building site where a swimming pool was meant to be constructed until the money with which to fund the project ran out.
Elsa stands at the entrance to the site, blocking any hope we had of getting Conner and Kira in there straight off without being noticed. "Took your time, didn't you Rangers? I suppose some of us have prior commitments we need to deal with first?" She glares at me, for some unknown reason, and then suddenly shouts, "You're going nowhere quickly!"
Guess I won't be making it to San Felipe an hour late, after all…
I had figured their powers would have taken a large hit since Friday, but all of them seem as strong as ever. Even with the use of my, Trent and Ethan's Zords, it takes at least an hour to force an opening through which Conner and Kira can go to reach the kids. And through the opening, they still have to deal with at least thirty Tyrannodrones, while we try to fend off Elsa and Zeltrax, as well as a strangely formed monster which resembles a calculator slightly, with what seems to be number pads on its chest.
"What are we going to do?" Trent asks worriedly. "They don't seem affected at all, and they're not even showing any weaknesses. That calculator thing sure looks strange, but it's taking every hit we aim at it, and coming back with more."
"Hopefully, as soon as Conner and Kira get the kids out of there, they'll realise their hostages have been rescued, and give up," I say grimly, all the while knowing it's more than likely this won't be the case. Both Elsa and Zeltrax have displayed personal grudges against me in the past, and there's no reason why this should be any different. My communicator beeps, and I take my eyes off the controls of my Zord to answer the call. "What's up?"
"Requesting permission to take the hostages back to town in our Zords," Kira says, sounding more than a little out of breath. "No-one's noticed we've got them outside yet, but it's only a matter of time, and they're too small to run for a long time back to school."
"Do whatever it takes, just get them there and then come back here if the fight's still going on," I instruct, and close the link. As soon as I do that, I see Conner and Kira's Zords appear in the distance to spirit the kids back to their parents who must be worried sick, and then my communicator beeps again.
"Listen, I've figured out a way to beat the calculator," Hayley informs me. "The numbers on his chest are connected to his programming somehow, he really is a robot. If you can press the code 5768, he'll automatically self-destruct, and that should force Elsa and Zeltrax to withdraw."
"Hayley, you're a genius!" Ethan yells behind me, as we manipulate the controls of our combined Zords to use the arm to type in the code. As can only be expected, we meet heavy resistance, but with the three of us, we eventually manage to type in the code, with a few minor errors along the way. Sure enough, Hayley was right, and the monster explodes in sparks that shoot up into the dusky sky, and Elsa and Zeltrax shake their fists, yell a few choice insults, and disappear back to Mesogog's lair to plan their next strategy.
Hang on a minute… dusk? How long has this fight lasted, anyway?
"Well done, guys," Hayley says over the open link. "Conner and Kira have just reunited the kids with the worried parents, and they're on their way back. Oh, and Tommy, your phone has rung about twenty times since you've been gone. I think the dentist's place was trying to get hold of you."
I wait until I'm safely back in the basement and demorphed before daring to check my watch.
Oh shit. It's seven thirty, and I'm officially a dead man.
Hayley hands me my phone with a worried look, and Conner, Kira, Ethan and Trent look very interested in what I'm doing as I listen to the verbal abuse Kim has left on my answer phone. It's nothing more than I deserve, I should have listened to Hayley before we left and called Kim to let her know I wasn't going to be able to make it.
"Dr O, are you okay? You look like you've had bad news," Kira says concernedly as I hang up the phone and debate with myself whether to call Kim back now, as the message was only left ten minutes ago, or leave her to calm down and ring her later.
"The dental surgery is fining me for not turning up," I say distractedly, and look around for my car keys, which I'm pretty sure I threw on the floor as I came in earlier in the afternoon.
"They'll be closed now, you can't go and pay it till the morning," Ethan says, missing the looks that Hayley and I are shooting each other.
"I'm not going there, I need to get some milk and something to eat this evening," I say, finally locating my keys under Trent's coat. "We'll debrief tomorrow, but it was a good job well done, guys. See you tomorrow," I yell back, as I sprint out of the house, and into my car.
I've been putting this off for too long, and it may have cost me my relationship with my first love and best friend. It's time to face the music, and if it means a long drive after a gruelling fight, then it's no less than I deserve.
Kim
I arrive home in a foul mood, having spent the car journey yelling insults at men in general. Every male driver was the subject of a tirade about how men are unreliable, useless, and not to be trusted. I may have been overreacting slightly, but can you blame me? After three broken dates, I deserve to have very little faith in those with the Y chromosome. I also deserve to be hit very hard over the head for having believed Tommy when he said he'd turn up this afternoon, but I settle for stopping off at the
convenience store near me and buying the biggest tub of ice-cream I can find.
I don't call anyone or do anything, even though the answer phone message light is blinking at me from across the room. I choose instead to find a clean spoon in the cutlery drawer in the kitchen, and dig into my carton of ice-cream.
The only men this girl needs in her life are Ben and Jerry; any others are superfluous.
I don't cry – why would I? I had doubts all along, but they were outweighed by what seemed to be a relentless feeling that entering into some kind of relationship with Tommy was the right thing to do. Obviously, I was wrong. So, even though I'm close to tears through sheer frustration, let alone disappointment, I choose instead to take out my anger on the ice-cream, and manage to demolish half the tub before I feel sick and have to stop.
My breathing slows down, and I place the ice-cream on the floor. Much as I would like to call him again and yell at him for an explanation, I resist – if he wants to explain himself, then he'll have to make his move first. I'm done with falling for excuses and waiting for him to call. I'll move on, with or without him.
I reach for the phone, about to call Aisha and join her in another "Men are idiots" rant, when the buzzer to my apartment rings insistently. I ignore it – it'll either be the guy from next door forgetting his keys for the third time this month, or Mrs Jacobs using a new trick to get me to keep the noise down. The person pressing the buzzer has other ideas to me however, as the noise simply does not stop, and if I don't want to lose my hearing, it leaves me no choice but to stomp over to my intercom and growl in a not entirely accommodating tone, "What do you want?"
"It's me. Can I come up?"