Now, on with the Story!
The Trip: Day Two
Kim's POV
I wish that I couldn't remember the last time that I was on this damn ship, but I do indeed remember that trip very well, too well now that I think about it. I never thought that I was going to have to get back on here again, especially to do this type of work again, but here I am going on another crazy mission that might possibly end my life and cause pain to those that I love and this time it includes a family that is depending on me. It just doesn't make sense that these missions always seem to be necessary. There must be another way around it, but until we figure out what it is we will have to do this, every time something goes seriously wrong.
So many good things happened that last time we had to do something similar to this situation. I found Tommy again; Trini and Jason finally admitted things to each other and we all became friends again. It was actually a pretty good mission to go on, even with having to fight a maniac.
They no longer had to worry about picking sides and pissing either Tommy or me off by talking to the other. They were able to be friends with the both of us again, which is a wonderful blessing for the two of us as well. We missed being with all of them and I know that I have been a better person since I have been able to be around my friends again without worrying about Tommy.
But along with the wonderful things that happened to us, a whole new slew of horrible things that I will remember for the rest of my life came into being. We defeated Nicarni-Aso like we had promised Zordon we would do when we didn't even know what we were going up against, but then Mesogogg came into being after Tommy went to get that doctorate. That was rough for all of us to handle, especially since things had just gotten back to normalf. We had just gotten through with the withdrawal symptoms and here it all was again. I was not bitter then, but I can't help but say that those feelings are boiling up right now. I'm kinda stressed.
I love Tommy, but this is something that inadvertently came from him going away to get his damn doctorate. That piece of paper does not mean that much to him and he admits he would give it back if Mesogogg would have never showed up in our lives. But I can still imagine him hunting down Tommy, just because it would be something that interested them. Tommy knows too much about things that he shouldn't and I know how much that interests those who wish that they knew half of what he does. Mesogogg would definitely be interested in him, we agreed on that much.
I however, can not dwell on these thoughts for too long, other things keep coming into my mind and they will not go away, no matter how hard I try to push them out of my mind. I want to be able to focus on what has to be done, what lies ahead of us, but I cannot find a way to do so with the things that do keep appearing in my mind. I've tried to block them out but it just doesn't seem to work for me. I know that Tommy can do it, he's had to do it, but I'm not him and I can't. I can't forget it all.
These memories are just too horrible to deal with now and I don't know how I will be able to deal with everything if this is the mission that turns out to be the one that ends it all for us. It's not that I'm worried about never being a ranger again, I'm worried about one of us dying, with so much left to go back to this time. We had nothing to go back to last time and this time we have everything in the world to go back to. I know we can't just leave it behind us and die this time, it wouldn't be fair.
I miss my baby, our baby, more than I ever thought that I would when it was time to do this particular mission. I knew it was coming and I knew I was going to have to do this, but I did not think it would be so soon. I thought she'd be older and I'd be more used to leaving her alone with a baby sitter or someone else, but this is what happened to us instead. I don't want to have to go forever without seeing her again, but it might happen if I'm not careful while I'm out there. We have to be more careful this time and I know that it is going to be harder, because our hearts are going to be somewhere else. We've never really had to deal with that problem before and I can only hope that it will not affect us in ways that we would never imagine it to.
I mean, we've dealt with this problem for years, in one form or another. Tommy and myself have almost died several times while trying to defeat some sort of evil that is threatening to take over the Earth, but we didn't have a child during all of those other times. I cannot deal with thinking that this might be the time that we don't make it home. That after all of the sacrifices that we have made in our lives up until now that we will lose our lives when we have finally began what we wanted to start so long ago. I have too much to lose if something like that happens to Tommy or me now. I don't want to leave Angie as an orphan or with only one parent and I can only pray that we will make it out of this mess alive, somehow.
"Kim, are you alright honey?" Tommy asked, as he put a jacket around her shoulders and he smiled down at her.
It was early and he was cold himself and he figured that she was going to be a little bit cold, considering how she had been on their patrol night the last time that they were on the ship. He had woken up to find that she was not next to him. He had gotten to where he had a hard time sleeping when she was not there and he figured she had not been up for very long. The place where she had slept was still warm and he knew that was a definite sign that she had just moved away from him, but that did not comfort him at all.
He couldn't find her downstairs, so he came up here, hoping to find her thinking about something insignificant. He didn't want to have to deal with some serious issue this early in the morning as he had never been a good morning person, but he had the feeling that things were heading that way from the way that she was acting. She was being distant towards him and that was never a good sign from her, unless she had changed and he had not noticed it over the last few months, which he did doubt that had happened. He just knew that the sooner that they talked the better because no one here could be on the outs with anyone as this mission was going to take an immense amount of focus and all of the strength that they had left within them to complete.
