BEAUTIFUL
Disclaimer: Don't Own Power Rangers or its characters, Disney and Saban hold those rights
Italics depicts location, phone conversation, spoken thoughts, you know the dilio
Setting: Angel Grove, early October of 1996. During the Zeo Year of Power Rangers, you know, the bad season :P.
Summary: Ernie fears of losing his Youth Center might be coming true. New organization in the neighborhood want to take the Youth Center away and use the area for their company's parking lot, much to the dislike of the community. Jason is back, now the Gold Ranger, as he joined the team. Now called Zeo Rangers. An old friend comes into town to help out her very old friend Ernie with a money raiser to cast her first ever live concert. Coming off her high at the '96 Olympics down in Atlanta, she has earned a singing contract and the push for her has finally begun to the west.
Kimberly Hart returns home, and like Maya Angelou says: "You can never go home again, but the truth is you can never leave home, so it's all right"
Yes, yes, another Kimberly/Tommy story. It's all I know and LOVE to write about! AND I KNOW YOU LOVE THEM TOO!
What will Tommy do now that the love is his life is back in town, and not the same girl he remembers. Kimberly new career and outlook on life might be not be taken lightly by her friends she left behind.
Chapter 1: Fairway
Youth Center
The limo pulled up to the doors outside the Youth Center. Kimberly looked over the paperwork Alex was signing away.
"We are here, sir," the driver said as the window rolled down.
"Give us a minute!" Alex Reeves was your typical manager and producer. Always on the phone, moving parts around to get his artists, his stars into mainstream. A sometimes bad-tempered man, especially when he doesn't get his way. Kimberly Hart, now 17, was about to embark on her first every series of concerts on the West Coast, having conquered the Eastern Coast, from Florida up the New York and across to Detroit, in just a matter of 3 weeks, this first one in the west, would be her most special one of her short career. She was in Angel Grove, her home, to do her very first live performance to raise the money to save Ernie and his Youth Center. She was very upset when Adam called and told her about this just a few weeks ago. Adam Parks was one of her best friends, along with Rocky DeSantos, and Billy Cranston.
"We shouldn't be here. You need to check out your room and make sure all your things arrived."
"Alex, you can do that, I want to run inside for a quick hello. Please!"
"We have to check on your rooms and those rooms for the crew and..."
"You'll handle that, I know you can. You know what I like. Please, come back and pick me up, okay."
"The bus hasn't even arrived!"
"They will! They said they were like in LA, which is barely an hour away, don't worry. Be calm."
"I am calm!"
"Calmer then. Driver, please." The driver quickly got out and went to open her door. Kimberly stepped out the limo. A little crowd forming as the door opened. Kimberly smiled as she looked up.
"I will be back soon to pick you up." Kimberly nodded. The door was closed.
"Wow, it's great to be home." Kimberly walked inside into the Youth Center.
Sitting around a table, Jason Lee Scott, Tommy Oliver, Adam Parks, Billy Cranston, Tanya Sloan, Katherine Hilliard, and Rocky DeSantos. Billy had arrived to tell them that Kimberly just arrived. It was early Sunday afternoon, around 1 pm. The concert was set for a Saturday night showing and all the money going to help out Ernie and keep the Youth Center open for all. Rocky was about to take a sip, when he looked up to see Kimberly walk in. She let out a slight scream as she lifted her black sunglasses up.
"KIMBERLY!" Rocky ran to her. She hugged him tightly.
"ROCKY!" He swung her around. "ADAM!" Adam was next to hug her. She cupped his face. "My handsome frog!" She kissed his cheeks. "Jason? JASON!" Kim's mouth closed as he came over. They hugged.
"Well, well, shrimp, look at you!"
"Well, you know." Billy hugged Kimberly next. "You must be Tanya, Aisha told me about you. Wow, I can't believe my girl is in Africa. Nice to finally have a face."
"Hi." Tanya shook Kim's hand. Katherine stood up.
"Hey."
"Hey." Kimberly hugged Katherine next. Which slightly surprised Katherine, but she welcomed it as well. Tommy cleared his throat. Kimberly pulled away from Katherine and looked up at him. Everyone watched for how the now, broken up couple, would react. "Hey, Handsome."
"Hey, Beautiful." They hugged. Everyone let out a breath of calm air.
Kimberly pulled away. She did a 360 turn to look at the Youth Center.
"Looks exactly the same when I left a year ago."
"Yea, nothing has changed here," Tommy said.
Ernie came out and saw Kimberly.
"KIMBERLY ANN HART!" Kim rushed to Ernie and they hugged.
"It's so great to see you, Ernie!"
"Let me get to working on that drink for you." Kimberly nodded.
