A/N: Hey, guys! Sorry for the delay. We went away on a mini vacation for the weekend and just came back today. I hope everyone had a lovely Labor Day weekend if you celebrate.

Just wanted to clear some things up. Guys, I know this story isn't much like my other ones. There's a lot going on and it might seem like I leave things open without closing them. I promise that there are resolutions for those things. There's just a process involved in getting there. I know we all want Kim to tell Tommy that he's the father of the baby. However, she has just gone through a tremendously difficult trauma. She was attacked twice by her husband, a man that she loved and felt she could trust. One cannot blame her for being scared to trust another man that she loves, even if that man is our hero in the white spandex, Tommy Oliver. Like life, everyone's story has layers. And those layers tend to overlap at times. I guess all I can really say is that if you can't find yourself getting into this or you feel like it's not for you, wait for my next story and try again. I completely understand that not everyone has the same taste or patience. That's okay! I love all you my readers and those who take time to review. I try my best and sometimes, it's not to everyone's standards. By all means, sit this one out and come back swinging for the next story! :)

Also, after this fic is over, I will be returning to the land of the Shattered Grid to finish that saga up. I haven't forgotten about it. I just am fearful of mixing two stories up if I try to write them at the same time. Like I said, I like to give my best and if I tried to write it at the same time as this, the Ranger Slayer would end up at Kim's baby shower or something haha. This fic should have about ten or fifteen chapters left according to my outline. Just hang in there!

On that note, do you know how hard it is to write a Christmas themed chapter before Christmas? Thankfully, I have a stock pile of Hallmark movies saved that I watch during writing.

Please keep reviewing and telling me what you think. :)


December 23rd, 2004

Angel Grove, CA

The ride home from Trini's parents' cabin was uneventful. I rode with Tommy who tried his best to get me to have a conversation about him and Katherine. He apologized for her trying to make it seem that they had slept together. He assured me that it hadn't happened and that he wouldn't even think about doing anything like that when all our friends were so close, especially with Zack in the room. I ended up telling him that it was really none of my business what he did with Kat and that he didn't have to explain himself to me. I didn't have the heart to tell him about how she was trying to get Trini to turn on me. I might not like how close he was getting to her but I wasn't about to set out to destroy their relationship. Against Kat's opinion, I wasn't that type of person.

Back home, I was glad to be on vacation from work. The theater was shut down until the New Year, the board having professional cleaners coming in to deep clean the carpets and apply fresh wax to the floors. Marci was also off from school and had picked up extra hours at the bookstore. I knew it was mostly to avoid time at home with me but I understood it. Things between us were okay for the most part. She was talking to me and acting fine but she didn't go out of her way to spend time with me. And she was avoiding Tommy like he had the plague. I didn't think he noticed this though. He didn't mention her absence at all and didn't seem phased when she kept turning down offers to hang out at home with us.

He had been spending more time at home than he was out of the house. He had gone out with Kat the day after we had come home but it wasn't very long. And when they had come back, she wasn't with him. I had been fearful she would try to weasel her way into my house every chance she got but it hadn't seemed to be that case yet. I was glad. I didn't think I could handle having to deal with her here every waking moment. Part of me believed he had told her he was busy working on the dojo rebuild. Granted, he was working several hours of the day on that. He had a lot of things he needed planned out and organized before they broke ground. However, he was doing those things with me and it didn't eat up much of his day. I wasn't going to complain though. If he would rather spend time picking out insurance plans and different contractors than spend time with his girlfriend, that sounded like a Kat problem.

I was sitting in the kitchen reading the newspaper when I heard Marci come walking down the stairs. I looked up as she entered the kitchen and I was surprised she wasn't wearing her work uniform. Instead, she was wearing Christmas pajama pants and a hoodie with Angel Grove High on the front of it. She smiled at me, walking over to the coffee pot. Pouring herself a cup, she sat in the chair across from me. "No work today?" I asked. She shook her head.

"No. I decided to take it from now until after Christmas off. There's no point in working the holiday season completely away." She replied, sipping her coffee. "I was actually thinking we could do something Christmasy today. Maybe bake cookies and watch some Christmas movies?"

"I'm always down for a reason to eat cookies." I replied.

"Good. Is Tommy up yet? He can join in." She said.

"He's not here. I think he went out for breakfast and Christmas shopping with Katherine." I said. Marci let out a groan, rolling her eyes.

"Of course he did. God, I hate her. I hate her face. Her hair. I hate literally everything about her. Especially that accent. 'Good day, mate.' Ugh. Each time she talks, I want to throat punch a kangaroo." I smirked, taking a sip of my tea.

"I don't think that kangaroos would appreciate it."

"Well, it's her fault." She muttered.

"Marci, I know you don't like her but she's part of Tommy's life. We need to accept that." I closed my newspaper and leaned my elbows on the table. She shook her head.

"I'm a sixteen year old emotionally unstable teen girl. I don't need to accept anything until I am damn well ready to." She crossed her arms. "I'm starting to understand why you don't want to tell him the truth."

"What do you mean?"

