TOMMY - ONE WEEK LATER

I'm completely lost in my thoughts as I do the grocery shopping. The kids are out for the holidays, I finally got all the baking and almost all the shopping done for that, Pina, Dar, Kira and Serena are all coming for the holidays. They should be here later today so that Zedd, Kira and I can all go to the reunion. The other three adults volunteered to stay with the kids so that Zedd and I can have some alone time. Kira, however, objected to Serena staying here. Apparently, Kira's decided to present her to the other Rangers as her mate, much as I did with Zedd years ago, and much like her older brother before her, the Eltarian has insisted the fuss isn't needed.

Hoping they'll have reached an agreement before they arrive, as the last thing I want to deal with is myself and Zedd being put in the middle of any squabble, even a small and silly one, I turn my thoughts to my own mate. Smiling slightly at the thought of finally getting a little time away with Zedd, I can only imagine what he has planned for our first night in Angel Grove given some of the things I saw him packing in his bag.

Debating on if I can get him to agree to go swimming this year, in truth rather enjoying the notion of showing him off and letting him show off at times, my thoughts are interrupted when someone addresses me. "Dr. Oliver."

I blink as I return to the present moment and focus on the man beside me. Shit. Keeping my tone calm, I address the man as casually as one can after taking a glass bottle to the face. "Hi, Mike. What's up?"

He takes a deep breath. "Look, I'm sorry about last weekend. My behavior was out of line."

"And then some" I agree. "But I'm glad you realize it."

"To be honest I'm somewhat surprised I didn't get a call or visit from Gina the following day."

"We didn't tell her. It was hard enough keeping Zedd from paying you a visit, Gina I feel wouldn't have been so easily swayed had she seen me picking the glass out of my face."

"And Zedd?"

"He's seen me with worse, though had you cut my actual eye I don't think I would have managed to stop him from taking one of yours."

Sucking in a breath and knowing he's somewhat intimidated by Zedd, I'm not surprised as he seems to take this warning seriously. "Well I don't have any bottles on me right now." Funny. "Look I still have a real issue with the idea of Gina and the kids going away for a year, never mind two. And for a lot of reasons. Do you have time to talk in the near future?"

I glance at both our carts. Neither one of us has all that much yet and judging by what he has in his so far and what my informants have said, he's probably close to what he can afford. "I'll buy you a cup of coffee and we'll talk now. I can do my shopping later."

He agrees and we abandon our carts. I shoot Zedd a quick text letting him know what's going on so he doesn't worry. In a few minutes, we're down the street at a café, both of us with coffee in hand.

A few hours later, I'm finally home with the groceries. Keeping my fingers crossed that Zedd didn't order pizza for lunch, I manage to get the front door open and my bags to the kitchen without dropping anything. "If you'd have let me know you were on your way home, Thomas, the children and I would have helped you."

"You still can. There's still plenty more to get." We both head back outside, calling for the kids as we go.

"No new injuries that I can see" Zedd comments. "Did things go well this time?"

"Somewhat."

"Meaning?"

"He offered a counter proposal and explained his reasoning behind it. I think it's workable but I'm going to have to talk to Gina. He thinks that it'll go better coming from me."

Zedd raises an eyebrow at this as I hand him some bags. "And why is that?"

"Later, mate" I answer as the children join us. A few quick trips later and everything's in. I excuse the children from putting things away so that Zedd and I can talk in peace. "So one thing that Mike's concerned about is that if they come with us off planet, that they might be unhappy, but it wouldn't be safe for them to make the trip back."

Zedd frowns. "If they were truly unhappy, we'd certainly find a way to get them home."

I nod. "I told him that. He pointed out that - advanced as we may be - we still aren't perfect and accidents do happen."

"They do" my husband agrees. "So what was his suggestion?"

"He suggested that, if we were going to Eltar this summer, he'd give up his summer vacation visitation and they could come with us for the summer and see if they even would like it. In return, he gets a reprieve from paying child support while they're gone."

Zedd shakes his head. "So it's really all about money for him, isn't it?"

"Not according to my sources."

"Is he working yet?"

"Not yet, but he is looking. The fact of the matter is, when the company let him go, he got a decent severance package and qualified for unemployment. However, the severance is nearly gone and what he's making on unemployment is still more than he'd make working outside his field. But that's going to be gone soon too."

"So you feel that this exchange is a good one?"

"It's not an unusual one and I think that Gina will see the sense in it. Once we're done putting the groceries away, I'm going to call her and get that out of the way before the others get here."

"I do hope our sisters have managed to resolve their differences before they get here" Zedd comments. "I really don't want to get caught up in their argument."

"Me either, but it seems like your sister is a lot like you, mate."

"What, devistatingly stunning in both looks and charm?"

Smirking at his own satisfied smile, I shake my head. "Not to mention hardheaded as all hell."

He shrugs. "Once she understands how important it is to Kira, I have no doubt Serena will give in, much as I did."

"Admit it, you had fun."

"I did, and still do. However you know even if I detested the matter I would still go simply for the fact I know it's important to you."

"I find it hard to believe you could ever truly detest it, especially given how excited you were to show everyone the kids' baby pictures those first few years after they were born."

"Wait until they see this year's."

A couple of hours later, I hang up with Mike. I got Gina to agree to his proposal with the understanding that there would be proper documentation drawn up so that he couldn't use it against her in the future and vice versa. He immediately agreed without an argument, which surprised me, but I made certain that he understood that several pairs of legally minded eyes would be looking this agreement over to close any loopholes.

