Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers, or any of the characters in this story. Not even the ones I made up. Go ahead and use them, I don't really mind.

Blooming

Chapter 5 / Visiting Friends

Angel Grove, California

They arrived in Angel Grove at about a quarter to four. They were both very tired, but decided to visit some old friends of theirs before they went to Kat's apartment.

The first person they visited was Tommy's best friend, Jason Lee Scott.

Ding, Dong, Tommy rang the doorbell.

After a few seconds of waiting, a beautiful young woman answered the door. She was about 5'6" with brown eyes and mid-back long brown hair. She was slender, keeping in mind she had three children, so her skin was not as tight and toned as it used to be. As soon as she opened the door, her eyes widened and she gasped at the sight she had in front of her.

"Tommy? Kat? Oh, my God," she then turned her head around and upwards as she yelled the next words, "Jason, get down here quick!"

"Oh, umm, come in, come in." She said, motioning for her two friends to come in the house.

Tommy could do nothing but smile at his old friend.

As they both made their way inside the house, Katherine gave her friend a warm hug. After Kat, Tommy then proceeded to give her a hug as well. "Hey, how you been, Emily?" He asked before adding, "haven't seen you in years."

"Oh, you know, I've been good. How 'bout you? I see you cut your hair. Jason told me you did, but I didn't expect for it to be this short." She said while somewhat pinching a small bit of his hair.

He looked a little uncomfortable with the comment, but smiled shyly as she smiled while she spoke.

"Hey, how's everything going with the dojo?" Katherine asked trying to fill in the gap of silence between the two.

"Oh, fine, thanks." Emily replied with a bit of exhaustion in her voice. "So, what brings this special surprise?" She asked, wanting to know why Kat and Tommy where there; together.

As Tommy was going to speak, Jason instantly saw who was downstairs and yelled. "What? Is that who I think it is?"

Tommy and Katherine both looked up the stairs and saw their even older friend standing at the top.

Jason quickly made his way towards his friends.

Tommy couldn't wait and met him half ways. He extended one arm as Jason grabbed his hand and pulled his long time friend in. They met each other with a swift hug and released each other as they were both smiling uncontrollably.

He then made his way to Katherine as she too was smiling at him. "Hey, Kat, how's everything going with the new job?" He said as he went over to her to give her a huge bear hug.

"Fine thanks." She replied in a chocked voice due to Jason hugging her so tightly.

Tommy looked down a bit and smiled at the sight of Jason purposely hugging Katherine forcefully.

"Okay, you're gonna suffocate her man. Can't you see she's fragile?" Tommy said jokingly.

The four of them laughed at Tommy's comment.

"How you been, man?" Jason asked as he turned to his friend to start conversation with him.

The girls just looked at one another and gave each other a look of 'boy talk is starting' so they mentally read one another and headed towards the kitchen.

While making their way into the kitchen, Kat took a glance back towards the direction of the guys and saw Tommy looking at her while Jason spoke. She then smiled and Tommy couldn't help but smile back.


"Okay, so tell me, what's going on with you and Tommy, girl?" Emily asked while pouring two cups of iced tea.

"Well…" Katherine began "…it's not what you think."

"Oh, I pretty much know that. Jess was ranting in here the other day about how much he hated the idea of you living with Tommy."

"He could act like such a jerk sometimes." Kat said, with discontent in her voice.

"You know, he doesn't know Tommy, he's just looking out for you."

"Yeah, I know. But, sometimes I think he just takes things a little too far."

"How so?" Emily asked while handing Kat the glass and both heading to the table.

"Well, like the other day I told him over the phone that Tommy knew a guy that could sell me the storage for a good price because I was sure that I wasn't gonna get all the stuff out that fast. Since he had already told me that he would pay for the storage and later I told him what happened; he completely got irritated by the fact that Tommy was helping me out and not him."

"Why does he act like a damn boyfriend sometimes? And yet at others, he acts like a damn fool?"

"I don't know, but there's something good about me leaving, though. I can get away from all of my problems her in Angel Grove."

"What sort of problems? You mean that girl that got shot?"