"I thought about it a lot since we've been home. After watching him let Kat suck his tongue out of his throat, he should have made it clear they were together. Instead, he just kinda acted like you two were together. Especially when he was feeling the baby kick. I understand being excited for the baby. We all are. But I think a part of Tommy feels closer to the baby in more of a father role which is crazy since he is. But he shouldn't be going back and forth between you and Kat like that. He either wants to be with Katherine or not. He shouldn't be doing this to either one of you. And as much as I hate the bitch, she doesn't deserve to go through that either."

"I don't blame Tommy." I said, sighing. "He thought we were going to get back together after we were together. I told him no though."

"Why?" She asked.

"I was still with Nick and it was when things were still very bad. I thought that if I told him yes and tried to leave Nick for him, Nick would do something awful to Tommy or you or anyone else in the group. By the time I was finally away from Nick, it was too late for me to try to be with Tommy like that. He told Jason and Trini he wanted to be friends and he made that clear to me as well."

"He's a shitty liar, that's for sure." She sipped her coffee. "Oh well. It's his loss then. We can make all the cookies and watch all the Christmas movies. Then when he comes home, we can ignore him talking about Katherine and brag about what he missed."

"That's the spirit." I replied. There was a knock at the door, pulling my attention towards the front of the house. "That's probably Trini. She was supposed to come over." Standing up, I walked through the living room towards the front door. Grabbing the doorknob, I pulled the door open and was surprised to see it wasn't Trini standing there.

It was my mother.

"Kimberly!" Mom said, smiling at me. Her hair was longer than it was the last time I had seen it and there were blonde highlights mixed with a caramel color. She had a dark purple peacoat on and a pair of jeans, reminding me of how she would dress to go out grocery shopping. Holding her arms out, she pulled me in for a tight hug. I wrapped my arms around her, giving her a hug back. Though I talk to my mother on the phone every few weeks, I don't really tell her much. She knows that Nick and I split but doesn't know why or what happened.

She also has no clue I'm pregnant.

"Mom! What are you doing here?" I asked. She pulled away, smiling at me.

"I thought I would fly back to surprise you for Christmas. I haven't heard from you in a while so I figured it would be a great way to check in."

"Why did you knock? It's your house." I asked. She shrugged.

"You're living here. It's more your house right now than anything."

"Come in!" I exclaimed, moving aside. She grabbed her black suit case behind her and walked in, setting it on the floor next to the couch.

"Oh, it's lovely in here! When Jason had called and told me they were going to be doing some renovations to the place, I didn't imagine it looking this beautiful." She said, looking around the living room. "You don't know how much I begged your father to do something like this here when we were married. That man knew just how to piss me off."

"He sure did. Mom, I know we haven't really talked much in the last couple of months. A lot of things have changed." I said. At that moment, Marci came into the living room from the kitchen. She stopped, cup in hand and looked at us.

"Oh! Hello. Who are you?" Mom asked.

"Mom, this is Marci." I said. "She lives with me."

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Caroline, Kimberly's mother." Mom said, reaching a hand out to Marci. Marci took it, asking it.

"It's nice to meet you! I can see where Kimberly got her gorgeous hair from. Is that brown natural?"

"For the most part. Gotta cover up those greys somehow!" Mom said, laughing. "God, you can't be any older than sixteen."

"You're right about that." Marci said. "Kimberly let me move in after I ran away from home. We used to work together in Miami."

"So you must be going to Angel Grove! Isn't it a lovely school? That's where Kim met all of her friends. I'm sure you've met all of them already. What a wonderful group of kids."

"They sure are. Um, Mom. There's some other things that I haven't really had the chance to tell you about."

"Oh, honey. We have plenty of time to catch up." She said, barely looking at me over her shoulder. "I want to see the rest of the house!"

"Mom, it can wait." I said. This time, she turned and actually looked at me. She opened her mouth to say something but stopped, her eyes landing on my stomach. She looked from it, up to my face, back down to my stomach and then my face again, her mouth gaping the entire time. I could see her mind trying to process it for a moment before a loud screech came from her mouth.

"You're pregnant?!" She exclaimed, covering her mouth with her hand. I nodded, putting my hands on my stomach.

"Yeah. I'm due in May."

"May? MAY?! Oh my god. Kimberly! That's fantastic! I'm going to be a grandma!" She ran over and hugged me again, squeezing me tightly. Marci gave me a look over my mother's shoulder, one of disapproval. I knew it was because I hadn't told my own mother about my pregnancy. Mom pulled away, holding me at arms length. "Why on Earth didn't you mention anything before this? You have to be what? Four months along?"

"I wanted to see your reaction in person?" I offered, shrugging my shoulders.

"Oh! Were you planning on coming to Paris?" She asked.

"No." I admitted.

"Then how was I supposed to find out? When you gave birth? Or when the baby was going to be heading off to college?"

"I don't know. Everything is very, very complicated, Mom. Honestly, I didn't mean to not tell you. I just didn't know how I was going to do it. It's bad enough that I'm working on getting divorced. I didn't want to think about my daughter having to grow up like this."

