Disclaimer: I do not own the power rangers or any of the weapons and/or original characters from that series. This is the third story in the "Saving the World, Again" series, so any characters from those stories that are mine, might be brought in. I do own the character Ally Jameson as I know she will appear in this story a good bit and I just wanted to let you know that she is my character from the beginning. I also own the characters of Janice Mitchell, Principal McEntire, and Mallory Wiggins.
Now, on with the Story!
My Last Day of WorkKim's POV
Well, the day has finally come for me to quit working at the elementary school for a few months and go on maternity leave, which is something I have been looking forward to more and more lately. My due date is still about a month away, but Tanya and some of the other doctors at the hospital think that it is best for me to go ahead and take off earlier than normal, just to be on the safe side. I don't have any condition that would make it necessary for the baby to be born early, but I've already dilated some and standing as much as I do, does not keep that situation from progressing anymore, which is something that they would like to prevent. My fellow teachers decided that they wanted to give me a little party today, so before I can go home to Tommy, I have a party to attend.
"Kimberly Oliver, why are you still working on your lesson plans? I'm sure that we can help your substitute teacher if you missed something and you are not supposed be over stressing yourself right now, missy. You don't want me to tell Tommy about how you have been acting today," Janice Mitchell said, walking in to see the very pregnant kindergarten teacher still writing away on her lesson plans, as if her life might be taken away if they did not contain every bit of information that she could think about telling the substitute. She had always been thorough, but there were times when they wished she would just calm down and not worry about it. She had enough stress in her life that she did not need to add any more self-induced stress to that plate. She however didn't understand that concept.
Janice was a second grade teacher and she happened to be four rooms down the hall from her, but the two of them were fairly good friends, despite the age difference, as she had been teaching for nearly twenty years and did not feel the need to retire anytime soon. She was about the same height as Kim, but she had short brown hair with bangs and wore small, rimmed glasses, due to her eyesight having started to go away from her over the past few years, which was something she was not too happy to admit. She had been able to go years without them and she was not too happy to have to consent to wearing them now.
When Kim had first started teaching at the school, the administration had somehow managed to give her one of the hardest classes that had ever been assembled at Reefside Elementary. She, somehow, made it through it and got rehired the next year, which let them know that she was probably there to stay, unless she choose to leave them on her own.
After her marriage, many had thought that she would slow down her life some and try to enjoy it and everything that was going on with her new husband, but that didn't seem to be what was on her mind. During the remainder of that particular school year, she had been the head of a committee, taught extra gymnastics classes and had somehow managed to begin working on her master's, although she had, had to put it on hold due to unknown circumstances.
Most of the staff thought she was overstressed and had just had to let something go, but the ones who really knew her best thought it was something more. She always seemed to have this secret that she was having to hide from all of them, but as she had never caused them any trouble, they never asked about it. It just seemed like it was something that was normal for her to keep that way and they did not question the little bit of normalcy in her life.
When they found out that she was pregnant after school got out at the end of the year, last year, they had immediately taken it upon themselves to try to make this school year less stressful and it had been, for the most part, but there were still some things that they could not do anything about. That mainly had to deal with the administration and how they acted towards her on a daily basis. They came down on her harder than they usually would and she could not help but not understand why it was like that, when she had done nothing to cause it. She tried to avoid the principal and not do anything that would upset her, but she still didn't like Kim at all. None of them could explain why the administration was acting like that towards her, other than the fact that their principal was a friend with Randall and Tommy and Randall weren't friends, at all.
Most of her friends had tried to comfort her while she was at school, after Principal McEntire came down on her particularly hard, but on a few occasions she had, had to leave the school, as the stress was not good for her or the baby. They got the feeling that she had gone to the high school to see Tommy and he sent her home, for the day, knowing that if she went back, she was likely to do something she would regret. They needed both of their jobs to be kept afloat and they all had hoped that Kim would be able to take off a little bit longer, as she had not been taking many days off at all, but their principal was not budging on allowing her to have a few extra days of peace. The only reason she had allowed to leave early was because Tanya sent a notice that Kim was to take off on this date and for six weeks after the date that the baby was born.