"Just thinking about Angie," Kim said, as she quickly wiped her face and then turned away from him, although she didn't really understand why she didn't want him to see her cry. That had never been something that she was ashamed to do in front of him.
It hurt her to be around him right now and she didn't know how he would deal with being so close to her, as she doubted it would be the same way that she would deal with it. He always wanted to comfort her, but she couldn't take comforting this time, it was not what she wanted from him. He needed her and she needed him, but him being Angie's father made it hard to be around him when everything else seemed to be so horrible. How could she be around someone who had caused her so much happiness and so much pain all at the same time? It made no sense to her why she was the one to feel this way, but her only explanation was the train of thought that she had to live under for several years. She had tried to break herself from it and managed to do so when things were good, but when things went bad, there was nothing that she could really do but revert to her comfortable ways. She hated that, but it was the truth of the matter.
"She's fine, Kim. It's you that I'm really worried about right now. You know Katherine, Hayley, and Ally will take good care of her while we're here, trying to do all of this. I wouldn't have left her with people that we don't trust. You just seem really distant, sweetie," Tommy said, as he brushed a piece of hair behind her ear and let his hand gently rest on her shoulder. "Are you sure you're fine?"
He wanted her to calm down and just let him hold her and take everything away, to let him feel as if he mattered in her heart again. She had been pushing her away ever since last night, when she had shrugged his arm off of her when they went to sleep and he couldn't help but try to touch her. It made him ache for him to be this close but not be able to touch her the way he wished. He just wanted to give her some comfort that she desperately needed, but she did not seem to want to let him do that. It seemed like she was mad at him about something, but he could not honestly say that he remembered doing anything to make her mad, as he had allowed her to take her time letting go of Angie last night, although that extra time might be hurting their rangers. There were just some things that he knew had to be done a certain way, but now he had to talk to her, even if she didn't want to talk about any of it.
"I'm fine, I promise Tommy," Kim managed to croak out as she shrugged his hand off her shoulder and then he moved away, trying to not mentally break down. He had been rejected by her before, but this was not one of the best times for her to reject him. He could not take her being mad at him right now, no matter what anyone else thought about the matter. He depended on her; he always had done that, ever since the first day that he met her so many years ago.
Tommy buried his face in his hands as he began to cry, he needed her right now, but she was so upset about leaving Angie on Earth that she couldn't feel those emotions running through him. She usually was so good at it, but she was in another place and he felt it was selfish to try to pull her out of it. He knew what she was feeling, he was going through the same thing, but he didn't want to push her away from him because of it. He wanted her to tell him what was going on in her mind and then just let him try to take the worries away. He felt it was his job to do that, even if she didn't like that he felt that way about her problems. It was now their problems, whether she liked it or not.
"No, you're not and you won't let me help you feel better. You won't let me love you past all of this," Tommy whispered as Kim's own shoulders began to shake with the tears that were beginning to flow out of her eyes. She knew that what he was saying was right, but she didn't want to be close to him, it hurt, not that he would understand why it hurt her so much.
She didn't want him to remind her of Angie, she didn't want anything close to her to remind her of her baby, even if it meant leaving Tommy out of her life for a few days. She saw so much of Angie in Angie's father and her husband that it just hurt to be around him, to look at him the way that she always had. His eyes, his smile, and even the way that he would look at her sometimes, she had seen Angie do so much of that while she was at home with her. Yes, she was not even a month old, but that child had so much of Tommy in her that it hurt to see it in him, when she wanted to be with her baby, instead of on another mission.
"Tommy, it hurts too much. She's yours too. What happens if we never make it back to her? What happens if we die out there this time?" Kim cried as he gathered her in a tight hug, while crying himself. He knew that last night they had only stopped their crying for a short while, but he had to get her to stop thinking about it today. He knew that they had no choice about how many more tears that they could spare, they had to get it all out now and then try to act normally. They both had a job to do and if they didn't do it, her fears might come true and he didn't want that to happen. He couldn't lose her, but she couldn't lose him either and he knew it. It would kill either of them if it happened this time and they would be no good to go back home to their child if the other was dead and couldn't even be buried because they had been blown to smithereens by some weapon that no one knew about. "I don't know if I could deal with going back home without you or knowing that she might not even have any parents left after that damn battle that we have to fight, Tommy."