"Yeah, that and other stuff." Katherine took a deep breath and sighed. She then looked at Emily who was completely drawn into the conversation.

"What other stuff?" She asked Katherine.

"Hmm?" Kat was now looking outside the window and daydreaming for a bit. "Oh, just stuff. So, what ever happened to Terry?" She asked changing the conversation subject into a different direction.

"Oh, she's at home. I heard she's not going back to school until next year. She's pretty bad, she just got released from the hospital. It must suck to be paralyzed like that from one day to the next."

Kat looked deep into the glass of iced tea she was holding in between her hands. She rubbed her left thumb against it stroking the cold liquid away from itself.

Emily gently touched Katherine's arm, "Kat, this isn't you fault. Just because you didn't say anything about their small fight doesn't mean…"

Jason then cut her off as they both looked up as he spoke, "Hey, we're going to McDonalds, you guys want anything?"

"Yeah, get me a number one with sweet 'n' sour sauce." Emily said.

Jason then looked at Kat and asked her if she wanted anything.

"No thanks", she shook her head gently.

"Come on Kat, you can't sit here and watch us eat," Jason said.

"Well, alright." Kat said, still not fully convinced that she wanted anything. "I'll have the grilled chicken salad please."

"Okay…" Jason said while making a somewhat revolting look at her order "…what kind of dressing would you like with that?"

"Oh, no dressing," she said, still in a gaze. She then turned back out towards the window.

Jason gave Emily a look of comprehension towards what Kat was going through and nodded his head. He then gave Emily a peck on the lips before heading out the door.


"So, how's the school thing coming along?" Jason asked Tommy while driving to McDonalds.

"It's alright. You know, I really think that the whole world is crashing down on me, man." He answered trying not to sound too wimpy.

"Why do you say that bro?" Jason asked concerned.

"Well, we just had a huge battle, courtesy of your friendly neighborhood Mesagog. Everything was as usual as always, no change, no nothing. Then, all of a sudden, Katherine shows up out of nowhere." He said, still with disbelief. "And you wanna know what's even more unbelievable, that my best friend didn't even think twice about telling me that Kat was back in Angel Grove. Shocking isn't it?"

"Hey, relax. I just didn't know if it was the right thing to do and all, besides, with Jessie in the picture, I don't really think you would want to know."

"Yeah, but Jessie is just a friend right?" He asked impatiently.

"Uh, no. I would hardly call someone you practically have over every night a friend."

"What? You mean to tell me, she has a boyfriend?"

"Yeah, man. What you expect?"

"Don't tell me that. Aww, Jase, I made such a fool of myself." He said leaning his head back remembering the night in his room. "Why hasn't she even gone to say hi or something to him?" He said, changing the subject quickly before Jason could counter with a question as towards why he was feeling like a fool.

"Man, between you and me…and well Emily…she's not too happy in the relationship. He's really possessing and just is a jerk to her."

"Really? In what way?" Tommy asked concerned.

"Well, you didn't hear this from me, but when we all went to the movies, you know Emily and me with Kat and Jessie, well, shit got crazy. Jessie saw this guy looking in Kat's direction. All of a sudden, Jessie gave him this ugly look right? Then he saw that the guy checked Kat out from the back, then all hell broke loose."

Tommy was just stunned and somewhat knew what the story was going to be about, stupid jealousy.

"We were like two feet away from the door, and bam! Jessie goes into this stupid wild rampage." Jason said, taking a pause.

"Then, all of a sudden I see Jessie beating up the guy without even telling him what the hell he's getting his ass beat for. Now don't get me wrong, I don't like guys checking out Emily as well, but that's just going too far."

Tommy nodded his head in agreement as Jason continued.

"Katherine then went towards him and tried to pull him off but that dude just wouldn't get off of that guy. Man, let me tell you, it was ugly."

"What did you do about it?" Tommy asked, somewhat quizzing him in his martial arts morals.

"Well, I got the dude off." He answered chantingly.

Tommy again nodded his head in agreement.

"He's a really jealous guy, Tommy. If he catches you looking at her for more than one damn second, he pounces on you like a damn tiger."

