Chapter 3

Kimberly sat up in Jason's bed, staring blankly into the TV set at the foot of the bed. She replayed the past days' events in her head, focusing especially on Tommy's reactions when she fell off the balance beam.

'Jason's right,' she thought. 'He deserves an explanation, but what's there to explain? I explained everything in the letter.'

Her thoughts were interrupted by someone knocking at the door.

"Kim?"

"Jason! It's your room!" Kim reminded him.

Jason poked his head in and grinned.

"How's the ankle?"

"Eh, getting better. I just have a slight limp." Kimberly looked up at Jason, who was still grinning like crazy. "What?"

"Nothing," Jason said quickly. "It's just that someone's here to see you."

Kim gave him a questioning look.

"Surprise!" Zack cried as he jumped inside the room. Kimberly let out a shriek.

"Zackie!" Kimberly struggled out of bed and limped towards Zack. "What are you doing here?"

"Vacation," Zack told her. "I heard that Jason finally convinced you to come back home and I just had to see you guys."

"Wow, this is perfect," Kimberly said. "I wish Trini and Billy would come here too!"

"Well, Trini would be no problem to try and track down, but Billy…" Jason said.

"But you never know," Kimberly replied, holding on to the hope of a reunion with the original rangers.

"Why don't we go downstairs, the rest of the rangers are here," Jason said. "They wanted to see how you were doing."

"Don't worry," Zack said, standing up. "Tommy isn't here."

"Yeah, you made sure of that," Jason said, giving his friend a look. Kimberly looked from Jason to Zack.

"Wha-"

"It's nothing," Zack said. "Hop on Kimmie!"

Kimberly giggled as she rode on Zack's back. Once they got to the living room, he set her down on the couch, beside Adam.

"Hey guys!"

"Hi Kim!" Justin said.

"How's the ankle?" Kat asked.

"It's doing fine," Kimberly said. "How was the picnic?"

"It was great," Kat replied, not wanting to mention the tension between herself and Zack.

"Yeah, too bad you missed it!" Rocky said. "One of the best picnics we've had, food wise."

Everyone laughed. At the sound of the doorbell Jason excused himself to answer it.

"Hey," Zack said. "How about a movie night like the old days?"

"That sounds like a great idea!" Kimberly cried.

"We can get the food!" Rocky said.

"And Tanya and I can stop by the video rental to get the videos," Kat volunteered.

"No it's alright, I think Jase and I can handle that," Zack said, glaring at Kat. "Why don't you go and spend some time with Tommy?"

Kimberly looked at Zack in shock. She turned to Kat and saw that her face was red and her eyes were on the verge of tears. She stood up and faced Zack.

"Excuse me while I talk to Zachary Taylor." Kimberly limped towards Zack and dragged him into the kitchen.

"What is up with him?" Justin asked. "He's been acting like a jerk to Kat the whole day!"

"Look who finally made it!" Jason said as he walked in the living room with Tommy.

"Hey guys!" Tommy said. He was greeted with weak hello's. "What's wrong?"

He noticed Kat's tear filled face and went to her side.

"What happened?" Jason asked. Rocky looked at Jason and nodded towards the kitchen. Jason excused himself and joined the pink and black ranger in the kitchen.

"Zack what was that all about?" Kimberly cried. "Why were you so mean to Kat?"

"How can you stand here blaming me for being mean to the girl who stole Tommy away from?"

"Aw man," Jason muttered under his breath.

"Zack, Kat didn't steal Tommy away from me. I broke up with Tommy and Kat just happened to be there to help him get through it!"

"Just like how Kat was there when you happened to lose your power coin?" Zack yelled back.

Kimberly fell silent, trying to collect her thoughts and choose her words carefully.

"I've always wanted to be in the Pan Globals Zack," she said, trying to keep herself from yelling. "And Tommy knew that and he told me to follow my dreams, so I did."

In the living room, Tommy stopped comforting Kat once he heard Kim's voice say his name.

"I trusted Kat and I knew that she would make a good replacement as the pink ranger-"

"And as Tommy's new girlfriend?" Zack retorted.

"Zack!" Kim cried, not bothering to lower her voice anymore. "You don't know what happened."

"Then tell me."

"I met someone new while I was in Florida," Kimberly said.

Tommy lowered his eyes once he heard Kim say those words. He felt his heart break all over again.

"You what?" Zack asked in disbelief.

"It was getting harder for me to talk to Tommy, with my training and with him being a ranger. I constantly worried about him getting hurt, especially when I wouldn't hear from him for days! It was so hard for me," Kimberly said, feeling tears come up to her face. "I wrote him a Dear John Letter and told him that I met someone new, which wasn't a total lie. I did meet someone, but we weren't romantically involved like I led Tommy to believe."

"Why would you do that?" Zack asked, feeling guilty about his behavior towards Kat and Tommy.

"I had to let him go," Kimberly said. "Our lives were beginning to slowly separate from one another. I mean, I had my gymnastics in Florida and Tommy had the rangers…and Kat."

Despite Kimberly's crying eyes, Jason had to smile. Kimberly finally let the truth come out. He stepped into the living room.

"Wha-where's Tommy?" Jason asked.

"He left to take Kat home," Adam said. Jason sunk down on the couch and put his hands up to his face.

"Man, why couldn't he have stayed just a little longer?"

"Is it true?" Tanya asked. "What Kimberly said?"

Jason nodded.

"Why? Couldn't she have talked it out with Tommy?"

"Yeah, I guess I could've," Kimberly said, as she walked in with Zack beside her. "You guys heard everything huh?"

"Well, with your set of lungs, it's kinda hard not to," joked Rocky. Kimberly smiled and secretly thanked him for making her a tad bit better.

"I guess you guys have questions?" Kimberly said.

"Yeah we do," Zack said, speaking for everyone else. He still had a few questions he needed answers to. "But I think Tommy needs his answers first."

Kimberly nodded. After a few minutes, she spoke up.

"So, how about this movie night? Still on or what?"

"Sure."

"Yeah."

"Of course!"

"Why don't you, Tanya, and Justin go pick out the movies?" Jason asked. Kimberly nodded and limped out of the house with Tanya and Justin following closely behind.

"Alright bro, spill what you know," Zack said, making himself comfy on the couch.

Jason sighed and looked from Zack to Adam to Rocky.

"Okay, but this does not get repeated to anyone else, especially Kimberly and Tommy. And you make no indication that you know anything about Kim's life in Florida."

The guys all nodded in agreement.

"Alright well…"

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AN: So what do you think? Nothing bizarre or weird happened to Kimberly so please don't expect anything big!

Question: Any rangers you would like to see in this fanfic? Let me know and I'll see whether or not I can tie them in somehow. Thanks!