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.

A/N: I'm back on the horse; I just hope I don't fall off again.

Blooming

Chapter 16 / A Proper Proposal IV

"Trent, let me talk to you for a couple of minutes" said Hayley going over to Trent who had just sat down for his fifteen minute break.

"Sure Hayley, what's up?"

"Listen, Tommy is bringing his friends over to eat and I'm thinking of taking maybe a couple of hours off…so…"

Trent's face lit up at this point knowing what was going to be said next.

"…I'm thinking of leaving you in charge of the Café while I'm gone."

"Hayley, are you serious?" asked Trent with enthusiasm in his voice.

"But, you're going to have to show me that you can do this okay? So what I'm going to do is call Brad and see if he can come in to work today. I'll give you another worker and just sit back and see how you do for this afternoon."

"Alright, that's great! I mean, sure, that's cool." Trent said with great joy in his voice then turning it down a bit for a more mature tone.

Hayley simply smiled at him as she got up, "Okay, I'll be right back."

"Sure thing" said Trent not being able to hold in his smile.


Katherine smiled as she crumpled the Band Aid and cotton ball in her right hand and put it swiftly in her pocket as the door flung open.

"Hey girl, took you long enough!" said Kim in a cheery mood.

"Oh, you scared me" said Kat being caught off guard by the door being opened.

"Well, I was in a bit of a hurry. Tommy wants us to leave at one, and I have to look my best so I was coming to my truck to get some nice clothes."

"Looking great for lunch?"

"Yeah"

"Or looking great for Rocky?" Kat asked slyly.

Kim gave her a devilish smirk and just simply ignored the comment.


"Okay Trent, Brad said he couldn't make it, but Pete will be here in a couple of minutes" said Hayley as she headed towards the sink where Trent was washing dishes.

"Alright, Pete's kinda cool."

"This isn't about who you get along with Trent" explained Hayley.

"I know, I know, I'm just excited."

"Well, go on to the kitchen, I wanna talk to all of you together."

Trent did as he was told and headed to the Cyberspace Café kitchen and seeing upon arrival the six employees that he will have to be managing, minus Pete.

"Okay everybody," Hayley began, "I called this little meeting for a quick introduction to a new possible temporary manager. Now I'm going to take an hour off and leave Trent in charge. You are to treat him with the same kind of respect that you treat me with. If all goes well, I might just take the afternoon off and get back for closing. That's assuming you all can handle me not being here. So, with that said, you can all get back to work, and if you have any questions, remember, I'm not here so you're going to have to go to Trent…Oh, and another thing, Pete is coming in to work in a couple of minutes so you can put him in the kitchen…Any questions before I'm unavailable?"

The employees just looked around at one another and shook their heads.

"Alright then…Trent, is there anything you want to add?" she turned to Trent.

"Umm, well I just wanna go over the assigned tables, back, and kitchen for now" said Trent in a confident voice.

"Very well…I'm gonna go to the front and take care of things right now. Don't take long okay?"

"Alright" said Trent with a smile and then turned to his employees and started to go over things.


Hayley was now behind the front counter waiting for what seemed to be five minutes or so until she saw a familiar face walk through the door.

"Kat, Kim…man, when Tommy says one he means one" Hayley said with laughter in her voice.

Trent came out from the back and started going towards the table the two girls were heading to.

Jason, Rocky, and Adam were behind the girls going over to sit down as well.

"Hey" said Trent in a friendly voice.

"Hey" the girls countered.

"Hi" said Adam as he sat down next to Kim.

"Nice to see you again Trent" said Rocky as he sat next to Adam.

"So, Hayley, having lunch with us today?" asked a very polite Jason pulling out a chair for her and motioning for her to sit down.

"Well…" she said while sitting down next to Rocky, "as a matter of fact I am…thank you Jason."

"You're welcome" he said as he went over and sat on Kimberly's other side, "where'd Kat go?"

"To the restroom, to wash her hands" Kim said.

"Ah, cleanliness…it skipped a generation with me" said Rocky making the others laugh.

"Would you like for me to come back and let you get settled in with the rest of your party to order your drinks?" asked Trent.

The others just looked at Trent with confusion.

"Oh, he's in charge" explained Hayley.

"Ahh," came from the rest as understanding Trent's morale behavior.

It wasn't like him to be rude at all; it was his tone of voice that made the others somewhat skeptical.

Katherine came back to take a seat next to Jason.

"Hey" she said while putting a hand on Trent's shoulder before sitting down and continuing, "are the others coming?"

"Yeah, they'll probably be here in a little while." Trent answered.

"Where's Tommy, wasn't he with you guys?" questioned Kat.

"Umm…yeah…he was…but he said…he…" started Jason with halting words.

"had to find another parking space" finished Adam.

"Well, what was wrong with the one we had?"

"Too much sun" answered Rocky quickly.

A little too quickly, thought Kat.

"So" said Jason quickly, "what do you guys have to drink around here?"

"Check the back of the menu for refreshments" said Kim.

"Oh" said Jason turning the menu over.

At that, Tommy came in putting his keys in his pocket.

"Sorry I took so long, my keys got jammed again. It took me forever to get them out" he said as an excuse.