"I'm not over stressing myself, I just thought of some details I left out about some of the kids when I talked to her this afternoon. She needs to be prepared for what she is getting herself into with these kids. Most five year olds don't like a change this big. It is just not in their nature to adjust to something like this easily and I don't want to hear from Principal McEntire while I'm gone. Tanya has made it very clear that I am supposed to rest while I'm not working and if she calls I certainly won't be resting," Kim said, as she pushed her chair away from her desk and slowly stood up and stretched her back as much as she could.
Her belly had now grown to where she could no longer see her feet and most morning's Tommy had to put on her shoes for her, but he had been patient through all of it and was just happy that she and the baby were doing fine, which was a small miracle considering how most other things in their life went. He was really happy with all of this and that baby meant more to him than anything and almost anyone, except her and most people that knew them, knew that. She had had some horrible mood swings lately, but he had taken it well, everything was fine right now and he was more than willing to deal with it again. As long as he could see her be happy later, she could cuss him out anytime she wanted to do so.
"Is Tommy going to be able to make it down here today?" Janice asked, as she had to admit that with him around they didn't worry about having to tell Kim to slow down, she just did. It was like when she saw him, she knew that he would not be happy if she tried to push her body any more than she already was and by him acting like that, they knew that she would be even more careful in his presence.
"No, he has two classes to teach at the dojo this afternoon and then I think he wants to start working on the nursery before I get home," Kim said, waddling down the hall, towards the library where they had chosen to hold the party. It was farther away from her room than any other place in the building, but it did have to most room and that counted for something. "Although I asked him to start working on it earlier during the week, but he has always been a procrastinator. I guess that is something that I should have gotten used to a long time ago. It's nothing to really get mad about; he'll do it on his own time frame. I just don't know if I can stand that time frame waiting much longer. He only has a few more weeks to get everything done."
"Does he have some painting to do?" Janice asked, as she had heard about the way that they were going to decorate the nursery, but she had no clue as to what extent that it had been worked on as of yet.
"Yeah, that's the main reason he wants to get started before I get there. If he can get that done before I get home, then I can help him with some of the other small stuff," Kim said, as she opened the door to the library. Several of the teachers stopped their talking for a few seconds before resuming it, knowing that this was no surprise to her.
"So, does the baby keep you awake a lot?" Janice asked, as she could remember her own children kicking her often enough to make sleep nearly impossible some nights and she hoped that her friend was not going through that. She could, also, remember what it was like to wake her husband in the middle of the night because she couldn't sleep and needed someone to fix her something to eat, not that he was a great cook, but anything tasted good then.
"No, but when little one here decides to kick me, I know that the baby is its father's child. I don't think that I could kick that hard if I even tried to and the way that Tommy is with karate, it shouldn't surprise me at all that this baby can kick. It's funny, Tommy can sit there for hours with his hand on my belly and feel the baby kick, he'll just smile, and it's not so bad, the baby's a ham, likes to do nice things for Daddy. It just seems that when he is away and the baby kicks, it always aims for one of my organs," Kim said, placing a hand on her belly, as the light pink shirt shied away from her body ever now and then and she was trying to keep it in place.
"Are your other friends holding a shower for you?" Janice asked, as she saw some of them appear at the entrance to the library and she wondered if they had been able to keep it a secret from her.
Their boyfriend's or husband's had all gone to help Tommy with the nursery, so that most of the work would be done by the time that they got home this afternoon. She could only hope that they would not surprise her too much, as she had heard some of the horror stories of what happened to Kim when she was surprised and that was something that they did not want to have to deal with. She could only imagine having to explain to Tommy why his wife fainted and she was sure that she would get an earful if that happened.
"They haven't said anything about one, yet, but they probably will sometime, you really never know with them. None of our schedules are exactly compatible with each others, as most of them work a nine to five job or worse depending on what they are having to do at work that week. I just don't know how they do it. After all of the years that I have either taught gymnastics or school, I've figured out that I like these hours much better than those," Kim said.
As her friends opened the door and sneaked into the back of the room, letting all of her, teacher friends talk to her before they showed themselves. They really wanted to surprise her this time and they hoped they would be able to do it without her fainting, like she had in the past. They had all been trying to find a time to do this, but it just seemed that this Friday was the best day for all of them.