"It's a girl?" She asked. I nodded. She hugged me again, practically jumping up and down. "Honey, it doesn't matter now. All that matters is that you are indeed pregnant and you are going to be a mom! I've been waiting for this day for a very long time. I'll admit there was a time I didn't think this would ever happen. But it is!" She pulled away. "Divorce happens to a lot of people. Look at me. I was a wreck when your father left me but I survived. All because of you. Nick is going to regret the things he did that made you leave him. And who knows? Maybe it's something that can be fixable at some point. Couples counseling does wonders I hear! We didn't try it very long when we decided to split but it might be something good for you and Nick to try."

"I doubt that one." Marci said, sitting on the couch.

"Mom, that's another thing I didn't tell you about." I said. "Do you want some coffee or tea? Then we can sit and talk."

"Coffee is fine." Mom said, sitting on the loveseat.

"I'll get it." Marci said, standing up.

"Oh, thank you, dear. I'll take it with two sugars and a little bit of milk." Mom said. Marci nodded. She headed into the kitchen as I sat across from Mom. She looked at me, concerned.

"What happened?" She asked. "I thought things between you and Nick were good. That's why you wanted to move back here. Well, that and to have a baby. Which clearly worked. Did he cheat on you?" I shook my head. Marci returned with a coffee cup filled with coffee and handed it to Mom. She took her coat off before taking the coffee, sitting back into the couch.

"No. It's nothing like that. Once we got here, things didn't go as great as I had hoped. Nick became almost a different person. No matter what I did, he wouldn't let me in. Then he started treating me like shit. He started getting really jealous of all my friends and then he got really violent towards me."

"Oh well, honey. Men are like that sometimes. Moving here was probably a huge change for him! Men don't deal with change in a good manner. I'm sure that it was nothing too serious. People have emotions they need to express and sometimes they have to lash out at someone. Your father did the same thing to me and we managed to stay married for twenty years! Have you talked to Nick lately?"

"He's in jail, awaiting his trial for next month for what he did to me." I said, sighing. Her eyes popped open, looking at me with surprise.

"What?" She asked. "You had him arrested? Kimberly, I don't think he could have done anything THAT bad to warrant that response."

"I don't know why I try to talk to you." I said, standing up. "Nick beat me, Mom. A lot. To the point where I almost died. And that was even when he knew I was pregnant! Not only did he attack me, he raped me. He threatened to kill Trini! And here you are, telling me that I should have had him arrested and we need therapy." Mom set her coffee on the table in front of her and stood up.

"I'm sorry, Kimberly. You just dropped two huge bombshells on me in the last ten minutes. First, you don't tell me anything about any of this any time we've spoken in the last few months. Now, you're upset because I'm not reacting in a way that is appropriate for you. What exactly do you want from me here?"

"To tell me I did the right thing! I was there when Dad did those things to you, remember? They were nothing compared to what Nick did to me. It was like living in a nightmare. Luckily, he attacked me a second time and Jason and Tommy were able to stop him before he hurt me or the baby. What am I supposed to do? Just let him back in here like nothing happened? He left me to bleed to death on the floor right there." I pointed to the floor where I had laid, inches from death. "That's why Jason had to call you to do renovations. My blood was everywhere and they needed to clean it up so I would be able to come back here without having to see it again."

"Why didn't you just tell me? I would have come back here or you could have come to Paris. I would have taken care of you while you were healing and we could have figured out what to do about the baby and Nick."

"Because of everything you just said to me now!" I exclaimed. Her eyes welled with tears and she nodded.

"This is all my fault. I never should have forced you to be around your father and I when he was going through his dark times. I kept telling myself to leave but I never did. I just kept hoping he would change but he got awful for a while. I should have been a stronger mother for you." Guilt hit me as I watched a tear slip down her cheek.

"Mom, don't cry." I said. "It's not your fault. I'm my own person and I knew that it was getting worse. Nick has a drug problem that was fueling whatever issues he has. None of it had anything to do with you or Dad. It's all on me."

"How about we split the difference and blame it all on Nick?" Marci said. "I mean, he was the asshole hurting you."

"Oh, I do like her." Mom said, wiping her tears with a tissue she pulled from her pocket. I laughed, nodding.

"She's a good source of comedic relief around here." I replied. Mom walked over and hugged me again. I hugged her back, taking in the smell of lavender that was familiar to her. It reminded me of being a little kid who would crawl into her lap when I was scared or wanted her to spend time with me. Would my daughter do the same with me? Would I be able to provide her with a place that made her feel safe and loved like my mother had? The fear of failing felt heightened for a moment as I thought about all the things my mother had done for me. What if I wasn't ready to fill those shoes? Was I really ready to be a mother?

"I think this calls for a celebration." Mom said, pulling away from me.

"Me too. We were planning on making Christmas cookies and watching movies today if you'd like to join us." Marci said.

"That sounds wonderful! I can make the mint white chocolate bark that you kids used to love." Mom said, turning to face Marci.

"Now you are speaking my language! I'll find a Christmas movie that's on." Walking over, Marci grabbed the remote and started to flip through the channels. Mom turned back to me.

"That's all you have to tell me, right? Nothing else that is just going to surprise me?" She asked.

"Not today anyway." I replied, sighing. "I'll preheat the oven."