"I thought you were looking for another parking space" said Kat wrinkling her eyebrows a bit.

Tommy went over to sit by his fiancée and put his left arm around her while saying, "Yeah, well…after I got another parking spot…my key got jammed."

"You must really be the flash to find another parking space, and free your key out so quickly" said Kat, starting to get annoyed at this point.

"Well…"

"And tell me, why did you get another parking spot?"

"Because…we were too close to…"

"Because, of too much sun" answered Rocky again not wanting Tommy to say anything else.

"I was asking him" said Kat motioning her head towards Tommy.

"Because of too much sun" said Tommy with a smile.

"Fine" said Kat making Tommy sigh internally with relief yet in the back of her mind still being annoyed at not knowing what he had under his sleeve.


Lunch went smoothly with Kat ordering a vinaigrette salad with water, Kim ordering a parmesan pasta salad with a Margarita hearing how good it was along with Hayley, Jason and Adam both ordered a sirloin steak combo with a Bud Light, Tommy ordered a chicken fried steak sandwich with a GMD, and Rocky ordered a hamburger with fries and a Pepsi.

"Man, lunch was good" said Rocky rubbing his belly with a toothpick in his mouth still sitting at the table.

"Yeah Hayley, the food's really good here" said Kim.

"Thanks" Hayley thanked everyone now who was saying the same.

"So Hayley, are you gonna get outta here?" questioned Tommy.

"Yeah, Trent did a great job with the Café, I'm sure I could leave for a while."

"Alrighty then, let's get outta here" said Jason, getting up.

Everyone followed and went out the door except for Tommy who stayed to pay the tab.

"Tommy, you don't have to pay" said Hayley, staying with him.

"No, but I want to. We ate way too much for me not to pay."

"Take it as a thank you for allowing me to take a day off."

"Well…look what I got Kat" said Tommy pulling out a black velvet box from his right pocket.

Hayley gasped as she retrieved the box and didn't notice Tommy paying for the meals right in front of her as she pulled out the medium sized diamond ring from the stripped case.

"Oh my God, Tommy, it's beautiful" she said in a whisper, still getting caught off guard by the gift she held for Kat.

As she looked up she noticed Trent giving Tommy his change and Tommy then giving Trent a hefty tip.

"Tommy!" she yelled after anything else could be done.

"Sorry Hayley, I had to distract you with something."

"Well…okay…when are you going to propose?" she asked not caring about the bill anymore.

"Well…I…actually sort of already did."

"Huh?"

"Well, I kinda just blurted it out and I didn't give her a ring so I'm going to do it right this time."

"Hm…I see. Well…" she said putting the ring back in the box and handing it over to him, "good luck with that" she said with a huge smile crossing her face from being so happy for the both of them.

"Thanks" he said as he put it back in his pocket, "you know, it's strange, Conner, Kira, and Ethan never showed up."

"Yeah, I know, I realized that when we were done. I wonder what happened to them."

"Hey Trent, contact the others, see if they're okay. If neither of them answers, contact me immediately."

"You got it Dr. O," Trent said as he was still near the cash register.

"Hmm" said Tommy shrugging it off and going back to his jeep accompanied by Hayley.


"So, where do you guys feel like going?" Tommy asked getting inside the jeep.

"I feel like going to Hayley's ride" said a struggling Rocky who not only felt full, but tight as well from being in the back of Tommy's jeep along with Kimberly, Jason, and Adam.

Katherine, from the passenger side looked back and started laughing as she saw Rocky struggle to get comfortable in between Adam and Jason. The other two made faces as they too struggled a bit to get comfortable which made Kat and Kim laugh hysterically at this point.

"Look you guys," Kim said after she had finished laughing, "I think two of you should go with Hayley" she finally said.

The others just turned to Hayley who was waiting next to the jeep for instructions of where they were going, but couldn't help but laugh at what she saw in front of her as well. They all three gave her the puppy dog eyes and she laughed even harder.

"Okay, two of you can come with me…I don't even know why you got in there in the first place knowing I was going too" she said with laugher still in her voice.

"So, where are…we, ugh…going?" asked Kim while she was finally getting to her full comfort zone having Rocky and Adam jump out of the Jeep.

"How 'bout a bar? I really need a drink" said Kat pushing her head back towards the seat not noticing Tommy looking at her with awe.

"A drink; well, Ms. Alcoholic, when did you start drinking?" he asked.

"Didn't I tell you guys? I started going to AA meetings like three months ago."

Katherine looked at all of them as they stared at her with the same expression Tommy had on his face with the exception of Hayley.

"I'm just kidding you guys" she said with laughter in her voice, "it's called a sense of humor" she added after she saw her friends not changing their expressions.

Adam blinked as well as Jason. Kimberly blew out a breath of air making her lips shrink. Tommy was still baffled as Rocky then stated, "Well I don't know, between every joke there's a truth, I always say."


A/N: Okay, I fixed the chapters so 14 wouldn't be so long. Well, anyways, see you next chap…soon I hope. Ooh, I better not say that, cuz every time I do I seem to take forever. I hope you guys didn't get lost, I'm really sorry if you did.