There was a soft cackling sound from the ceiling and soon a woman's perky voice could be heard over the intercom. "Flight 723 has just arrived; we apologize for any inconvenience the delay has cause to you and yours."
"Finally!" Ethan said, throwing his hands into the air and rising to his feet. They had been waiting for over an hour for the plane to arrive, all because of a crazy delay all the way in Newark, New Jersey!
Trent laughed, cheeks flushing slightly as people turned to stare at his loud friend. Tommy simply smiled, continuing to flip through the magazine he was reading. "You've obviously never been on a plane, Ethan. We still have another thirty minutes to wait before Hayley shows up."
Kira paused at the front door of her professor's house, looking back at her two friends. "Are we all set?" She asked, looking over all of their belongings. The group had needed to make quite a few pit stops along the way, first at Kelly's house, so she could pick up her homework, then to Kira's for the same and finally to Connor's house to pick up some clothes and an empty book bag which he claimed to hold his homework.
Kelly's deep eyes scanned her belongings and she nodded. "Yup, I've got everything I need." She said softly.
The yellow clad girl nodded and looked to Connor. "What about you?" She asked, failing an attempt to mask the worry in her voice
"Fine, sweetie." Connor teased, eyes sparkling as he awaited her reaction.
Kira was silent for a moment, taken back by her friend's comment. "Um..right then..good..." She said, shaking her head and acting as if nothing had happened. She turned and began to open the door, her fellow female ranger shifting awkwardly as she watched the two.
Mesogog angrily paced the floor, glaring at the two in front of him. "We need to find a way to kill those stupid rangers!" He yelled, slamming his fist down as he looked down at Zeltrax and Elsa.
"I want to be the one to kill the Black Ranger," Zeltrax said, stepping forward as he spoke to his 'boss'.
"Then why haven't you already?" Mesogog snapped, eyes narrowing. "Time and time again you were given the chance, yet you failed each and every time! Why! Explain that to me!"
"M-master...I..."
"You what?" Came the harsh reply. "You know what? Just shut up, I don't even care anymore."
Elsa stayed silent as she observed, before she finally turned her eyes to look at Zeltrax. "Why is it you hate him so much?"
"Why do you care?" Zeltrax snapped, turning his head sharply to look at her.
"Are you blind, Elsa? It's obvious that he's jealous." Mesogog said, the eyes of the other two once again returning to him.
Elsa hid a confused look as she opened her mouth to question him. "Jealous of what?"
'Of you, of course!" Upon seeing Elsa's confusion Mesogog continued. "He's jealous that Mr. Oliver gets to see you all day long, while he's cooped up here by himself."
"I am not!" Zeltrax hissed out.
"Of coarse you're not." Mesogog said, sarcasm livid in his voice as he turned and began to leave, Zeltrax following – leaving a confused Elsa behind.
'But we aren't together...' She thought to herself. 'Not anymore at least...'
"Ok, Kira, I'm gonna go downstairs, ok?" Kelly said, brushing a stray strand of dark hair from her face. "You go on upstairs and take care of your man."
Kira nodded, trying to hide her blush. "Sure..you gonna be ok?"
"I'll be fine." Was the answer she received. "You know where to find me if you need me. Bye Connor!" She added to the boy in the corner. He nodded, continuing to look over his things to make sure that he hadn't forgot something.
"So...guess it's just you and me now.." Connor said, smiling over at Kira as Kelly's footsteps faded away.
"Guess so, soccer boy." Kira smirked slightly. "Come on, let's get you upstairs."
Connor groaned. "Don't remind me...I can't play soccer for a month.." He paused, thinking things over. "Wait a minutes, that means I can't be a ranger either. I can't let Dr. O down like that..what am I going to do?"
A small comforting hand rested on his shoulder and he looked up. "It's ok to be ok, I promise." Kira said with a smile. "I'm here for you.."
"Thanks, Kira. You're the best." Connor fought to keep eye contact with her though he couldn't and his eyes moved to the floor. There had been something going between them in those brief seconds. Something rare and strong that had scared him.
"I think we should be getting upstairs now.." Kira whispered, her eyes on the ground. She had felt it too and she was terrified of what it could mean...
"Now, Alex, you need to behave. A good friend of mine is going to be picking us up."
"Pfft..like I care." Alex retorted.
"Alex." A stern voice said.
"What-ever, Aunt Hayley." He rolled his caramel coloured eyes.
Hayley sighed. "Just be good..." She said softly, scanning the airport. "There he is." She raised her hand, pointing out Dr. Oliver.
"What did he used to be a model or something?" Alex asked, raising a brow. 'He can't be a science teacher...' He thought to himself. 'Science teachers are old and boring...not magazine models...' He brushed a strand of his dark brown hair from his face and looked up to his Aunt. "Who're the two bozos next to him?"
"Umm.." Hayley looked over to Tommy once more, smiling slightly as she saw the two rangers resting loyally at his side. "Trent and Ethan."
"And they are?"
Hayley took a moment to answer, trying to decide how she could describe the relationship between the three. "Well," She began slowly. "Trent works for me and Hayley's Cyberspace is practically Ethan's second home." Aside from the Dino Lab, though she didn't voice that.
