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, Mallory Wiggins, David Jackson, Mrs. Thornsby, and Alabaster.

Now, on with the Story!

Back to School

It was early on Monday morning when Kim awoke to the smell of coffee and the sound of the timer going off in the kitchen. She rolled over and saw that Tommy had already gotten out of bed and listened for any noise that might be coming from the bathroom, although she knew that he was probably in the kitchen fixing some sort of breakfast. She then rolled back over to her other side and saw that Angie had been taken out of her crib as well. It was then that she remembered that this was her first day back to teaching and she could only imagine why Tommy was being so nice to her today. He had already had to go back to work and he didn't like it at all. He expected her to be the same way and he was right. She did not feel that she was going to like this at all.

"Why are you up so early?" Kim asked, as she walked into the kitchen while putting her shirt on. It had been a long time since she had had a morning without having to do a thing with or for Angie and Tommy could tell she was thankful. Tommy was already dressed in his customary khakis and polo shirt, while he placed breakfast on the table. He couldn't read her this morning and that bothered him a good bit. "Do you have something going on that you need to tell me about? You're acting weird, Tommy."

"No, I just thought you should have some breakfast before your first day back at work. You know how those kids will be," Tommy said simply, as he picked Angie up out of her car seat and walked over to sit down in the chair across from Kim. "Now are you all right?"

"Yeah, I just have the feeling that it is going to be a long day. My kids are probably going to be wild since they haven't seen me in so long," Kim said, as she just had the horrible image of her kids tackling her around the legs and pulling her to the ground. She had had those images many times before, especially on her first day alone in the classroom some four years ago, but it had subsided over the last few years, however she knew she had changed a lot since she had Angie.

She had been through so much, no one really knew about it and that was the way that it was supposed to stay. She was having to begin the biggest cover up of her life and she was alone at her school, she just hoped no one asked her why she had taken those few extra weeks off. It might just push her over the edge today, because she knew she was going to have to lie to some of her colleagues. They had wanted to see Angie, but her being gone and then injured prevented them from being able to do that.

"They can't be that bad, they'll probably just be glad to have you back," Tommy said with a grin as Kim took a bite out of the toast he had fixed and then sipped some coffee. She was not so sure that he would be right.

"Do you have to go to the dojo today?" Kim asked, as she was trying to figure out what time she'd be picking up Angie from Kat's house this afternoon.

"Yeah, but only for a little while. I'm just going to get the updated schedule from Rocky. Have you talked to Ally about the gymnastics classes?" Tommy asked, as he stood to get a bottle out of the fridge and Kim smiled as she imagined Angie drooling all over him. He had fed her a few times in the morning, but he had rarely burped her afterwards and Kim knew that she was going to drool all over him when he did that today.

"Yes and she just told me to come back whenever I'm ready. She actually said that she doesn't expect me to come back until the summer session. She'll be handing over the advanced classes then, so I'm going to work my ass off for the next few months to get back up to that level," Kim said, as Tommy knew that was true, but that she'd be able to do it. She had always been able to bounce back from hindrances easier than he could.

"Well, just warn me when you start working on the beam. I am not leaving you there alone, no matter what you say on the matter," Tommy said as Kim looked over at him. He was never going to let her live that incident down for the rest of her life.

"Tommy, I'll stay away from that if you want me to. I can, basically, explain it to them or get Ally to do it. She loved the beam," Kim said, finishing off her coffee and then walking over to place the cup in the sink.

"No, I trust you. I just didn't want you to run off and tackle that first. I don't think that would be too smart," Tommy said as he put Angie back in her car seat. "You really up to all of this? I mean it's only been two weeks since we battled them."

"The bruise is gone, so I'm ready to work. Don't worry, I'll be fine and I'll call you if anything starts bothering me," Kim said as she slipped on a pair of flip-flops, then grabbed her purse. "Hey, what's that look for?"

"Just trust me that it is harder than you think," Tommy said, picking up Angie's car seat. He was going to take her this morning and then Kim was going to pick her up this afternoon. "Well, I better get going. Even though Randall's gone, I don't want Crittenden to start hating me."

"I don't think he would. He has always seemed to understand in the past when you were late," Kim said as he gave her another look.

"Why are you leaving so early then?" Tommy asked with a mischievous smile and she started backing towards the door.

"Because I miss my friends," Kim admitted as he pinned her against the door and she decided not to struggle to get away. There was really no use in it, he was much stronger than she had ever been or was ever going to be and she knew he wouldn't hurt her, on purpose.

