Author's Note: I've decided to dedicate this chapter to my friend Purple Strobe. Thanks for the long review. Once again, I am taking dialogue from the episode. Why? Because for some insane reason I decided to try and stick as close to the show as possible for this fic. I'm a little scared in writing this chapter since the last one had such a great response, I hope I don't disappoint any of you.
HarryPassionFan: Yeah, poor Tommy got the wrong idea about what happened between Kat and Will. Trent's biggest secret has been exposed. Read on to see the fall out.
PrettyDiva: Wouldn't we all love to hug Tommy. (I know I would) I promise, there will be a happy T/Kat scene.
Purple Strobe: I realized when I was halfway into the last chapter that it was going to be longer than I anticipated but I was sure my readers wouldn't mind. I just had to have a scene that made Tommy truly believe that Kat had moved on. Even though, it was accidental and wasn't her intention. No, there will be no Kat/Anton or Tommy/Hayley in this story so you can rest as ease. Now in other stories, you'll just have to wait and see what my wicked mind comes up with. Lol, on the whole Clark/Superman and Elsa/Randall thing. Who knows, there maybe a sequel yet to this story. I just haven't decided yet. Oh and thanks again for the long review!
Pinkstranger: I think everyone is waiting for the big moment when Kat can finally tell Tommy the truth about her feelings for him. (Myself included)
Kat fumbled around in the dark as she walked from her bedroom to the kitchen in her apartment. She was getting ready for work and she didn't want to disturb the person who had been sleeping on her couch several days.
"You can turn on the light if you want," Trent said as she bumped into the couch.
"Sorry, I was trying not to wake you," Kat told him as she turned on a lamp in the living room.
"No matter, it's not like I was getting much sleep anyway," Trent replied as he pushed the covers off of himself and sat up.
"Think you feel up to going to school today?" she asked.
Ever since it had been revealed to Tommy and the other rangers that Anton Mercer was in fact also Mesogog, Trent had been hiding out at Kat's apartment and had neglected going to school. It wasn't really a problem yet because with no principal at the school no one was checking up on the students and even if they tried to contact his father, Anton too had made himself scarce.
"How can I go back, I'm not ready to face them yet," Trent admitted.
"Trent, I know this has been hard for you but you can't hide out here forever, eventually, you're going to have to go to the rangers especially if we have any hope of breaking your father free from Mesogog's control," Kat told him.
"I know you're right but please don't force me to go back just yet," Trent said.
"Ok, if you don't want to go to school, maybe you can come to the office with me," Kat replied.
"Is that allowed?" Trent questioned.
"Probably not, but I can set up my laptop in my E.P.A. office downstairs, that way you can hear everything that's going on in Tommy's lab while I'm in I.D. headquarters with Will," Kat answered.
"I was wondering how you got away with that," Trent said.
"Got away with what?" she asked.
"With supposedly working for the EPA when I haven't seen you do one thing that's environment related," Trent replied.
"Hey, I kept the school board from turning that field into a parking lot for Krista remember," Kat said.
"Oh yeah, there was that," he teased.
"Just get dressed so we can leave," Kat said as she went to the kitchen to make herself a cup of coffee.
Later that day, Trent and Kat decide to go inside Mesogog's lair in an attempt to reach Anton. They overhear a conversation between Elsa and Mesogog in which Elsa admits that she exposed Anton Mercer on purpose as a way to rid Mesogog of his one weakness. They then watched in shock at Mesogog drinks a potion and is successfully separated from Anton. They then were forced to watch helplessly as the Tyrannodrones dragged Anton away.
"I can't just stand here and do nothing," Trent whispered.
"You have no choice, now that their separated, your father no longer has control over what Mesogog does and he wouldn't hesitate to destroy you," Kat replied.
"But we can't just leave my father here, he's of no use to Mesogog now," Trent told her.
"I'm sorry Trent but there's nothing we can do, not yet anyway," Kat said as she grabbed Trent's arm and teleported them both away.
"I really wish you hadn't done that," Trent said once they reappeared in Kat's EPA office.
"I know," she said as she logged onto her laptop.
"But now that my father is free, does this mean that the C.I.A. no longer has a case against him?" Trent asked.