"And, I'm supposed to just accept that, besides, Kat said he's just a show and tell guy, that he's not strong."

"He might not look strong, but trust me man, that cat has gotten into so many fights because of her. It's crazy, honest to God, Tommy, I think he's just two words away from beating Kat's ass."

"Okay, now why do you say that?" He asked bothered by the comment.

"Well, that same day on the ride home we were both in the back seat of Kat's mustang while Jessie was driving. Kat was so upset for the show he had put, that she started arguing with him in the car. Man, you should have seen the way he screamed at her."

Tommy at this point was just ranting with rage inside of him. The thought of anyone yelling to Katherine was not going to go through him well, especially over something stupid like jealousy.

Jason continued with the story not noticing Tommy's face getting angrier and angrier with every passing word.

"He lifted up his hand at her like three damn times, man. I swear to you, I was thinking 'if this asshole does anything to her I'm gonna beat his ass', but he never hit her…in the car I mean."

"Why, did he do something to her afterwards?" Tommy was completely fuming with rage at this point and couldn't help raise his voice at his friend.

"Damn Tommy, calm down. I don't know if he did anything to her or not. I'm just saying he didn't do anything to her that I saw, that's all." Jason said, trying to calm down Tommy's rage.

"Oh, man Jason, if I know that he hurt her, I swear I won't even think twice about it bro." Tommy said still frustrated with Jessie's acts. "I haven't even seen this guy and I already want to kick his ass." He added with a few chuckles.

Jason chuckled at the comment as well. He then got serious for a moment while telling Tommy, "Let me tell you Tommy, that dude has serious problems."

"Why would Kat be with someone like him? She could do so much better that that, man." He said, in his mind suggesting himself.

"Well, Emily tried talking to her over the phone the next day about the incident and told Kat that she should stay away from him."

"Then what happened?"

"Well, they ended up getting in a fight themselves."

"Why's that?" Tommy asked.

"Well, Kat defended him saying that he told her 'he just cares for her and that's why he's so protective of her'. Emily tried to tell her otherwise, but, just ended up getting snapped at by Kat."

"Kat? Really? It just doesn't seem like her." Tommy said in disbelief.

"Well, we've just let her go with it. It's not our life, nor our relationship. We figured, if she wants help, she'll ask for it, but in the mean time, we'll just sit and wait for that."

Tommy nodded again to Jason's comment knowing that it was Kat's life and deciding himself right then and there to stay out of it as well.

"Besides, I'm sure she'll come to her senses."

"How are you so sure about that?" Tommy then asked him.

"Well… a certain someone came back into her life, you never know… something might happen." He said with a devilish look and smile towards Tommy's direction.

"Well, I just hope she can get out of that soon." Tommy said ignoring Jason's comment due to his concern towards Kat's situation.


Katherine and Emily were now in the living room chatting about Emily's parenting life.

"So, you said no to the epidural?" Katherine asked, making a mien of pain.

"Well, I wanted to have a normal child birth, Kat, I just wanted to feel what my ancestors felt, you know?" Emily answered with easiness in her voice after mentally picturing Fredrick, her first born.

"Well, did you do it for Kevin?" Katherine asked meaning Emily's second child.

Emily then raised her eyebrows, leaned back a little, lifted her blouse up, pointed at a long horizontal scar in the bottom of her belly, and showed Kat her C-Section scar she had gotten from her second child.

Kat let out a hiss of mentally noting to herself never to have a C-Section.

"It wasn't that bad," Emily then said, noticing Kat's reaction when seeing her scar. "It's looks worst than it is. I was asleep for the whole thing. It was beautiful, I went to sleep with a huge belly and I woke up with a baby to hold."

Katherine couldn't help but smile at the thought of Emily being in the hospital bed just sleeping comfortably and waking up to see another beautiful child created by so much love that her dear friends hold for one another.

"Oh, but Anne was a little different." Emily said, after seeing Kat's expression to the good news after a Cesarean Section. "When I had her, they had to perform another C-Section on my ass. I tell you, it was gruelling."