"Do we know if it is going to be a boy or a girl?" Mallory Wiggins asked, as she sat down next to her friend and fellow kindergarten teacher.
She was several inches taller than the other two teachers were and she had white blonde hair, but still maintained a sense of likeability despite her model type looks. When she had found out that her across the hall friend was pregnant, she was rather surprised about it, but she was happy since Kim was. She had wanted a baby for so long and Mallory was just glad that she was finally going to have one. To be losing the only fellow kindergarten teacher that she got along with was a pain, but she knew Kim would be back before the end of the school year and that would keep things from going completely crazy all around her.
"No, Tommy and I don't know what the baby is going to be, but his parent's do and my parent's do. So they have been strongly suggesting some things for the baby's room, but we've settled on something that will work for either a boy or a girl. It's kinda nice for it to be a surprise. This is actually one surprise that we can both deal with," Kim said, as she thought about the pale green paint that Tommy would be using, to match the little sheets that came with the crib.
He had never been one for that type of thing, but he knew that it made her happy and he was more than willing to settle for something like that than for something that went strictly boy of strictly girl. He wanted to do the baby's room once, that was all, and he knew that Kim understood how he felt about that. It was going to be enough work for him, helping her put things where she wanted them, but he was happy to do it, so that she would be happy with the room. All he wanted to do was plop down a crib in there and that would have satisfied him, but it didn't satisfy her, at all and he knew that. He also didn't want to hear any complaining from her about it, if it did not turn out to meet her specifications and he was sure he would have heard that if they had done it his way.
"Are your parents coming into town for the baby's birth?" Mallory asked, as the last she had heard was that they were not exactly sure when or if they could come in at all. Tommy's parents lived in Angel Grove, so it was not a question of if they would be there, it was just how soon. Her parents, on the other hand, lived out of state and they knew that they would be lucky to get them into Reefside before they left the hospital with the baby.
"No, neither one is going to be able to make it in time for the birth, but they are going to come in a few weeks after the baby is supposed to be born. They were both able to find some time in their schedules to come in then, so it'll work itself out someway," Kim said, as her stomach grumbled and she looked down at her belly, wondering how she could be hungry again. She had just eaten a snack two hours ago and that usually held her over until supper, but it was not doing that today, but she did have to admit that over the last week or so that snack had lasted less time for her. "Well, I guess that I need to eat, since it's obvious that I'm hungry."
"Before you eat, why don't you make sure that everyone is here that you want to be here," Janice said, as her fellow rangers stood up at the back of the room, insuring that Kim would see them when she looked around and they could only hope that it would not overwhelm her too much.
"Yeah, everyone is, even Tri…" Kim said, as she stopped mid word, trying to make her mind understand why her friends were here without her knowing about it. As she stared at them, they moved towards her and she gave each of them a hug before any of them said anything to her, as she was still rather shocked. They were just praying that the shock was not too much for her this time.
"Surprise," Hayley said with a smile, as the others smiled and Kim had to hold herself on the ground as she wanted to jump up and down because she was so happy to see her friends, but she thought better of it, as her back would soon start complaining and Tommy would not like to hear about it tonight. He had probably had a day from hell with the way that he sounded on the phone this afternoon.
Sure, she saw Hayley and Ally around town and at the dojo every once in awhile, but ever since Mesogogg had taken a break; she was not able to see them as much either. It just was not wise for her to walk around Reefside without someone being with her, as she could not very well protect herself without risking harm to the baby and when Tommy and she went somewhere, most people just left them alone, no matter how well they knew them.
Tommy just always seemed to emit this feeling that they needed to be left alone and it did help with the teenagers, as they finally seemed to be getting the point that neither one was available anymore, especially with her being pregnant. For the first time since he had taught at Reefside, he had not received one anonymous gift, which was a miracle in itself.
"How did you know?" Kim asked, as her teacher buddies all held secretive smiles on their faces and she figured it out after a few seconds of looking at them. "Ya'll did this?"
"We knew that it would be hard for you to find time to go to Angel Grove, so we just asked them if they would come to ours," Janice said and Kim gave her a hug, before her stomach grumbled again and she looked down at it with a reproachful glare. "It looks like baby is hungry."