"And how does that explain why they're here?" Alex asked, a slightly rude and snotty tone in his voice.
Hayley smiled, ignoring her nephew's tone. "Trent and I are quite close. He was worried when I left so he most likely just wants to see if I'm alright. Ethan works for Tommy, seeing as Tommy came here he most likely just wanted to come along."
Alex let out an exasperated sigh. "If you say so.."
Hayley let out a sigh. It was going to be a long day. "Come along." She said, beginning to head towards the three rangers, who seemed to be talking amongst themselves.
"Look, Dr. O!" Trent said excitedly from the other side of the airport. "Here she comes."
"And she's not alone.." Ethan slowly responded, nodding to the boy trailing behind her.
"No..she's not.." Trent frowned in slight confusion.
"Do either of you know about him?" Ethan questioned, looking to Trent, who shook his head 'no'. His eyes moved to his teacher as he began to answer.
"No.." Tommy said slowly. "I guess she left out that little detail over the phone this morning...Here they come, though. behave you too.." He added before moving forward and embracing Hayley. "Welcome home."
Hayley smiled. "Hey Tommy." She said softly, slightly taken aback by his action, even though she had accepted it. "Trent, Ethan.." She added as an afterthought.
"Hello, Hayley...you gonna introduce us to your..um..friend?" Ethan asked, searching for the right word to call the boy behind Hayley.
The woman smiled, stepping to the side and wrapping her arm around Alex' shoulders. "Tommy, Ethan, Trent.." She began, looking to each of them in turn as she said their name. "This is Alex, my nephew. He's going to be staying with me from now on..." Her eyes drifted over to her old friend, hoping for his approval – which would insure that she had done the right thing.
Tommy smiled, looking to the boy. "Welcome to Reefside, Alex." He said softly. He was pleasantly surprised that Hayley had taken him in, though it was expected. Hayley loved her family and would do absolutely anything for them.
"Hey little guy, what's up?" Trent said with a smile, sounding as if he was talking to the small child.
Alex straightened slightly, rising to his full height of 5'4". "How old do you think I am? Two?"
"Well, how old are you?" Ethan wondered aloud.
"Fourteen...hopefully you can count that high. I'm only three years younger than you." Alex retorted. He knew that he wasn't making the best first impression and he knew that he could've done better, though he was in no mood to try.
Trent instantly felt bad for the way he had spoken to Alex, having mistaken the boy for being much younger than he actually was. "Well..would you like some ice cream? Maybe that'll put a smile on your face.." He said hopefully.
"You want a smile on my face?" Alex raised a brow once more, frowning deeply. "Are you an idiot? Do you even have a brain? My parents just died! Do you really think that a little ice cream will make me happy?" He exploded, clenching his fists. "You don't know the first thing about what I've been through!"
"You think I don't know what that feels like? To lose my parents?" Trent asked, eyes narrowing slightly. "For your information I lost both of mine when I was your age. You're lucky enough to have a family member to go and live with – rather than some ugly guy who simply worked your parents. Hayley loves you and she's going to have to give up a lot to be able to take care of you, yet she's willing to do that. My so-called 'dad' just wants me to take over his company. If you think that you can go around telling me that I don't know about the hell you're going though, you better think again." He yelled back, ignoring the looks from the others in his group and a few other random onlookers.
Tommy coughed softly, placing a hand on each boy's shoulder. "Ok you guys, let's stop this now. Why don't we just go back to the car?" He asked, hoping that the two wouldn't stay angry with each other for too long, seeing as they would be spending quite a lot of time with each other.
Hayley gave him a smile of thanks. "Sure. Alex, you and I can ride with Tommy. Trent, you and Ethan take the bags in your car ok?" She said, thankful that they had two cars. Trent and Alex both meant so much to her, she hated to see them fighting.
Ethan nodded, forcing a small smile. "Right, good idea, Hayley." He said, also hoping that Trent and Alex wouldn't fight anymore...
Kelly let out a groan. "Why me.." She muttered, realizing too late that she had forgotten the sheets of paper she had printed out with needed information on it.
She let out a sigh and looked around the room. "I guess Dr. Oliver wouldn't mind it I borrowed his computer...I really need to get this essay done.."
A little over an hour later Kelly had collected all of the information she needed and pasted it all into a word document. She clicked save and opened "My Documents" when asked where she wanted to save it to. The dark haired girl was about to hit save when she noticed a folder labeled "My Past". She looked around the room before hitting the save button.
Once the needed information had been saved she moved the mouse slowly to the top of the document and clicked on the word 'File' followed by 'Open'. She easily located the mysterious folder and opened it. At the back of her mind she scolded herself, though for Kelly reason took a back seat to curiosity.
Her eyes slowly scanned the folders contents. There were more folders inside, each one titled with the name of different rangers from the past. She curiously opened a few, finding saved e-mails, articles and some pictures. She returned to the original folder, smiling as she spotted the one she had been most looking forward to seeing : "Kimberly Hart".
The mouse rose and double clicked the folder. It opened quickly, revealing itself to be different from the rest. There were no e-mails, instead there were file upon file of pictures and many articles. Kelly glanced to the side bar and her eyes widened. Kim's folder held over four hundred separate files.
