Ello everybody! This update should go into the Guinness Book of records considering what I've been through these last two weeks ;) Serious catastrophe.

To my wonderful reviewers:

Jessica01:

Thanks! Decreasing the loan- Tommy was struggling to get the bank to give him the amount he needed to get the building he wanted. With the money Kimberly brings, he no longer needs quite as big a loan, thus, he decreases it. This will also mean that he will get it more easily. Hope that helps – thanks so much for reading!

Wendy:

Thank you so much! The support is really appreciated. It's also great to hear from another Anti-Kat! KIM RULES!

redandblack 4eva:

Thank you sooooo much for the support – it means the world to me! I'm really glad to hear you like it!

luceceline:

Yay! Another die-hard Tom/Kim fan! I really don't know how people read Kat/Tommy fiction ;) Your wish is my command!

Genie05:

Once again, thanks for the support – I am eternally grateful.

DisneyHeart:

Thanks! Kim rules Kat drools :)

Kim&Tommy92:

Thanks – I'm really glad you fell that way. I think I'm going to do just that!

Naughtybynature:

I'm so glad you like it. I will prob elevate! You aren't bu any change South African, are you?

To those whom I've left out:

Feel free to sling mud at me – I am sorry ;)and I appreciate your wonderful input.

Chapter 3:

"And that's when the whole thing just collapsed!" Kim finished, smiling brightly. Around her, her friends burst into giggles.

"Man, Kim," Rocky said, "I can't believe you guys tried that!"

"Yeah girl, what were you thinking?" Aisha added.

Kimberly shrugged innocently. "We were bored." She winked and felt Tommy's hand settle over hers on the table. They were seated at a table with Rocky, Adam, Aisha and Kat, relating old stories while they waited for Billy to arrive.

Kimberly grinned inwardly as her friends laughed merrily around her. She was glad to be back – glad that they seemed happy that she was there. She cast her eyes towards Kat and her heart sank. Kat sat with her chin resting on her hand, clearly bored. Instantly, Kimberly changed the subject.

"Enough about me, how have you all been?" she looked between her friends.

"Well," Aisha began, "we're pretty much the same – all deciding what to do now that school's finished."

"Yeah," Adam agreed, "and wondering what's going to happen with being Rangers…"

"Especially if Billy decides to leave," Aisha added, glancing down at her watch. "I wonder what's taking that boy so long."

"Yeah! Tommy's supposed to be the late one!" Rocky agreed. "I hope he hurries up – I'm hungry!"

Kimberly laughed, "I see you haven't changed, Rocky."

"She's got you there, bro!" Tommy said, casually slipping his arm around Kimberly's waist. "Spot on."

Rocky glared at him then shrugged – best not to argue what he knew was true.

Billy hurried into the Youth Centre, already blushing at being late. He knew it was uncharacteristic of him, but he had been…distracted. Sometimes science was just so captivating. He pulled his posture upright and wiped a thoughtful smile off his lips. Billy walked casually up to his friends' table and put his hand on Adam's shoulder.

"Hi there guys. Sorry I'm late," he said with a smile, "I was working and - Kimberly?" His eyes fell on the petite brunette. "Kim! Is that really you?" he went around the table to her.

"Billy!" Kimberly squealed, "It's so good to see you." She jumped off her chair to hug the oldest friend she had in the room. Now she knew she was home. Having someone from the old gang made all the difference.

Billy held her away from him and looked her up and down. "What are you doing here? You look so different."

Kim shrugged, "Training was good for me," she winked. "And I'm back…for good." She returned to her seat and Billy went to pull up a chair.

"That's really great Kim. You were superb at the Games, but it's good to have you home." Billy sat down next to Aisha and cast a nervous glance in Tommy's direction. He relaxed when his friend put a protective arm around Kimberly's shoulder and pulled her against him. The two had clearly sorted things out.

"Ahem!" a familiar voice came from behind Tommy "Aren't you geeks going to introduce us to your new friend?"

Tommy turned to find Bunk and Skull standing behind him. "New friend?" he raised his eyebrows.

Bulk nodded towards Kimberly's back. "She should know that not all the guys in this town are freaks." He went up to Kim and put an arm around her shoulders. "Whaddaya say to a movie Friday night? Just you an' me in the dark…" he said smoothly.

"The answer's still no Bulk!" Kimberly said irately, shrugging his arm off and turning to glare at him.

"K-Kimberly?" Bulk stuttered, stepping back, "is that really you."

"Yeah." Kim said, clearly still annoyed. "Don't recognise me?"

"Of course we do!" Skull fairly screamed, trying to save face. "Just thought that… you might have forgotten us."

Kimberly looked sceptical. "I tried."

She looked at their uniforms. "So you're still on the Force?"

"Yep," Bulk said proudly, "Angel Grove's finest." He puffed his chest out.

"Hey! You two!" A voice rang out. The group turned to see Lt. Stone looking less than pleased. "Back to work – you're not being paid to socialize!"

"Yes sir!" Skull called back. He and Bulk saluted the rangers, and said, "See you geeks later- duty calls." With that, they marched off.

The rangers immediately began laughing. "I see they haven't changed either", Kimberly said between giggles.

"Nope," Aisha said, rolling her eyes.

Suddenly a familiar tone rang out at once from six watches. The group froze.

"Man, talk about duty calls," Tommy grumbled, looking at Kim with a pained expression.

Kimberly smiled, but Tommy could see pain in her eyes. "Don't worry about me," she said with a deceptively casual smile, "I'll be fine. You guys have a city to save."