"Kim, we'll come back to her. I promise, but you can't lose faith in me and the other rangers now. We have defeated people that are stronger than these people in the past with a lot less. Beautiful, please, I know that we can do this…" Tommy managed to say before he let out a broken sob, which caught her off guard. She was not aware that he had been crying along with her. She just thought that he was mad at her for trying to push him away because he reminded her of Angie, although he didn't know that was her reason for it.
"Handsome," Kim muttered, as he continued to hold her as tightly as he could without hurting her, although it provided little comfort to either of them right now. There were only a few things that would provide him comfort and that was one but not in a situation like this one. He needed more, but it was something that he couldn't ask her to give right now, when she was so emotionally stressed. "I can't."
"Yes, you can. She's my baby too and I love her as much as I love you. I can't lose either of you, Kimberly, don't push me away from you. The two of you are my life," Tommy cried, as Aisha walked up to tell them breakfast was ready, but stopped short as she saw them.
Aisha couldn't make her feet turn to leave them alone, but she also couldn't make her mouth open to tell them the message that she had for them. There was just something that kept her feet planted in the position that they were in and kept her silent, as she was sure that she shouldn't be seeing this. She had thought that she might see them talking, but her mental picture had not been to see Tommy crying the way that he was now. She had only seen that once before and it hurt then and it sure as hell hurt now to see him like that. He was their strong one, no matter what anyone else said to them, he always had been that person for the group and when he suffered, they all suffered.
"I can't be as strong as you want me to be Tommy. I just can't this time. I'm not able to do this again," Kim sobbed as Tommy continued to rock her back and forth, knowing she had almost given up on them this time, but she hadn't done that yet. He could hear it in her voice that she was still making a decision.
He had seen it happen before with her, but he had prayed that this would not be a mission that she would be close to having a mental breakdown on. He had secretly hoped during the last mission that she would have broken down, as they would have had plenty of time to solve it, but right now they didn't. They all needed to be focused and every time they broke down was a time that things were not being done that needed to be worked upon.
"Kim, you told me that evil couldn't take my powers away and these things cannot take your faith in this away. After everything that we have all been through to get here, you can't give up. They won't hurt either of you, I promise you that. I'll do anything to keep that from happening. You told me you didn't love me anymore, but I had faith that it was a lie, that there was more behind it than that. Have faith in this Beautiful. It can be done and we can get out of this alive," Tommy said, as Kim looked up at him and then kissed him on the cheek as she could not stand to see him sob in front of her the way that he was sobbing now.
He always seemed to be the strongest one out of the two of them, but he couldn't hold up when she was mad at him or irritated with him. She could break him down faster than anything else ever could and she hated and loved having that ability with him. At times, it was an advantage, but this was not one of those times. She couldn't stand to see him like this and she got the feeling that this was what she needed to snap out of her misery. He was in the same boat too.
"Please stop, Tommy. I can't take seeing you like this," Kim said as he looked into her eyes and then readied himself for what he had to say to her. He didn't like to twist her words against her, but it was the only thing that he could think to do right now that would remotely mean anything to her.
"I can't," Tommy said simply, while continuing to cry as he looked down into her eyes with a tender smile lingering on his lips. He was not going to leave those as his last words to her, but he knew that this would sink in better than most other things that he could say to her. "I don't want you mad at me. I can't stand it when you are mad at me. I just want this to be gone from our life, for Angie to be able to grow up like a normal child would. I don't want her to know about this or to ever have to deal with knowing that her parents are rangers, the secret that she would have to keep, and all of the responsibilities she would have because of her knowing that. I don't want her to worry the way that the two of us have about each other in things like this situation. This is the absolute least that we can give her right now; she deserves the chance at a normal life that we never got to have. Please, tell me that you love me and that you'll finish what we started those years ago."
"I love you and we are going to finish this," Kim said, as Zack walked up the stairs to see what was keeping Aisha from coming back downstairs.
He was starting to get worried about her and he could only hope that nothing had happened up there. What he saw was not what he had expected, but he could deal with this one. If she had been up there fighting some things that took Kim and Tommy, he was afraid that he would have to whoop some thing's ass and then march downstairs to inform everyone else about what had happened to their fearless leaders.
"That is what will get us through this Kim. The fact that we love each other," Tommy said, as Kim gave him a kiss and then he held her tightly, not wanting to let go of her. He needed some extra comfort from her right now and he hoped that she was all right with the way he was holding her, even if their friends might come up onto the deck at anytime. He could remember doing far worse in front of them and if he was gauging things correctly a little hug would not bother her at all.
"Breakfast is ready," Zack said, as he ushered Aisha back downstairs and then saw Kim and Tommy drying their eyes as quickly as they could manage. They didn't know how long Zack and Aisha had been standing there, but there was enough time there that they had probably heard some of, if not all of what they had said to each other.