"Well, sit down everyone! Let's talk." Kimberly pulled off her denim jacket, revealing her black lacy cami, denim jeans with black lacing details and black espadrilles shoes. Tommy's eyes caught glimpse of her pink belly button ring. "Come on, tell me what's going on!"
"Well, you heard about.."
"Besides that. We all know about that! Though I can't believe why in god's name someone would want to turn this place into a parking lot. That is just wrong! When you get to town, Mister? That's what I really want to know." Jason smiled. Jason told the tale, in codes so Ernie wouldn't understand. The Youth Center was a bit bare these days since it was nearly closing, but the end of this month.
"Wow, gold," she whispered in his ear. "You look good in black."
"Thanks. Look at you! Ms. Olympian."
"Oh, that was nothing!" Kimberly took her straw and drank more.
"You call 4 gold medals nothing!"
"I should have had 5."
"Oh, one silver, woooo..." Rocky said. Kimberly hit his shoulder.
"HEY! I am really happy be back here though. This is home."
"We're glad to have you back too."
Alex came into the Youth Center about an hour later. Kimberly looked up from her drink and smiled.
"Oh hey!"
"Kim, I need you."
"Oh, Alex Reeves, meet my friends. That's Rocky, Adam, Katherine, Jason, Bil--..."
"Nice to meet you all, but we need to go now, the others have arrived."
"I thought..."
"Kimberly, I told you, we are on a serious schedule if you want to really do this concert."
"Okay. Ernie, can I get a pen?"
"Of course." He found one and handed it over to her. Kimberly pulled a napkin.
"I think we are staying at the Palms Hotel, right?" Alex nodded. "Great, so just call this number, it's my new cell. And maybe we can get together in a few hours and talk more." Kimberly wrote down the number and handed it over to Jason. "Oh, I don't want to say goodbye." She jumped up and picked her up denim jacket as she hugged Jason and kissed his cheek. "See you all later." She hugged everyone quickly as she left, but Tommy, Katherine and Tanya were the only ones that didn't get kisses from Kimberly as she rushed out. Tommy watched her following Alex. Katherine followed his eyes. She touched his arm, but didn't get the response she expected. Tommy just watched her. He smiled at the tattoo on her back that was slightly hidden by her jeans and white bandage. Tommy and Kimberly dated over 3 years, and she broke up with him in the worst way, a Dear John letter, now Tommy and Katherine were slightly dating. They had gone out on maybe 3 dates so far. Tommy was taking things slow with Katherine, which was frustrating. She had spent many months helping him get out of the funk of Kim's breakup spell. Now, they have been together maybe 2 months now, but at a standstill. They hadn't even kissed once on the lips, and Katherine was getting a little tired of waiting on Tommy.
Palms Hotel
Music could be heard blaring from the penthouse. It was almost 6 pm, when Tommy and the rest arrived to Kim's place. Tommy knocked on the door. The door opened to Kimberly holding a pink cup, singing to "Never Leave You".
"HEY!" She opened the door more. "COME! COME!" She walked back inside, leading the way into her place. Inside, the place was madness. About 20 people in there, dancing and playing around.
"It's a party!" Rocky said.
"There is food, drinks, whatever you want!" She went on back to dancing when a boy pulled her hand and grabbed her by the waist. After that song, Kimberly started introducing everyone. "Okay, this is Brian, my leading man!" Kimberly handed her cup over to him to be filled.
"She loves me the most of any dancers."
"No way! She loves me," screamed a guy.
"Whatever, she loves me," A girl came up to them. "Hi." She held her hand out to shake their hands. "Kim, talks about you all like all the time."
"Yea, well, they are the best." Brian poured into her glass. "Okay, that's John, Ron, Brandy, uh, Joe, Scottibabe, Cindy, Sara, Jenny from the hood," Kimberly said pointing to the girl shaking all their hands. "Uuuh, Tim, Birdie, Tina, Andie, Ray, Steven, Jermanie, Pablo, Ken, and Amy Ann, she's the greatest dancer I've ever seen..."
"You know it!" She busted a move. Everyone smiled.
"Uh, my life supports, my band mates, Ricky, Scott F, uh, Jonathan, and Derek. Guys and gals, these are most of my lovely friends from Angel Grove. Tommy, Katherine, Adam, Jason, Billy, Tanya, and the one devouring all my food, is Rocky, ROCKY! Put down the 4th cookie and wave!" Rocky looked up from his pile of food, a sandwich in his mouth.
"What?" Kimberly shook her head.
"We didn't know it was a party?" Tommy said.
"Party, with these freaks! This everyday!" Kimberly said.
"Wow."