"Yeah, it does," Kim said, as she looked over at the table of food and then back at her friends, wondering if she should let them go first. "Do you want to eat first?"
"Kim, eat. We know that you are hungry," Kat said, as she put her arm around the pink ranger and guided her over to the table of food. She had wanted to talk to Kim about some things for a very long time and she could only hope that her friends would let her do that now. "Look, I just wanted to tell you that if you ever need someone to come take care of the baby, I'll come anytime. I have the most flexible schedule and considering some things that could go on, I'm willing to help if you need it and I don't hold anything against you. I know that I have said it before, but I really want you to understand that now. It's going to be rough on all of us when things start happening and we need to all be on the same side."
"Thanks, Kat, trust me I'll call you and I'm sorry about what I did all those years ago. So, how are you and Adam, or should I even ask about that one?" Kim asked, as she knew that Adam had been trying to figure out just when he was going to propose and Kim figured it would be after they defeated Mesogogg, but she might have been wrong.
He might have felt as if he needed to do that earlier, rather than later. She sure knew that Mesogogg's presence had been one of the deciding factors in Jason proposing to Trini earlier than he expected. She just didn't know if Adam was prepared to throw all of that together and then have something happen, which was very likely.
"We're alright, these last few months have been hard, with not knowing what is ahead, but I think that we'll be able to make it through, somehow," Kat said, as she knew that Kim had figured out what she was talking about. They had been trying to figure out who would take her and Tommy's places on the other team, but nothing had happened when Kat tried to get shards from the box a few months ago. They could only hope that they would appear when she tried it again, but they had begun a small search for people who might be able to do the job, but had come up rather empty handed in it as well. "Nothing new though, right?"
"Nope, nothing new," Kim said filling her plate and she couldn't help but feel sorry for her fellow ranger. Katherine wanted to help them so much, but the powers were not responding to her, but maybe they would when they finally had to battle Mesogogg again and if they didn't they were just up the creek without a paddle. They knew that they needed every ranger that they could get and if she was not able to get any powers, then where were they to turn to next? "We would have told you if we found something. It's the least we could do."
"That's nice to know," Kat said with a smile, as they sat down in chairs next to each other.
The other former rangers and ranger colleagues soon joined the two of them and they found it quite hard to not bring up the subject with other people around. They had that one thing on all of their minds now, since Mesogogg had been too quiet for their liking, although it was giving them time for Kim to have a healthy baby without worrying about him attacking her everyday.
"Okay, so we aren't just going to sit around and fill our faces all day. We've got some presents for you and then we also have a few things that Tommy might need to make it through all of this alive," Janice said, as she passed Kim the first gift and she carefully ripped through the paper, to reveal a bathtub for baby's, which was something that had been on her wish list since the beginning. The rest of the presents that she opened contained baby clothes, booties, bibs, bottles, pacifiers, blankets, and almost any other thing that could be used for a baby, including plenty of diapers. Then they got to the funny presents that were meant for Tommy's use and Kim's humor.
"I got Tommy an ice pack, for when you break and bruise his poor hand," Mallory said, as she passed it over to Kim and she couldn't help but giggle at the thought of Tommy actually having to use it. She knew that it could be a possibility, but she didn't really want anyone else to know about it. Her friends would think that, but only some of her friends would know that it was possible.
"I'm not that strong," Kim said, as some of the other teachers looked at her questioningly and her ranger friends just laughed at her trying to make them believe that one. If she was not that strong, then she would have been dead because of some of the things that she had been through and they all knew that, not that they really wanted to admit it.
"That was what my husband thought when I had our first child. Trust me, after I went through labor, he didn't think that anymore," Janice said, as she remembered her husband having to find some sort of padding to keep her from crushing his hand. They still found that funny to this day, although it did take him a little longer to laugh about it than her. "I got Tommy a roll of duct tape, so if he can not remember to shut up when you ask him, you can remind him."
"I'm glad he's not here, he might get scared after hearing what ya'll have to say," Kim said, taking the duct tape and laughing about it as well. If she had to do that, then he would possibly consider knocking her out later, but she doubted that he would remember it after he saw the baby. They all knew how his memory was and it seemed that it was going to be like that again with some things.