Reluctantly, the group got up to go. "You sure?" Aisha asked, looking closely at her friend's face.

"Yeah, now get going. And say hi to Zordon and Alpha for me," Kimberly smiled.

"Okay" Tommy stopped to dig in his pocket. "Here, take my car keys," he said, tossing them to her.

She caught them swiftly and stood up to put them in her pocket. "Thanks. Good luck – be careful!"

"You too," Tommy kissed her quickly and hurried off to join the others around the corner, where nobody would see them teleport. Kimberly saw a brief flash of coloured light where she knew her friends were, then nothing. Her heart sank. She wished she were going out to battle with them. She missed it – missed Alpha and Zordon. She even missed her Zord. But that was all in the past, she reminded herself, she had chosen a different path.

Kimberly sat back down at the empty table and looked at the bar. Ernie had not shown up all evening and she wondered where he was. Now of all times, she wished he was here. She didn't know how long the others would be gone and wanted someone to talk to. Her eyes wondered to the other people – mostly small groups of young people chatting happily and joking with each other. She felt out – alone.

"Poor Kimmie, your geek-friends finally abandoned you, huh?"

Kimberly turned around to see Bulk and Skull leaning against the railing a few feet away. She pulled a face at them and turned back around.

"The offer still stands, you know." Bulk continued. She felt a hand on her shoulder and pulled away to glare at Bulk. Skull strolled up and leaned on the table right in front of her, popping his bubblegum in her face. Kimberly recoiled in disgust. She knew they were harmless, but wished there was someone around to get rid of them. In the old days Tommy would've come to help. 'He still would,' she reminded herself, 'In the old days I wouldn't have been left behind.'

Skull raised an eyebrow, "Yeah, why be all alone when you can be with us? How about it Kim?"

"Ugh…thanks guys," she shrugged Bulk's hand off her shoulder and stood up, "But there's some paint that I just have to watch dry. Maybe another time."

Kim walked as fast as she could without jogging. Once she was out of sight, around the corner, she stopped and leaned against the wall. Kimberly sighed heavily and let her head drop. Bulk and Skull only made her feel worse. She was here, alone, while her friends were out presumably fighting Zedd. She hated feeling so useless, but knew that there was truly nothing she could do. She'd expected this to happen sometime, just not so soon. She was unprepared and it hurt.

Kimberly pulled Tommy's keys from her pocket and paused to consider her options. Sit here alone or sit at home alone. She made her choice and headed for the door.

X

Tommy returned home two hours later, exhausted from the battle and longing for his bed. On his way to his room, he popped his head into Kimberly's bedroom only to find her fast asleep on what appeared to be the plans for their centre. She was wearing a pair of pink pyjama pants and a white top. Her dark hair hung lose over her shoulders. To Tommy, the whole picture was enchanting. 'Wow' he thought, ' she looks so beautiful when she sleeps'. He went up to the bed and bent to kiss her softly.

"Sleep tight, Beautiful," he whispered, reaching down to pull the duvet up around her. Gently, Tommy eased the papers out from under Kim's head, taking care not to wake her. He put them down on her bedside table and turned to kiss her forehead. Tommy's eyes fell on long tear marks down her cheeks. 'That's strange,' he thought to himself,' I thought she was happy.'

Tommy decided to leave asking Kim about it to the next morning and switched off the lamp on the bedside table.

X

Kimberly awoke the next morning at 7am. She was used to rising early for practise at the gym compound and had slept very well. It was raining out so she pulled a white sweat top over her pyjamas and crept from her room, heading for the kitchen and coffee. Tommy's door was open a crack so she stuck her head in.

He was barely visible under a huge pile of twisted blankets. Her eyes fell on his morpher where it lay on his bedside table and her stomach twisted with nostalgia. She shook it off, not wanting a repeat of the previous night. Kimberly withdrew her head from the door and continued on to the kitchen.

She shivered as she waited for the kettle to boil. It felt wonderful to be back home but also strange. Everything had happened so fast and she hadn't expected to see Tommy or her friends so soon. She had resigned herself to living at a hotel at first then slowly builing her life up again when she moved into her apartment. Kimberly made a mental note to contact her future landlord about when she could move in as she added sugar to her coffee.

Kimberly soon found herself sitting on the front porch steps, watching the neighbourhood slowly come to life. Saturday morning was less busy then she remembered it to be, but the lull in activity could have been attributed to the pelting rain.

Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Kim got a fright, jumping and spilling her coffee onto her socks.. "Damn," she mumbled, waiting for the brief pain to fade.

"Sorry!" Tommy said sheepishly, "Didn't mean to scare you."

He sat down beside her and put his arm around her shoulders. Kim sighed.

The two sat in silence for a few moments until Kimberly spoke, "How did it go last night?"

"The battle?"

Kim nodded.

"Okay – bit of a challenge. Zedd created a monster called the Reverser. He kept clouding our vision, turning us against each other. It took a lot from our friendship bond to keep us together But we-"

Kim dropped her head and he paused.

"Kim?"

She jerked her head up and sniffed.

"You okay? I can stop."

"No," Kimberly shook her head, "I asked you to tell me – go on."

"It was tough. I thought about you a lot. How you were probably sitting alone at the Youth Centre – how you were the heart of the old team. You kept us together then Kim."

He turned to face her and found tears running down her cheeks. "I'm so glad to have you back."

She looked him in the eye, not hiding her tears, but said nothing.

"Kim, I want you back on the team. I'm going to do whatever it takes to get you back and to find out who wrote those letters."

Kim smiled and leaned towards him for a kiss. "I know Tommy. Soam I."