"Well, have a good day," Tommy said as he kissed her on the cheek and then let her go so that she could get her car and head on to Reefside Elementary.

"Good morning, Mrs. Oliver," Janice said as Kim walked into the teachers lounge with a stack of papers to run off and a look of dissatisfaction on her face. She could only imagine what Kim had found this morning in her classroom. It had not exactly been a peaceful time in that classroom while she was gone.

"Hey Janice. How's it been?" Kim asked, as Janice stood up and placed her hands on the top of the copier machine, so Kim couldn't copy anything. She had several questions that she needed to ask the young lady standing beside her. "Janice, what are you doing?"

"When am I going to see that baby of yours? The day I came over there Hayley said that the two of you were lying down and since Angie was asleep that you'd bring her by one day. Did you even get the message?" Janice asked, as Kim's eyes widened.

She had no clue that Janice had come by, but she believed that it had probably been while they were on the way back from Nonatasion. Nothing had been told to them while they were traveling back, they were more focused on just getting them back home and getting them well. She understood that, but Janice wouldn't unless she told her and she didn't want to do that. She had been able to keep it a secret for years, why reveal something now?

"No, I didn't. I'm so sorry. I wanted to, but some things came up. I have some pictures and I'm picking her up this afternoon. Do you want to come with me?" Kim asked as Janice released the copier machine and took a step back.

Kim looked very different to her and it seemed to be much more than the normal loss of weight after bearing a child. She almost looked smaller than she was before she was pregnant. It just didn't seem normal at all, but she was not going to ask any questions unless she had proof. She didn't even know where to begin to look for proof, so she was just going to let it go. Kim had always had these types of things come up and it was just better than no one knew about it.

"Are you sure that you are really ready for today?" Janice asked as Kim nodded her head yes. She didn't have much of a choice about how ready she was. She just had to go in there and do what was necessary to get through this first day back. She knew that it would be easier as the days went by and it would hopefully be back to normal by the time school ended.

"Hey, those pictures are in my purse. I'll be over there in a few minutes," Kim said as Janice left the room and Kim went on about her business of coping papers. She didn't think that she would really have to worry about Janice anymore, but she also didn't remember all of the pictures that she had with her.

"Find them," Janice said, as she approached her in the hall with the purse outstretched. She was not sure if she wanted to dig in Kim's purse and she was sure that Kim would accept that.

"Here they are. There's only one or two that anyone else beside her look decent in," Kim said, as she had looked back on the pictures and she really did look horrible, but she had gotten used to it. There were, however, a couple of pictures that she had meant to take out of the stack, for her own sake but she had forgotten to do that.

"What is this?" Janice asked, as Kim looked at the picture and noticed the bruise that was still obvious on her neck and her face went pale. No one was supposed to see that picture, except the people that knew about what was going on during that time. How was she going to explain this to Janice? She could already see the story coming together in her mind, but how was she going to change that picture without using the truth? She really needed to keep most of the facts a secret. "What happened to you?"

"Janice, I can't tell you, but it wasn't Tommy, trust me," Kim said, as Janice stared at her. How could it have not been Tommy? He was the only one that had even been around her over the last few weeks, but she knew that he hadn't been at work. Maybe there was some sort of explanation that didn't have to do with him at all. That was what she hoped.

"Like hell you can't. How can it not be Tommy? He is the only person that has been around you while you have been out," Janice said, as Kim took a deep breath and then tried to think of a way to explain around her being a ranger, but she couldn't see it. She knew she would have to try to explain it, but she doubted that Janice would believe it. This was not something that anyone would say as a reason for being hurt; not even in her wildest dreams did she imagine having to talk about it.

"It was Zeltrax. I'm sure that you have heard of him," Kim said, as Janice took a good look at her, trying to figure out if she was lying. She didn't seem to be, but why would she bring that thing up? That didn't really have anything to do with her life, did it?

"But how?" Janice asked, as Kim stopped outside her classroom door and then looked down, she couldn't tell this. She hadn't even really talked about it to Tommy yet and she was not going to talk to anyone else about it until she talked to him.

"I can't tell you, but I trust that you believe me. Tommy wouldn't do that, you should know him better than that by now," Kim said, sadly, as she knew that many people often got the wrong impression of Tommy.

He was overprotective, but if they only knew half of the story, it would make sense to them. They would understand that he had to be that way in order to protect the both of them from everything that could happen. He was not the sort to ever hit her, but it was something that had crossed several people's minds when they had seen bruises on her, but she couldn't tell them about her other life. That life was always meant to be a secret, no matter what anyone else thought.