"Wasn't it just as last time?" Kat asked, curious about Emily's tone.

"Well, let me just tell you, the rules did not apply as last time. The nurse that was taking care of the IVs… oh my God…he told me the most horrible thing of all…next to having natural child birth of course."

Kat couldn't stand the anticipation. "What happened?" She had to ask, trying to speed up the story. "What did he tell you?"

"Well, I asked him that why is he not putting anesthesia on me to fall asleep."

"Didn't you read the paper work?" Kat then asked, breaking the story for a few moments.

"Well, yeah, only where I had to sign…and the bold parts…but I never saw anything about no beautiful anesthesia on them." Emily said.

"Oh, sorry, then what happened?" Kat then asked continuing the story after apologizing for her rudeness.

"Well, he then said, 'don't think you're gonna go to sleep this time and wake up with another tax deduction'…

Katherine started laughing at the statement that Emily had just said while she continued with her tale.

"… and I was like 'joke's on you cuz I already have my other two kids on my income tax, this one can't go in there', so then…

"You said that?" Emily was going to continue before getting cut off by Kat.

"No," she confessed. "But I was sure thinkin' it though."

Kat was again breaking with laughter and Emily couldn't stand it any longer and had to break out in laughter as well.

As the two were laughing, Tommy and Jason walked in the house making their way to the kitchen with a conversation of their own not even noticing the two sitting on the couch.

"Yeah right bro, you keep on thinking that the liquid is better than the solid," Tommy said, before adding, "just try it with the solid man, you'll see a huge difference."

"Nope, don't need to, I will stick to the liquid due to knowing it better." Jason said, with confidence in his voice. "What do you think would've happened if I had accepted that date with Kim, huh? I probably would've never been with Emily right now." Jason then noticed the girls were not in the kitchen and realized where they both were by the reflection of the glass doors a couple of feet in front of them. He then quickly added, "And wouldn't be the happiest man in the world."

Emily noticed his quick comment and gave him an evil look behind him which the others new he felt. "Kind of slick aren't we?" She asked.

"Oh, Emily, is that you? I didn't know you were here." Jason said, while turning around and looking at Emily. "We got the food babe," Jason added, before his wife got too upset because of his comment.

The four friends were eating. Katherine was eating her salad, Tommy was eating a quarter pounder with cheese, Emily was eating a Big Mac, and Jason was eating chicken nuggets. While in between bites, they were carrying on a conversation.

"You know, going back to what you were saying about the nurse, Emily," Katherine stated before asking," why didn't you tell him what you were thinking?"

"Oh, well, I don't know" Emily said, while the guys at this point in the conversation were up towards what the girls were talking about, "I guess I just didn't want to get a laugh out of him at that point, besides, he had my baby in his hands."

The group laughed at Emily's comment but still was not convinced.

"So, why is it you don't say the things you're thinking that will fit in just right with the conversation for any reason?" Tommy said, while having the group nod.

Jason then added, "how 'bout the ones that come way after an insult or something, and it's already too late to say 'em?

Again the group nodded their heads before Kat spoke, "yeah, and the worst part of it is that they're the things that are really good to get back at the insult with or in an argument."

All of them yet again nodded their heads and continued talking about the subject at hand.


It was getting pretty late before Tommy realized what they were in town for. He then let Jason and Emily know that they were both in a hurry and had to leave.

"That's too bad man, but, I hope to see you again soon." Jason stated.

"Yeah, me too." Emily said while giving Tommy a hug.

"I'll try to come more often," Tommy said while hugging Emily.

When they broke apart, Tommy then looked at Jason and said, "don't think just cuz you have three kids, you can't go to Reefside and visit me." He said while pointing his index finger at him.

"Yeah, I know," Jason told him, "sorry the kids were at their grandma's, but I'll be sure to take them to Reefside some time bro."

Jason then turned towards Kat's direction and said, "So, are you gonna call my wife and tell her all the gossip so she can report it to me?" Jason told Kat as he was going towards her to give her a hug.

"You can be sure about that," Katherine told him. She then hugged him and went towards Emily to give her a hug.