"Trini, you're not hungry?" Jason asked as Kim and Tommy walked into the room with all eyes on them. They knew that this was not odd, but it had been a long time since that had happened when they entered a room. Their friends had gotten used to them entering a room together and late most of the times, although it had been awhile since they had looked like this. It also didn't help that Aisha and Zack had probably told them about their crying spell, but they didn't care. They would all be fine and it was needed this morning.
"No, I just feel queasy this morning," Trini said and they all took it as the powers playing with Trini some. They all felt a little bit off after getting these powers back again, but it seemed that Trini was the most affected by the power change. Several of them had thought that it would have been Kim, but she was doing fine and now they were switching their conservation efforts to Trini, who was not very happy to have those focused on her. She wanted to fight since she had not been able to help much last time, but it seemed that they were all wary of that choice. If she was not up to it, then they didn't need to let her do it, although it ultimately was her choice on what she was going to do when they went out to fight, whether they liked it or not. "I'll be fine, Jase."
"Alright," Jason said, as Kim sat down next to him and gave him an odd look before starting to eat her breakfast.
She was not buying what Trini was saying, but there was nothing she could do about that now. She was going to talk to her friend at the first chance that she had, but it might be quite awhile before that happened, as Jason was not going too far away from Trini at anytime. He had seemed to pick up on something being off, but he just couldn't get out of her what it might be, although Kim was getting a fairly good idea of what it could be.
"Alpha contacted us a little while ago and he's found them within the barriers of Nonatasion, but the problem is that the area seems to be hazy. They could be underground or anywhere really with how hazy it is, but we do have somewhere to start looking once we get there," Billy said as they all shook their heads. Solving this problem was not going to be as simple as they had hoped it would be, but it never seemed that they were able to get away with doing things the easy way. The easy way had never come to them through all of their trials and they honestly did not expect for things to become easy on them now.
"So it's going to be luck to find them at all," Conner said, bluntly, as Billy started to shake his head yes, but stopped with the look that Tommy was giving him.
The boy had just gotten himself together and Tommy wanted to keep it that way as long as he could. If Conner had a reoccurrence of his actions from last night, Tommy was not very sure that he would be able to control his own emotions against the boy. He had been in the situation and he really didn't want to have to recount all of the disasters that he had been through with Kim being taken away in order to make Conner understand that they were going to get there, even if it did take them a little while and even if it did try all of the patience that he had.
"No, we'll be able to find a way to get to them. It just may take us a little while longer than expected," Billy said as Conner looked over at him and shrugged it off as the fact that Tommy was trying to keep him sane for a few more hours. He didn't know what he would do once they landed on Nonatasion and it seemed that Dr. O understood that all too well. The longer he was able to think though, the better, and he had figured that much out on his own this morning, while he had been unable to sleep without the horrible nightmares.
"Why were you crying?" Jason whispered to Kim as to not attract anymore attention to the matter. They had all noticed that the two of them had puffy eyes, but most of them thought it was from the night before. Jason could tell it was fresh on her, as Kim never really was able to show that she had been crying unless she had been sobbing for several hours the day before and it had not been that long yesterday. She must have just cried and he could only hope that it was not over something that they couldn't fix.
"We were just talking about a touchy subject," Kim said as Jason looked at Tommy, who was steadily eating the food in front of him without a thought going to too much else. He couldn't think of much else while he was eating, as he knew that in order to block things from his memory that he would have to put his full concentration in whatever he was doing. That was never an easy thing to do, but it saved him a lot of pain that he could not take at the moment. He was already worried about the rangers and worrying about his baby did not make it any easier.
"Angie?" Jason asked, quietly, as Kim nodded her head and then turned to eat her own food. She didn't really want to bring it back up right now, as she was trying to mentally prepare herself for everything that was still left to come before all of this was over. It could be more than a week before she heard from anyone and she just had to be able to take it, even if it did cause her a great deal of pain. "Sorry to bring it up."
"I'll be fine. It's just going to take me a little while to be all right with it all," Kim said, as they heard Hayley's voice boom out over the ship's intercom system, which was a welcome voice to Billy's ears after everything he had experienced last night. He wanted to hear from her, even if it was not in private. Her voice comforted him and right now, he needed all of the comfort that he could get. Things did not look good for them at all and he had to be able to continue to lie to some of the younger rangers, which was something that had never been easy for him.
"Tommy, Kim. I just wanted to tell you that Angie's fine and you don't need to worry, we're taking care of her," Hayley said.