"Okay, so I can still see Angie this afternoon?" Janice asked, as she thought that she had blown all chances of it by accusing Tommy of beating her, although it did look that way in the picture.

She just knew that there were some things about Kim's life that no one else knew about and it was best that it was kept that way. That was why she had not pressed the issue of finding out why that had happened, it was just part of Kim's life. There was no other way for her to explain it.

"Yeah, I'm not mad at you. I didn't mean to put those pictures in there," Kim said with a smile, as one of her children walked up to her and gave her a firm hug around the legs. She just hoped that the rest of her class was this happy to see her back.

Afternoon

"Mrs. Oliver, you have a visitor in the office," the school secretary said, as Kim looked up from grading papers. Her class had P.E. at the end of the day this year and it allowed her to really have a chance to unwind before she went home to see what sort of day Tommy had. If he had had a bad day, then she wouldn't be in the mood to have a fit herself because of her planning and he was grateful for that as well.

"I'll be there in a minute," Kim said; as she placed her papers in a stack and then stood up to leave her desk. She had no clue who could be coming to visit her, but ever since Richard had come and visited her, they had always called her to the office, instead of letting the person in. She had the feeling Tommy had blessed them out about that one, as he had lost a great deal of sleep.

"Hey," Tommy said, as Kim walked into the office and she had this confused look on her face. What was he doing here and dressed in his karate clothes? "Rocky had an emergency at the dojo, Ally got sick and he had to take her to the doctor. So, I had to go teach classes, but Crittenden understood. I went ahead and picked up Angie, I didn't want you to have to worry about it."

"Can he come with me to my room?" Kim asked the secretary, as she was not sure that they would allow it, but she did know who he was.

"I don't see a problem with that," the secretary said, as Tommy smiled at her and then picked up Angie's car seat and carried it behind her.

"Tommy, you didn't have to do that," Kim said, as he nodded his head that he understood that, but it was more than that to him. He knew the personal hell it had put him through to go back to work and he could tell by looking at her that she had been through the same thing. She just didn't want to admit that he was right about the whole situation.

"Kim, I know. Where's your class?" Tommy asked, as he sat down on top of one of the empty tables. He could barely see Angie's arms wriggling in the car seat and he was sure that Kim would not stand where she was for much longer.

"They have P.E. right now, but why don't you stay? Janice wanted to see Angie and I promised her that she could. She said that she came by one day and Hayley told her we were sleeping," Kim said, as Tommy shook his head. He couldn't help but wonder how many more messages like that one had never been sent to them after their near death experience on Nonatasion.

"I'm not surprised," Tommy said, as the kids began to file in to pick up their book bags and then go out to the buses. Many of them looked at him with wide eyes, wondering who he was, but he did have a few that waved at him, as they had seen him at the dojo. He didn't teach any of them there, but they all knew who he was.

"Come on everybody. We better go to the buses," Kim said, as they scrambled to line up behind her and Tommy had to keep himself from laughing at the cuteness of the sight. They might have all been the same age, but he could tell that some of them were definitely more prone to acting older.

"Mrs. Oliver, I want to stay," a little boy whined as Tommy stared at him.

If he had had one of his students tell him that they wanted to stay after school with him, he would freak out, but Kim just ushered the boy out the door and followed them towards the buses. It took her about fifteen minutes, but when she returned to her classroom, he could hear the hush that had fallen over the building. That was something that all teachers could appreciate, no matter what age the children were.

"That bad every day?" Tommy asked, as he knew he could not take the whining, which was why he went into high school education.

"No, they are just happy to have me back, surprise, surprise. It'll only take me a few minutes to pack up and Janice said she was going to swing by the room," Kim said, as she began putting the various supplies she would need into her bag. She didn't plan on taking a lot home today, but she always took home more than she needed to and Tommy had told her that several times. He, however, had gotten used to it and decided to just keep his mouth shut about the situation.

"No hurry here. I don't really want to face going home and having to deal with the other issues in our life," Tommy said, as they had been trying to decide when it would be best to let go of the powers.

Trini had let go of them as soon as she had gotten back, to keep them from affecting the baby, but the rest of them still had their powers. They just didn't want to let them go to have to turn back around and take them back. That would do all sorts of damage to their immune system, which was going to be weakened when they let go of the powers anyway.