"And we got Tommy a pink teddy bear," Trini said, as she pointed to all of Kim's ranger friends and she knew Kim would understand the other meaning behind the bear. Kim had a little white teddy bear that Tommy had given her years ago and they thought giving him a pink teddy bear would make sense and it would just be hilarious to see him toting the thing up the stairs. "So for when you ask him not to touch you, he'll have some thing that he can hold."
"He'd kill me if I told him that I didn't want him to touch me," Kim said, as they smiled at how true that statement might be, although not many people understood why it was a pink teddy bear, instead of just a regular brown one. The ones that did, however, knew that Tommy would get a kick out of seeing a giant pink teddy bear. "That teddy bear is huge!"
"Well, we thought he could use something like this," Aisha said, as she passed it to Kim and they could no longer see her face, as she sat it down in her lap and smiled at it.
"Thanks for all the gifts," Kim said, as she looked around at the gifts that had recollected themselves at her feet after being passed through the people. She had no idea how she would fit all of these into her car, but if she knew her friends well enough, at least one of them had their car here and they would be willing to take some of them as well.
"You're welcome," Janice said, giving her a hug as she felt the baby kick against Kim's stomach and Kim winced at the strength she felt from the baby. Tommy and she had talked about what her powers might have done to the baby, but everything seemed normal when they went to the doctor, so there was no need to ask Tanya about it. If questions had been raised, then they would have explained it to her, but there was no need right now. They wouldn't have to now unless something bad came up and they prayed every night that wouldn't happen. "Now, you just go home and take care of yourself for the next month, alright? We have everything here to make sure that the substitute can do this and if we need anything else, we'll call you. I expect to see you back here in about two and a half months, you understand? Not any sooner."
"Yes ma'am," Kim said with a smile, as she looked down at the gifts on the floor and proceeded to squat and pick some of them up. She could only pick up a handful and she knew that it would take her forever to get all of the gifts to her car this way. "Ya'll don't mind helping, do you?"
"No, we don't," Ally said, picking up some gifts, as the others did the same thing. They walked with her out to her car and began stowing them away in the back seat and the trunk, which were soon filled and then they moved on to filling Trini's car as well.
"I have to get my bag and a few books from my room before I can head home, I just have to make sure that I have something to work on. Ya'll can go ahead and go to my house and I'll just meet you there in a little while," Kim said, as they looked at her, trying to figure out if it was wise to argue with her or just let her do what she wanted. They knew that Tommy would have wanted them to stay, but it was not Tommy's choice right now and they were sure that she would be fine at the school
"Alright, but don't take too long. Tommy will be waiting for you and you know what that means for his nerves," Trini said, as she gave Kim a hug and then turned to the others, as they piled into the two vehicles that they had brought and drove away towards Kim and Tommy's house.
"Hello, Kimberly," Richard said, as Kim entered her classroom and she slowly turned around from the door that she had just closed, praying that she did not recognize that voice, but she knew who it was before she even turned around. It had been a long time since she had let any thoughts of him cross her mind, but every bad thing that he had ever done to her was now screaming through her mind, as she tried to remain as calm as she could. She did not want to overstress herself now, not after being so careful lately. Why did he have to choose now to come back to talk to her about something insignificant? "My, haven't you grown. I knew that I should have been keeping a better watch on you, but Mesogogg insisted we stay close to him this time. He didn't want us to blow his plans."
"What do you want?" Kim asked, as she did not dare to walk any further into her room, knowing that if she had to call for help, her best bet would be that some of the teachers could hear her. She couldn't run and she couldn't fight, but she could still yell for help and try to contact Tommy with her communicator, if she had to do that.
"Just to warn you of something. Mesogogg will soon be ready to fight all of you again and that baby of yours might not fair so well," Richard said and then teleported out of them room, leaving Kim confused.
Why had he come to warn her, at all? She then walked around her desk, picking up everything, she needed, and then she quickly exited her room and headed for her car, knowing that the sooner she got home, the sooner she would feel safe.
AN: That's all for this chapter! I hope that you have enjoyed it and feel free to review. To those that do not wish to review, thanks for reading! I appreciate knowing that you have stayed with this series all the way through.