Kim took a deep breath to compose herself and then walked to the bathroom, knowing that she was not going to be able to do that without shedding a few more tears. She didn't want to upset Tommy anymore and he seemed to realize it would be in his best interest to give her some space for a few minutes. That was one thing that she loved about him, he was able to realize when she needed her space and she needed that right now.
"Do you have any other news?" Adam asked, as he knew that he would like to hear Katherine's voice, but doubted he would be lucky enough to get his not so ingenious plan to work.
"No, Adam," Katherine said as he jerked to where he could make sure he was hearing this right. He knew Rocky would want to hear Ally, but he doubted that she was together enough to talk. She had been very upset last night and if he knew her well enough, he was sure that she was still trying to pull herself together this morning. She did not like this ranger business and she had made that fairly clear to Rocky the evening before. "Now, you have to concentrate. We'll talk to you this evening if we get the chance."
"Does Principal Randall know why I'm out of school today?" Tommy asked, as he had forgotten to telephone in an excuse last night before they left and he hoped that Hayley would have remembered to cover his ass. If she hadn't, he would be in a pile of trouble, no matter what he tried to do to convince everyone that he was deathly ill. After a few weeks, it wouldn't matter and he would have to cop to his real reason, which was something that no one would believe, as he would never morph in front of them.
"She will," Hayley said and then cut out the intercom system so Tommy would not cuss her out.
"Should have known that we all would forget," Tommy muttered as Jason laughed at his comment. He had figured that something like this was bound to come up with Tommy, but he was the only one that people had come to expect it out of when they went on things like this.
"Well, I didn't even talk to my boss, she wasn't home when I called last night, so I may not have a job when I get back," Jason muttered to Tommy as he stared in disbelief. Jason had always been a responsible person, except when he had to leave to go on ranger duties. Then, he just did what he had to do and that often meant leaving some things unattended. His job, however, had never been one of those things until today.
"She doesn't know, does she?" Tommy asked removing his and Kim's plates from the table and then going to sit out on the deck, so he could think in semi-quietness for a little while. He knew he would not get that downstairs, no matter how much he tried or where he went. They all had so many things to talk about and he was sure that Ashley and Charlie had more questions that they wanted answered by them, although there were some things that would never receive a blunt answer.
"No and I'm not telling her. There is no need to worry her about that," Jason said as Trini emerged from the bathroom, feeling slightly better, but Kim was getting the feeling this was not some bug, but she prayed she was wrong. She had no clue how Jason would react to that sort of news right now.
"Can we talk?" Aisha asked, as Zack and Billy were in a conversation, but she was eager to get what was on her mind off her chest. She knew Billy would forgive her for interrupting the conversation, as he wanted the two of them to get along. They were both his friends and he just wanted them to be happy.
"Go on. I have plenty of work to do down here," Billy said as he wanted for them to be able to talk this out as soon as they could.
"I just wanted to hear you out. You seemed to have more you wanted to say to me last night," Aisha said, as they saw Tommy propped up against the railing and they continued away from him.
He seemed to be in his own world and they knew it was best to leave it that way. He was never very happy when someone broke him out of whatever thoughts that were drifting around in his head and they knew that much from the experience of accidentally doing that in the past.
"I do have a lot to say," Zack said as Aisha nodded her head and thought about what he was going to begin to tell her. She knew with him that it could be anything and prepared herself for the worst, but secretly hoped for the best. "I messed up. Most of my past girlfriends didn't mean as much to me as you do and they never asked me to settle down and commit to them and only them. You scared me when you started talking about marriage. I didn't know that it was normal for me to be scared shitless and Tommy and Kim's relationship was not normal enough for me to think they'd been through the same thing. But when I asked Tommy about it, he told me that he felt the same way, which did surprise me. Aisha, I screwed up, I know that I did, but you can't tell me that you don't care about me anymore."
"Zack," Aisha muttered as she sat down on a crate from shock. She had thought that he would have something else to talk about, like the normal conversation that they had, had lately. It had contained mostly arguments and a lot of those arguments led to problems that left them without anything to say to the other.
She loved him, but she didn't want to talk to him unless he was ready to settle down and it seemed that he had finally realized that he would lose her if he was not willing to settled down with her. She'd go on with her life and leave him in the same situation that Tommy had been in for years. She didn't want to do that to him, but she had no other choice, as she could not continue to act as if she was satisfied with just being his girlfriend and nothing more.