"It can't be that bad," Janice said, as she knocked on the door and saw Tommy sitting on one of the tables, wearing his karate clothing. It seemed odd to her that he was wearing that, but she had stopped asking questions a long time ago. Their life was certainly more complex than anyone else's that she knew and she just accepted it. "How are you doing, Tommy?"

"I'm good," Tommy said with a smile, as Janice headed over to the car seat. From the pictures, she had an idea of what Angie would look like, but she knew nothing of her personality. Lucky for her, Angie had woken up and was playing with the light blanket Tommy had draped over her on his way inside.

"You're just the prettiest little girl," Janice said cooing at Angie, as she reached out and tickled the bottom of her foot with one finger. "Is it too much trouble to take her out of the car seat?"

"Not at all," Tommy said, as he reached over and quickly undid the straps, as he had become some sort of a pro at it over the last few weeks. He then gently picked her up out of the car seat and handed her over to Janice.

"Got your hair and his eyes," Janice commented as Kim sat down next to Tommy. She was glad to see the two of them this afternoon and she knew Tommy had been right. Today had been really hard on her and she was ready to race over to Kat's to pick Angie up and just hold her, but Tommy bringing her by saved her from that. "How are you really doing?"

"We're just tired, but that's all right," Kim said, as Janice noticed Tommy shake his head and then place his arm around her, carefully rubbing the right side of her neck with his bare hand.

Something about that action made her think back to earlier that day and she noticed Tommy was taking particular care to not touch certain areas. Why couldn't they open up to other people and let their burden be felt by others? It seemed like it was almost too much for them, but they were not going to cave in and she just had to accept that. They didn't want anyone else to help them.

"Okay, I'll let the three of you go ahead and go home," Janice said, as she handed Angie over to Kim, who nestled her against her chest and started rocking back and forth. She didn't want to let go of her baby. "Be careful."

"We will be," Kim said, as Tommy looked over at her and smiled. He could not believe how much the woman beside him had changed in the last year, but only he knew where the real hurt remained. He had no clue how long that would take to heal, but he had seen much worse from her before.

At Home

"You want me to fix supper?" Tommy asked, as Kim walked across the kitchen and grabbed the breast pump out of the cabinet. She had not had to feed Angie today and she could not believe the difference it made in her. She had not been this sore since she had gotten back from the mission.

"Please," Kim said, simply as she stripped off her shirt while walking out of the kitchen. She had already lost her shoes several steps before then. "I'll be back down in a few minutes."

"That's fine," Tommy said, as he went to the refrigerator and pulled out a pizza out of the freezer after a few moments. He knew that Kim had overcome her fear of eating pizza since she had had Angie, but that was not what he wanted to talk about tonight. He needed to talk to her about the nightmares she had been having.

"Hey, are you doing all right? You look a little bit odd," Kim said, holding Angie tightly against her and walking over to sit down next to him.

"Thinking, mostly about you," Tommy said, as she shook her head. He had been worried about her ever since they had come back, but it was getting better and he knew she was not the only one suffering from nightmares. Jason was suffering from them as well.

"Tommy, I'm fine," Kim said as Angie let out a cry and Kim reached down and felt her head. She was not hot, but there had been a bug going around the high school lately and she did not want Angie to get it.

"That's what you say, but you don't have to deal with hearing you scream out in your sleep," Tommy said, as the buzzer went off and he walked over to the oven to pull out the pizza.

"Let's eat, then we'll talk," Kim said, as this was not the type of conversation she wanted to have at the dinner table with him tonight. There were other things that they needed to talk about.

"Have it your way, but it is not going to help putting it off. We are going to have to face facts, eventually," Tommy said, as Kim nodded her head. They ate their meal in a rare silence as Tommy seemed to be thinking about what he needed to say to her.

"What do you want to know?" Kim asked, as Tommy looked at her. There was so much that he needed to know about her reactions to the power shift right now, but he couldn't ask that.

"Kim, are those dreams about Mesogogg?" Tommy asked, as he had been keeping his fear from her. He knew the answer the moment the question left his mouth, but he still had to hear it.

"Yes and Tommy it is the worst thing I have ever had to relive. I didn't know it would be that bad. Tommy, they won't leave me and you know how it is, it can take months for it to leave you completely," Kim said as Tommy nodded his head.

"I know, Kim, but there is a lot more that you have going on with you. Look, I want you to tell me what every dream is about from now on. Maybe it will help them go away," Tommy said, as Kim smiled at him and then gave him a hug. These were the types of things they had to get used to, as they had memories that would haunt them for a lifetime.

AN: I hope that you liked this chapter, please review if you feel like it.