"This can't all be your place!"
"Oh, yea, I get the top floor, because I am a star!" Brian grabbed her by the waist and spun her around. Kimberly giggled. Brian put her down. "We practically brought out 3 floors for all of us. So, let's have fun!" Kimberly grabbed some chips. "Let me show you around. The bathroom is down there and there is one to my bedroom upstairs, but you don't want to go up there."
"Why?"
"Trust her, you don't even want to attempt to go through that battle zone," Derek said. He was Kim's second guitar player in her band. Kimberly's penthouse had 2 floors, as she showed everyone around. The top for was a loft with just her bedroom, bathroom and tiny area that could look down and see the living room and kitchen. Her terrace had a huge pool and side Jacuzzi with many chairs and tables. It was surprising to see a grand piano, along with some guitars, and drums set up, in the corner.
"HA! It's not that bad, I just tore it up looking for music and tapes. Anyways, the pool is great, at least, what my foot felt."
"Not to shabby," Adam asked.
"We need another round of Hypnotic," Jenny said shaking 2 bottles in her hands.
"You know where to go," Brian said.
"Why am I always doing it!"
"I'll do it!' Kimberly yelled. "Be right back." Jason looked at Tommy. They followed her into the kitchen with everyone else, but Rocky. He went to hit on some girls. Kimberly stood on a chair to reach the 3rd shelf to pull down some glasses. There were 2 blenders set up along with an array of bottles of alcohol and bottles of soda and juices.
"Well, hey."
"What's wrong here?"
"What do you mean?" Kimberly handed Jason one bottle of Hypnotic. "It's just friends horsing around."
"Getting drunk?" Jason took the second bottle.
"What do you expect, most of them are well pass their twenties." She hopped down and fixed her tank.
"You are not," Billy said.
"I don't drink like them! Not every time," She smiled as she went to the freezer. "Gosh, guys so much have changed in the last year. How about I make you all special drinks?"
"No alcohol for me," Billy said. "I'm driving."
"I can get you guys home with a limo, no problem. Come on. I know you guys don't have school until next week with your break this week, so come on, and have some fun!" Jason looked at Billy.
"I see that look, Jason. You want to?"
"Okay, one drink."
"YES!" She made several frozen drinks for all.
Tommy sat on the couch, playing card at one table, another game going on the couch. Tommy looked up from his hand to see Kimberly dancing with a few of her dancers. Especially, how she was grinding up against a few of the males. He wasn't pleased when a few members forced her into doing a couple of rounds of straight shots. He really got pissed as Kimberly licked salt from Brian's stomach, took a shot and took the lemon from his mouth.
"Bro, how many you want?"
"Huh?" Kimberly moved her hips as one of girls danced behind her. Tommy tore his eyes from Kim's hips.
"How many cards you want?"
"Oh, just 1," Tommy slid it ahead. It was close to 9 pm now. Kimberly was pulled to the coffee table to break up a card game with Jenny.
"KIMBERLY! JENNY! MOVE YOUR ASSES!" Jenny dipped into Derek's face. Rocky was pulled to table. He was sandwiched between the 2 girls. Rocky was in pure heaven. Kimberly in front, Jenny in the back. Derek groaned, as the 5 guys continued to play through it. Jenny got down, leaving the two, as she went to play her favorite song. Tommy watched as Rocky's hands wandered a little too much for his taste.
"I'm out," Tommy said getting up quickly. Katherine looked up rather surprised. As Tommy went into the kitchen, she sneaked a peek at his cards, once that round was over with.
"Why would he leave with 2 pairs?"
"Hey, his lost!" Jason said taking his chips because he won.
Jenny put on Kimberly and hers favorite CD. Kimberly turns around from Rocky's arms.
"No, you didn't!"
"Come on!" Kimberly was pulled down. Amy and Cindy followed the 2. Rocky got down and watched the girls. Amy started out the dance, as the others joined in union. She created the choreography to the song. She did most of Kim's dance steps to her upbeat songs. Tommy came out from the kitchen to find Kimberly dancing close to Jenny. His cup stayed on his lip as Kimberly danced around like the girls. Jenny pulled Rocky to dance with her. Tommy tried to walk around them, but Amy pulled him to dance. Kimberly was pulled to sandwich him. Kimberly stood in front of him. She winked at him as she placed his hands on her backside. She pulled away, after the song ended. Jenny turned to find another song.
"Oh, leave it there!" Amy shouted. "Kimberly, remember this?"
"Uh, a little!"
"NO! NO! Do it."
"AHHH! Why am I always the guinea pig!"