"I know, I owe you more than just a simple apology, but I'm going to try to do better. If you'll just give me that chance, please one more chance to prove this to you," Zack said as Aisha looked at him and then saw something flash by out of the corner of her eye, which was odd. No one on this ship would move around that quickly unless they were fighting and they knew better than to train on the outer deck, as they would scare some of them into possibly overreacting and no one wanted to deal with Tommy's wrath.
"Zack, what was that?" Aisha asked as he turned around and saw a group of puddies standing behind him and then was grabbed by them.
Aisha began to fight as Tommy ran to help them, shouting for the others to come as quickly as they could. It was never good when they were ambushed on their own ship, but this was definitely much worse than they had imagined. These puddies might not be as easily destroyed as the ones in the past and they could only pray that they would get rid of them quickly.
"What the hell? Guys we need some help," Conner said as the puddies started after him as well. Kim and Charlie ran up the stairs right behind him and stared at all of the puddies knowing that this was not a good situation for them to be put in right now. Charlie just hoped someone would have the sense to tell him where to start, as he didn't really have a clue as to what he needed to do right now.
"Holy crap," Kim said as a crate was thrown at her, but Tommy managed to catch it before it smashed into her body. He had been watching for when they would emerge and he knew the puddies would figure out that the crates were great projectiles and use them as weapons, until the rangers turned that against them as well.
"Be careful," Tommy muttered as he went in one direction and she went in another one while Jason and Trini stared at the situation in front of them before they went into battle. It was sometimes best to map things out but there was no way that they would be able to do that this time, they just needed to get the damn creatures off of this ship, so that they could be on their merry way.
"Kim, jump!" Zack yelled as Kim was crowded towards the edge of the crates and had no choice. She knew Tommy would freak when he saw her do this, but she had no other option that would help her get out of the predicament she was in. She couldn't fight from up there and if she fell, there was a chance that she would not land in a comfortable position.
"Catch me," Kim said, as she jumped and landed in Zack's arms then they quickly moved out of the way, as the puddies had been following her. They were dumb enough to do that and the two of them could only hope that it would destroy a few of them when they took the jump. "Thanks."
"No problem," Zack said as Kim kicked a puddy and then pushed Zack down to the ground as she had seen a golden flash, which could only be one thing. They did not want Lord Zedd to know how many of them they had back and they were going to keep it that way as long as they could.
"Stay here, I think I just saw Goldar. He doesn't know that the rest of you are back and we want to keep it that way. Only come out if we call you to," Kim whispered before she went off to find Tommy. She could only hope that he'd be able to hide the others if she was right about whom it was stalking around on the ship. They couldn't risk revealing that there were more than five active Power Rangers on this ship, but it might happen if they were unable to get Goldar to leave without a huge fight.
"Okay," Zack whispered as he slipped towards the stairs in order to try to protect what was down there. They couldn't risk them getting down there and putting wiretaps or some other sort of device down there. The things that they talked about were not only personal, but they could also make their plans very evident to Lord Zedd and they did not want that to happen. They needed it to be a surprise, so that they would be able to have some sort of advantage on their planet.
"Tommy, nice to see you again. I didn't think you would be so alone," Goldar said as Kim walked up behind him and placed a finger over her mouth to let Tommy know that he shouldn't mention she was there. She knew that Jason and Trini were hiding behind a couple of crates only a few feet away, but Goldar still had his attention on only Tommy. Conner, Ashley, and Charlie were fighting the puddies, but they had no clue who else was around and ready to spring out and help the moment that they were called upon.
"Nice to see you, what do you want to do with us?" Tommy asked as Kim stood still and waited for an opportunity to push Goldar towards Tommy and let him take care of it, if only Goldar would move a little bit closer. She couldn't risk making any noise that might make him attack her, so she could only hope that he would make an attempt to flee from Tommy without turning around. Then, he would be caught between the two of them and forced to choose who to go up against.
"To deliver this item to you. I'm sure it'll keep you busy," Goldar said dropping the package in front of Tommy and then leaving the ship along with the puddies. Tommy looked at the package, wondering what it was, but he knew better than to reach down and get it without Billy looking at it first. Billy could at least tell them if it looked to contain something that they would have to destroy immediately and a more detailed examination would reveal whether or not it held anything else.
"Don't touch it," Tommy said as Charlie went to pick up the object, but snatched his hand back as soon as he heard Tommy talk. Tommy knew more than he did and he was not taking his chances against the man, as he did not want to make him very mad. "We'll get Billy to look at it before we do anything to it."
"Trini, come on, let's go ahead and fix lunch for everybody. It's going to take them hours to figure out if that thing is just some stupid joke or something much more serious. You know that as well as I do," Kim said as Trini looked over at her and then followed her downstairs.