Thankful that something has gone well, even if it does change our plans for summer vacation, I breath a sigh of relief. And just in time, as the alert on my cuff tells me that there are other ships arriving. Good. With Pina and Dar here, Zedd and I can leave in the morning as we hoped.

The children emerge from their rooms at my summons and we all head out back to greet everyone. One look at Kira and Serena, however, has me concerned. Hanging back and watching them for a minute, I see that things are not well with them at all. They are barely speaking to each other and when they do, it's extremely polite exchanges with a minimum of words. A quick glance at Zedd tells me that he's seen it too and is just as concerned as I am.

Sighing inside, I greet the women, Kira first and then Serena. I focus my attention on the Eltarian. "I'm glad you decided to come for our holidays, Serena. I think you'll enjoy them."

"Perhaps. From what Zeddic has said, he gets the most joy watching the children open the gifts that you two have chosen for them." Smiling as I recall my husband's almost childlike glee at our children's happiness, I nod and she continues. "However, I'm having difficulty finding appropriate gifts for my brother and my nephew."

"I'll help you, if you want. Maybe we'll have better luck in Angel Grove after the reunion."

Her jaw locks briefly and a mutinous look crosses her face quickly. "I am not going" she says disgustedly. "So I'll have to find something around here."

Pretending surprise, I ask, "Not going? Why not?"

The others have all moved into the house at this point, Jacob chattering excitedly to Pina about some animal related thing or another, while his older sister is bending Dar's ear about something either cooking or fighting related. Zedd and Kira are across the yard and I can see how upset she is from here. I swiftly return my attention to my sister in law as she answers. "Because, apparently, I'm not all that important."

"Excuse me? Serena, where in all the hells did you get an idea like that?"

"I showed her my coming out dress and said that I could have it altered to fit and I could wear it for the party and she laughed. She said that, while she was sure I'd look lovely in it, it was 'way too much'. I will not be looked down upon or paraded about like property or some pet!"

And if her coming out dress is anything like the designs that Zedd's been showing me for Mara Jane's future dress, then yeah I can kind of see the problem. "She didn't mean that you were supposed to wear less clothes, Serena. She meant that the dress is way too formal for the gathering." I glance over at Zedd. "Zedd's dressed pretty much the way he was when I presented him."

She looks his outfit over - boots, leather pants and silk shirt. In shock, she responds, "He wore that?"

"Close to it. For people our age with a close knit group like we are, that kind of formality is - well, weird."

"I don't understand. If someone is that important to you, don't you want your friends to see them at their best?"

"Zedd was on his best behavior but he didn't need to be dressed in his finest clothes. That's only a small part of who he is and not who he needs to be here. I understand that on Eltar the formality is a requirement with your status as lords and ladies, but not here." No need to mention really that he was on his best behavior for the actual event and much less so the night before.

Serena bites her lip as she thinks. "Kira also said that this 'wasn't that big of a deal'."

I roll my eyes at her poor choice of wording. "Again, she's referring to the formality, Serena. Believe me, for Kira this is a VERY big deal and she's nervous as hell."

Uncertainly she says, "It is? She is?"

Before I can respond, I feel a surge of shock from Zedd. I look over to see him turning toward us, but is stopped by Kira's hand on his arm. It doesn't stop his mouth, however, much to the Yellow Ranger's dismay. "Serena, seriously?"

"What?"

"Zedd, stop. It doesn't matter" Kira says tiredly. "It is what it is."

"It does matter. If what you've just said is true, then how can she possibly accept Thomas?" Whatever's been said has made him angry and upset.

"That's different, Zedd. She's not with him."

Serena and I exchange confused looks. "Wait a minute. What are we talking about here?"

"Nothing" Kira answers quickly.

A clear lie and we all know it so I call her on it. "Kira Marie Ford - don't lie to me." My tone somewhere between teacher and parent, my mate smirks at her.

"Hah - you're in trouble now."

"Shut it, Zedd. Now you are too." I return my attention to my sister of sorts. "Tell me. What's going on?"

"It doesn't matter. Serena's already said that she doesn't want to go and I finally figured out why."

Serena opens her mouth but I hold up a hand to stop her. "And why is that?"

Hurt flashes across Kira's face. "Because she's ashamed of me and ashamed to be with me as a lesser species. I'm just a human."

Instantly, Serena denies it. "No, I'm not."

"Of course you are. There's no other reason for you not to go."

"Wanna bet?" I challenge.

Defiantly, she glares at me. "Okay then. Why?"

"Because she didn't understand that this isn't a formal presentation like on Eltar. She thought that you didn't feel she was important enough for a proper presentation."

"You said that it was no big deal" Serena reminds her.

"Not compared to what you do on Eltar!"

"But I thought-" Serena stops, suddenly understanding where everything went wrong. "Kira - the way you said that and that my dress would be way too much, it sounded to me like I would be presented like property or a pet or something like that. Like I was less than you."

Tactfully, Zedd and I withdraw to allow them to work out their issues. We head into the house and find everyone else in the kitchen. I can't help but smile. Things actually feel pretty good at the moment. I know that before the weekend is over, I need to talk to Dar and Pina about our visitors this summer and about the whole move in general but for right now, I just want to enjoy everything.