"It's gonna be tough without you here girl." Emily told her friend.

"Well, I think it's better this way, it's twice the gossip now; you tell me the gossip from Angel Grove, and I'll tell you the gossip from Reefside." Kat told her, trying to hold back Emily's tears.

Emily chuckled at the comment Katherine made while giving her a hug and saying, "you can be sure about that one."

Katherine saw Tommy opening the door and she followed him. They went outside followed by Emily and Jason.

They then stood in the doorway as Kat and Tommy made their way inside the jeep. He turned on the ignition and they waved as they were pulling out of the driveway.


They had to leave because they were going to another house before heading to Kat's apartment.

Their next stop was the DeSantos place. Rocky was living by himself after he divorced his wife of three years. She kept the children, but Rocky still got to see them every weekend due to his child support money he sent her every month.

Tommy parked his truck parallel to the street due to their fast visit they were making. He made his way up the driveway and onto Rocky's porch. He knocked while Kat then made it up after him due to having to put on lip gloss because her lips where getting a little chapped.

After several knocks, a young four year old came to the door and they could hear the little voice speak, "quién es?" (who is it?)

"It's Tommy and Kat sweetie." Katherine recognized the voice of Rocky's son Manuel, which went by the nickname Manny.

"Oh, okay," the little boy said while recognizing Kat's voice and opening the door.

"Hey!" Kat said, while getting Manny and picking him up to give him a kiss.

"Hi Kat!" the child said with a bright smile on his face.

Katherine then turned to Tommy with Manny still in her arms and said, "This is Manny, Rocky's son." She then turned to look at Manny and said, "Manny, this is Tommy, an old friend of your dad's."

"Hey! Who you callin' old?" Tommy said trying to make the others laugh.

Manny and Kat both laughed at his comment and Manny instantly liked Tommy and said, "You're funny!"

Katherine then asked, "so, where's you dad?"

As on cue, Rocky showed up at the door holding his one year old daughter, DyAna (Dee-Anna), in his arms.

"Hey!" Katherine said.

Rocky's face lit up seeing his friend at the door, but his face lit up even more to see who was standing next to her.

"Hey guys!" Rocky said with enthusiasm before inviting them in.

Inside, they gave each other hugs and hellos. Katherine got DyAna in her arms and kissed her while the little girl was just full of joy to see her again.

As Manuel was playing with his little sister peek-a-boo, Rocky, Tommy, and Katherine were in the living room talking about Rocky's divorce.

"Yeah, you know, it was hard, but, well, what can I do?" Rocky stated. "I have to go out there and get my life back you know," he motioned at Kat and Tommy.

The two just nodded their heads not wanting to say anything wrong with such a sensitive subject.

"But I did go out on a date," Rocky continued. "It was alright, but, I couldn't get Jasmin out of my head through the whole date."

Tommy wanted to bring up his hard break-up with Kimberly, but then realized this was no where near the same thing Rocky was going through. "Well, I guess you just have to give it time." He said instead.

Katherine was just lost in her own thoughts staring blankly into space. Rocky noticed her blank stare and teased his friend, trying to raise a laugh out of it while he was feeling so empty inside.

"Penny for your thoughts", he said.

"Huh?" Kat said, looking at Rocky dumbfounded.

Tommy and Rocky burst out laughing at the expense of Katherine, which she didn't mind at all. She herself was somewhat internally laughing at herself as well.

The conversation about Rocky's divorce and date went on for a while longer before he asked if they wanted something to eat.

"Oh, no thanks Roko," Tommy answered for the both of them. "We just ate a while ago, besides, we really have to be going. We have to pick up all the stuff from Kat's apartment."

Katherine looked outside and saw that it was a bit dark and in no time it was going to get even darker so she said, "yeah, besides, I think this is the perfect light to take out all my furniture and not have the landlord see us."

Tommy nodded in agreement, while Rocky nodded in understanding.

In a short time, Tommy and Kat were heading out the door saying their goodbyes to Rocky and his children.

They got back in the jeep and headed towards the storage area.