They all got the feeling Zack and Aisha needed some time alone as they went into the other room that was downstairs and they were more than happy to allow them to have that time alone. If they could manage to straighten things out before they landed on Nonatasion that would be one less thing they would have to worry about going wrong.
"Nothing sounds good to me anymore," Trini said as Kim looked at her and then bit her lip trying to decide whether or not to state her thoughts about this interesting situation. Trini probably wasn't going to like what she had to say, but she couldn't help but notice some changes in her friend that she had experienced a few months ago. If her hunch was correct, then Trini didn't even need to be here in the first place.
"Don't kill me for asking this, but you aren't pregnant, are you?" Kim asked pulling out some lettuce and a bag of frozen, battered chicken to fry, while avoiding eye contact with Trini.
Trini had not been bold enough to ask her that question when she had been throwing up in the bathroom, but she knew that there was much more at risk than just going up against some puddies. If Trini was pregnant, the baby could die the first time that she morphed with these powers and Kim knew it. She had been lucky to get the break while she was pregnant with Angie, but they all knew that there was a possibility that she could have lost her at any time and they were all glad she didn't. They didn't know if they would have been able to handle that sort of tragedy.
"Well we're not trying, but I don't know if I am, Kim. I didn't notice it until everyone started asking questions," Trini said as Kim passed a tomato over to her and then began pouring oil into a fryer.
Trini watched Kim's actions, trying to see if she could figure out what Kim was thinking right now. Her friend knew her better than anyone else, besides Jason, but this seemed so far fetched, although now that she thought about it, it certainly explained a lot of things that had been happening lately.
"Hold it, you're telling me that you might be pregnant? Why didn't you get Jason to take you do the doctor? He would have done that without a question on his part. How sure are you?" Kim whispered as she did not want to have anyone else hear and it get back to Jason before Trini had a chance to talk to him. It wouldn't be good for her if that happened and Kim was pretty sure that Jason would come after her as well, if he knew that she suspected it and had not told him about it. He had always wanted a family and it seemed as if that might happen, whether or not he was ready for it.
"I didn't think about it until I was around everyone. That was when I noticed how different I was acting. Jason hasn't been at home enough to notice anything and ask me about it. The only time we spend together anymore is when we are in bed and we haven't slept together in weeks because of how busy he is," Trini said, as Kim got the full view of exactly how busy Jason had been.
Kim was fairly sure Trini would still have her job when she went back, she had called in for her two week vacation, but there was a chance Jason wouldn't, from what Tommy had said this morning. She was fairly sure Trini didn't know that and if she was pregnant, Jason sure as hell was not going to tell her that. He needed to have a job if they were going to have a baby and she was sure that he was going to try to keep it if he found out.
"I'm sorry about that, but what happens if we really have to fight? These powers do things to you when you're pregnant and I know that from personal experience, Trini. It's not pleasant to have to deal with it and you have to be careful. It could hurt the baby," Kim said, as she placed some eggs in a boiler full of water. She also knew it was not wise for Trini to even teleport if she was pregnant, much less do anything else with her powers. She just hoped that she could get that point across to Trini, as she could be stubborn, sometimes.
"Well, unless you happen to carry a pregnancy test around with you at all times, then I just have to go on like things are normal. Jason would kill me if that is true and I'm here. You don't know how much he wanted us to start a family, but all of this kept on getting in the way. I would hate to put him through this now," Trini said, bitterly, as Jason and Tommy walked into the kitchen carrying the package that Goldar had left for all of them.
"Well, we know that it's not a bomb or anything of that nature, but if you don't mind trying to figure out exactly what it is Billy, that way we won't be fooled next time," Tommy said as Billy took the object and went to run additional scans on it. They all knew that the appearances of these objects did not necessarily reveal what was in them, but these scans would hopefully do that for them.
"You alright?" Jason asked as Trini headed back towards the bathroom hoping to find something in there to disprove Kim's theory. She, however, was getting this feeling in the pit of her stomach that Kim was right about her assumption on this one. She had been through it and it seemed that she was fairly sure about what was going on with her. "Trini?"
"I just want to see if we have something in here," Trini said as Kim looked over at Tommy who knew that was extremely odd, but the look his wife was giving him told him not to ask about it at the moment. She would have a chance to explain all of it to him later.
"What type of something?" Jason asked, as he walked after Trini, which left Kim and Tommy alone in the kitchen.
She needed to talk to him, but she was not sure how he would take hearing all of what she had learned. Tommy was never one that would deal well with it and they all knew exactly what that meant if things went horribly wrong with Trini. She could lose the baby and then there was no telling the amount of guilt she would feel for it and she didn't need to have to deal with that sort of pressure.
