Chapter Five

"You should've seen the look on his face!" Justin gasped in between his laugh. Tanya, Adam, Jason, and Kimberly were all laughing hard from listening to Justin's stories about Rocky.

"Ha-ha, very funny," Rocky said, pretending to pout.

"Aw, it's alright Rocko," Kimberly said, clutching her pained sides from laughing too hard. "It happens to everyone."

"Funny," Adam began, gasping for air. "I don't remember ever mistaking a guy for a girl and then hitting on her non stop!"

Everyone erupted into laughter again as the doorbell chimed.

"I…I'll go get it," Kimberly said, still laughing. She opened the door and found Kat and Tommy.

"Kimberly!" Kat exclaimed. "What's wrong?"

Tommy instinctively looked up at Kim's face and saw that she was on the verge of tears.

"Huh?" Kim asked. She let out a little laugh when she realized that tears from laughing so hard were in her eyes. "Oh, it's nothing. Justin just told us a really funny story about Rocky."

Kat let out a small laugh. "I thought something terrible had happened."

Three all made their way back to the living room.

"Alright, let's start this movie!" Justin cried, excited and happy that the older rangers were including him also.

"Wait, don't forget the snacks!" Rocky said.

"I'll get them," Kimberly offered, beginning to limp towards the kitchen.

"No, Kimmie, I'll get them," Zack said standing up. "Kat, can you help me with the snacks please?"

Kat looked surprised. Kimberly gently nudged her towards Zack and the two disappeared into the kitchen.

"You know Kim, you should really sit down and rest your ankle," Adam told her.

"Nah, I've been trained to live through the pains and sprains to help the pain go away," she said with a smile. But she still limped her way over to the couch and sat between Rocky and Adam.

- - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - - - - - -

Kat and Zack were getting the snacks in awkward silence.

"Kat," Zack began. "I-I'm sorry for how I acted earlier."

"It's alright," Kat said quickly.

"No, I was a jerk. I guess…I just got mad when I saw how close you and Tommy were."

"No worries. I understand that Kimberly is a really good friend of yours. It's only right for you to feel protective of her."

Zack felt even more guilty after hearing Kat's words.

"Tommy and I are close," Kat said quietly. "And I did have a crush on him. But I realize that his heart was only for Kimberly. So I settled for the next best thing, being a good friend he can rely on."

"So you…you have no feelings for Tommy now?"

"No, I don't. He still has Kimberly in his heart."

"And Tommy in hers," Zack finished. He looked up at Kat with a mischievous grin.

"What?"

"Well, Kat my friend, how about we play a little matchmaking?"

"You mean, get Kimberly and Tommy together again?"

"Yeah!" Zack exclaimed excitedly, but quickly lowered his voice. "I can tell Kimmie still loves Tommy and Tommy still loves Kim."

"Maybe we should let them work it out themselves," Kat said. It wasn't that she didn't want them to get back together, she just feared that unnecessary meddling would only worsen the situation.

"We will! We'll just help them from time to time," Zack winked. Kat smiled and nodded. "You know, give a little nudge, a little push to get things rolling!"

"As long as we don't muddy the situation any further!" she warned.

"Of course not! And we have to keep this quiet, I don't think Jason would approve of us doing this. He thinks Kim's been through enough the past months."

Kat nodded again and picked up the tray of pizzas.

"Now…about your friend Tanya…" Zack began as he picked up the two six packs of soda.

- - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - - - - - -

AN: Dun dun dun...will Zack's plan work?