The mouse moved again, switching the layout so the oldest was shown at the top. "Time to see what the first pink ranger's been up to.." She said as she opened the first article...
'I can't believe it!' Elsa thought angrily.
She had no feelings for Tommy. He was a great person, so kind and smart, quite handsome as well. If only she didn't have to kill him...
It had been quite a few years since they were last together. She closed her eyes as she remembered all of the hurt feelings. She had loved him and she still had feelings for him, no matter how much she denied them.
Back when they had both been full humans they had been happily together for years. But when they became what they were, Mesogog helped them to see the light. Love got in the way of the plans. The break up had been a hard one, though it was so much harder pretending not to love him when she did...
"So.." Hayley began, looking over to Tommy as he drove them down the road home. "What happened while I was gone?"
Tommy glanced over to her and smiled. "Well first of all we all missed you, especially everyone at the café. They all wish you the best and can't wait to have you back, though if you're not ready I know that they'd understand and Trent and I can handle it for a bit longer."
At the mention of Trent angry grumbling could be heard from the back. Tommy glanced back and looked at Alex, the only one in the back of the car. The boy didn't look up, simply continued typing away on his laptop.
Hayley smiled and shook her head. "Thank Tommy, though I really need to get back to work." She said, ignoring Alex's grumbles. She let out a sigh and gazed out as the scenery as they flew by in the black jeep. She looked happy on the outside, though inside she was dieing. She didn't want to feel the pain any more and she only hoped that work could help. "What else happened?" She asked softly.
"Connor broke his leg.." Tommy said, not taking his eyes off of the road in front of him.
The woman's eyes widened. "Oh no..is he alright?"
Dr. Oliver smiled and nodded. "Yes, he'll be fine. He's spending some time at my house because his parents are out of town and I didn't want him staying alone. Kira's there taking care of him and Kelly is doing some work on the downstairs computer.." He put a small emphasis on work, hoping that she understood the underlying meaning of his words.
Hayley gave him a nod of understanding. "I hope she doesn't run into any problems.."
"Me too, Hayles, me too." Tom said, giving her a smile as he used her nickname.
"And these people are?" Alex interrupted, sounding as if he didn't care, despite the fact that he had been listening in.
"They're more of my students who work for me." Dr O said, glancing into the rearview mirror to look at Alex.
"There's more?" Alex asked, eyes widening slightly.
A soft sigh echoed from the passenger seat at the front. "Yes, Alex, there's more."
Kira opened the door to her teacher's room and looked around curiously. The floor, unlike the rest of the house, wasn't wooden. Instead it was covered in a deep red carpet that spanned the entire floor. There was a large bed in the center of the room, covered in a black comforter, and a dresser off to the side. On one wall was a large fire place and on another were two large glass doors that blocked the way to a small deck outside.
"He sure has a lot of pictures.." Kira commented, eyes scanning the room. The walls, the dresser, the beside table – all were covered in pictures. She looked to the bookshelf, which stood next to the glass doors, and smiled as she spotted a few photo albums. She let out a soft sigh as she picked up a picture from his dresser. It was of the first ranger team. They all looked so close, as if they were a family...Kira only wished that their team was that close.
"Kira.."
Connor's voice snapped the young girl out of her thoughts. She looked back as he was beginning to lay down on Tommy's bed. She smiled and began to walk over. "Yeah, Con-AH!" She let out a shout as she tripped over her own book bag. She stumbled forward, gasping softly as she fell on top of Connor. "I'm sorry, are you alright?" She asked, sounding worried, though she didn't move or rather – she didn't want to move.
The boy beneath her nodded, giving her a smile. "Yeah, I'm fine, Kira.." He said quietly.
Kira smiled and shook her head. "Connor you're the best.." She said softly. She began to lean down, meaning to give him a kiss on the cheek, though Connor turned his head and their lips met in a gentle kiss.
The kiss lasted just a little over a second, for it was broken by them both pulling back and apologizing profusely. They would have most likely worked themselves into a silence though the phone let out a ring before that could happen.
'Saved by the phone..' Kira thought with an eye roll. "Um..I'm just gonna go get that.." She said, not meeting Connor's eyes as she spoke to him. She turned and searched the room, finally spotting the phone on her teacher's bedside table.
"Hello," Kira began as she picked up the telephone. "Tommy Oliver's house. May I ask who's speaking please?"
"Who are you? And why are you answering Tommy's phone?" A deep voice asked through the phone.
"I'm Kira." She said without hesitation. "I work for him.." She added, remembering what Dr. O had told to Randell. "May I ask again who's speaking?"
There was silence on the other end. Kira was about to ask if the man was still there when he said. "Jason...this is Jason.."
AN: I still don't own the Power Rangers...yet. I wrote this before I posted the 3rd chapter. Umm....How that you like it. Now tell me what you thought and hit the review button.
BN: It would be a lot of fun to own the power rangers, or at least Tommy...unfortunately I don't own any of them, as of yet. Finally got the time to finish this, I hope you all like ( Please review, it's greatly appreciated. Bye until next chapter.