"NOW!" Kimberly was given room as the song played. Several of the guy dancers surrounded her to practice that mock fight scene. She finished up on the coffee table. Jenny and Amy clapped. "See, told you that you were ready!" Amy high fived her as she hopped down. Kimberly was handed a glass filled by Brian.
"Drink up." He kissed her cheek and walked to get himself a drink. Tommy's hand crushed the cup he was holding. Katherine saw that.
A few hours later, most the boys were on the game stations, Kimberly had 2 set up on the 70 inch tv screen. Most of the girl dancers and all the bandmates, turned in around 2am, since the band, Ricky, Scott F, uh, Jonathan, and Derek, had an early soundcheck. Ernie was allowing Kimberly to use the Youth Center to practice for her concert, til' Thursday, everything would be moved to the huge concert hall in the city, which would hold thousands Friday.
"Man, I'm out," Tommy said handing his controller over to Adam. "I need some air." Tommy passed a sleeping Katherine and Tanya. He looked around for Kimberly. Tommy opened one terrace door and slipped outside. He could hear talking.
"NO! Of course not, Mom. I am not yelling! I said, when I get another long break, I'll be in Paris. Yes, I promise. Would you...fine. I don't know! I said, I don't know!" Kimberly covered her phone with her leg as she screamed. "You are pissing me off that's what! Fine, send those college forms and I'll fill them all out. Yes, yes. I said I will! Gosh! Okay, okay. Talk to you later. Yea, tell Pierre I said hi. I love you too. Bye." Kimberly closed the top. "Fucking! ASS!" She turned to throw her cell phone, when a hand caught her hand and stopped it. Kimberly looked up to see Tommy.
"You might not want to do that. We are on the top floor." Kimberly smiled.
"You're right."
"You okay?" Tommy asked.
"Yeah. Mom is just being a..."
"Mom."
"Right. What are you doing out here?" Kimberly lifted her bottle of berry Schnapps and drank it.
"Getting some fresh air." Kimberly walked over to her pool. Tommy followed. She sat at the edge and rolled both pant legs up. Tommy slipped off his shoes and socks. He did the same and sat beside her. "So, how is life?" Kimberly swung her legs inside the water, as Tommy slid both his legs into the water as well.
"I have 99 percent of everything I have always dreamed off."
"What's the last 1?" Kimberly handed over the bottle
"I don't know yet."
"So, when did you get that?" He pointed to the Olympic rings on her leg as he took a sip. She smiled and took the bottle back.
"After we won. We all got it."
"Magnificent 7? That's what they all called you, right?" Kimberly nodded. "How many do you have?"
"Tattoos?" He nodded. He wanted to test her. Kimberly knew it as well.
"Uh, just that one," she said with a smile as she stared ahead taking a sip from her bottle.
"Liar." Kimberly looked at him.
"You always knew me."
"Because you could never lie to me, like I could never lie to you. Besides, I could see the one on your back."
"It's covered."
"Not all." Tommy touched it. "It's new?"
"I just got it maybe 2 week now. Hurt like a bitch."
"I'll bet. I never thought you would be the one to get a tattoo first."
"I know, you always said you wanted one."
"I still do, but I'll wait until I can legally do it."
"Why? It's better this way." Tommy laughed. Kimberly handed over her bottle. Tommy took a larger sip and finally tasted the real stuff.
"That's strong."
"I added a little vodka."
"When did you start drinking like this?"
"After I won."
"That was barely 2 months ago."
"How do you think I got these tattoos?" Tommy laughed. He took another sip. Kimberly took the bottle back and took a sip.
"So, how long you staying in town?"
"I don't know, Alex has me doing many shows over the next month. I go to Vegas for the holidays."
"Wow. You are really a star. I knew you would do it."
"Do what?" Kimberly asked.
"This."
"I missed you," Kimberly said nudging his shoulder with her shoulder.
"I missed you too. I missed this too more, " Tommy said nudging her back. "Being next to you."
"I missed being close to you. Talking to you everyday, even about stupid things. God, I didn't think I could ever do this, Tommy."
"But you have."
"You don't...never mind." Tommy knew what she was getting at. Kimberly smiled as he put his arm around her. "I guess I have and much more. Thanks." Kimberly turned to look at him and their lips were millimeters apart. Their eyes locked briefly, as their lips drew closer. Just as Tommy felt the softness of her lips pressed against his lips, a scream and yell from the room broke their trance. Kimberly and Tommy quickly looked back to see what was going on. Some of the boys were fighting over the controller. Kimberly looked back at Tommy with a smile.
"Your friends."
"My friends! No, your friends," Tommy said.
"Yours."
"Yours." His arm went back around her.
"I really missed you most."
"Me too, Beautiful."
TBC
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