"You look like you know a secret that no one else is supposed to know," Tommy said with a smile as Kim gave him a grim look and he knew that she was not very happy with all of the information that she now knew. He had seen that look before and he prayed it did not mean what he thought it did. He had become suspicious too and he did not know if he wanted to face this possibility right now.
"It's a secret and a problem," Kim said, as she stirred the chicken and checked on the eggs, while trying to stay as calm as she possibly could.
"How big of a problem?" Tommy asked, as there were several problems that went on that he, as the leader, didn't need to know about, but there were some problems that only he needed to know about. If this was one of those problems, he was not sure that he could handle hearing about it today.
"It could be huge, but I don't know anything for sure. Don't talk to Jason about what I am going to tell you, but Trini might be pregnant," Kim whispered as Tommy dropped his communicator which he had been switching between his hands out of nervous habit.
He had expected to be shocked, but this was not what he had expected her to say to him. He had expected her to say something along the lines of Trini being mad at Jason, but not her possibly being pregnant with their child. This was not a good thing to have happen right now, but he couldn't get mad at them if she was pregnant. None of them had known when this battle would come and it could have been anyone, but it was Trini.
"Might be? As in she doesn't now, but she could be or this idea is something that you came up with on your own?" Tommy asked as he dropped his voice and bent over to where Jason couldn't hear what he said, even if he did walk back into the room.
"The first one, Tommy," Kim said as he looked at her and then pulled a stool to sit down on from the shock of hearing this sort of news.
"But we can't tell Jason? Don't you want to protect the baby if she is pregnant? You know he'd want to know, Kim. It's his child too," Tommy said while Kim looked down to pick a few pieces of shredded cheese off the floor, so that she would be able to have time to formulate an answer. In all honesty, she did, but she also understood that Trini might get cursed out for all of this if she was not careful. She didn't want that to happen to her best friend and she knew that if she was pregnant that that sort of stress would not help her any.
"I do, but she doesn't know that and what do you think Jason will do if he finds out?" Kim asked, as she could imagine him blowing up at Trini and that certainly wouldn't help the situation in the least bit. He needed to be calm and right now he was anything but that.
"If I find out what?" Jason asked with as smile as Trini gave Kim a look and then saw Tommy looking at the way she was protecting her stomach, although she didn't notice it. Kim had inadvertently done the same thing before she knew and he expected it out of Trini, although Jason wouldn't look for it. The only people that would were those that had seen their wife have a child and he had recently witnessed that event.
"My secret," Trini said as Jason looked at Tommy but he knew that Tommy was not going to say anything to him about it as Kim must have sworn him to secrecy. Tommy didn't break promises to Kim, no matter what they were and he knew better than to try to cross the line with Tommy.
"Will I ever find out this secret?" Jason asked while Trini smiled and shook her head yes. She had managed to find a pregnancy test but she couldn't do that until she was able to be alone for a long time, as Jason would get worried about her spending that long in the bathroom. "Oh, what is it?"
"You might get mad, so until I know everything you will know nothing," Trini said as Kim watched Jason look as if he was going to start pouting, but he decided to stop when he saw Trini was fixing some French fries for those who did not want a salad. He had never been a huge fan of salads and he knew that she was the only one that would do that for him, so he chose to keep his mouth shut.
"Tommy, come here," Billy said as he had looked at the box and discovered what Goldar had given them. He did not like the contents that the box contained and he was certain that Tommy would not be very happy.
"What? Did you find anything?" Tommy asked as he didn't really want to have to deal with this situation, but it seemed that he was going to have to deal with it no matter what he really wanted.
"They've taken their dino gems. They sent back the empty communicator shells," Billy said as Tommy looked around the room trying to find something to punch or yell at besides Billy, who was just the bearer of bad news. Tommy had imagined that they would do something like this, but they sure had a lot of audacity to send them the empty communicator shells.
"Contact Hayley and tell them to keep a sharp eye on their scans. If they disappear, we may have to teleport some of us in, in order to keep them from getting hurt," Tommy said, as Billy shook his head. There were so many of them on the ship that they could risk a few people being sent out in order to protect those that were inside of Lord Zedd's reign of terror. If they were not willing to do that, then there was really no use in being there. All of the rangers had risked something in the past and they were willing to risk it all, just to get three of their own back home.
AN: I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter and please review, if you get the chance.I am open to criticism and as long as it is not too bad, I'll take it to heart. I hope you've had a happy holidays and thanks for reading!