"I can't answer that, the fact is your father is the whole reason Mesogog exists in the first place, at least this way, if Mesogog is destroyed your father is no longer in danger," Kat replied.
Meanwhile, in Tommy's lab the discovery of Trent's secret leads Conner, Kira and Ethan to realize just how important being a ranger has been to them. They also realize that they have grown because of it.
"I always knew Mercer wasn't PTA material, but Mesogog, that's whack," Ethan said.
"I'll tell you what's whack, Trent not telling us," Conner replied.
"Look, I'm a mad about this as you guys are but we should give Trent a chance to explain I mean maybe there's a really good reason he didn't tell us," Kira told them.
"Well, I hope there is because if not then I have no choice but to ask Trent to turn in his morpher and give up being a Power Ranger," Tommy said and Kira frowned at hearing this.
"Don't tell me you feel bad for Trent?" Conner asked Kira.
"Yeah, I mean you want someone you can't trust running around with those powers?" Ethan questioned.
"I just feel bad that it has to end this way for Trent, I mean if it were me and I had to give up my powers, I don't think that I could handle it," Kira answered.
"Oh, now that's ironic, I remember when you didn't want them at all," Conner reminded her.
"Yeah, right, but I've changed, being a ranger had changed all of us, look at you Conner, you are in no way the same dumb jock that you were when we started," Kira told him.
"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" Conner asked.
"Well, you know what I mean," said Kira.
"If he doesn't I do, you've come a long way bro," Ethan remarked.
"Ok, point made but what about you gamer dude, you're not exactly cyber geek anymore," Conner told him.
"I am pretty cool aren't I," Ethan agreed.
"Don't get carried away, but it's definitely not embarrassing hanging out with you anymore," Conner replied.
"Ok, now who needs to learn how to give a compliment," Kira said.
"It's ok, I speak Conner, but you know what still trips me out, our teacher's a power ranger legend," Ethan told her.
"We owe him a lot," Kira commented.
"Yeah, we do," Ethan agreed.
"Are you guys forgetting who almost ended it for good," Conner reminded them.
"Look, he was under the gem's spell, its different now," Kira argued.
"Yeah, now he forgets to tell us that Mesogog was his dad, I'm glad he's changed," Conner said sarcastically.
"I made a promise," Trent said as he walked into the lab. He had been with Katherine listening to their conversation on her laptop when he had decided that he was finally ready to face his teammates.
"What about your promise to us?" Conner asked him.
"I never let my feelings get in the way of my ranger duties," Trent responded.
"That may be true Trent but you put us in a difficult position, Conner may be right, I don't know how we'll be able to trust you again," Tommy told him.
"Tell me what I can do to make this right, I make no excuses for the harm I've caused but you know things haven't been easy for me, Anton Mercer's the only family I have, I knew I couldn't break my promise to him, So I decided to fight with you guys until he was free of that mutant freak forever, but first I had to free myself by destroying the evil clone of the white ranger, I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Mesogog but my father thought he could handle this on his own and so did I, I know now that I was wrong," Trent replied.
"I understand your loyalty, Anton Mercer was my friend, the question now is do they," Tommy said.
"Being a ranger is the best thing to ever happen to me, I don't want to lose that trust me," Trent said.
"Yeah, I've heard that one before," Conner retorted.
"Then let me prove it," Trent said as the alarms sounded indicating that there was a monster attacking.
"Here's your chance," Tommy told him.
"What you're not seriously gonna trust him?" Conner questioned.
"Look at that thing, we have no choice," Kira said.
"We always have a choice and I choose that Trent come with us," Ethan said.
"Thank you, I won't let you down," Trent promised.
"I hope not," Tommy said as they morphed and prepared to go into battle.
Back in I.D. Kat and Will had heard the entire conversation.
"I can't imagine how hard that was for him," Will told Katherine.
"Coming clean about his dad?" she asked.
"Yeah, I mean you and I know more than anyone how hard it is keeping those you care about in the dark about your life even if you are only trying to protect them," Will replied.
"But is it really worth it, I mean wouldn't it be better to just tell them the truth and to let them know about the danger instead of trying to hide it from them," Kat said.
"You've been doing this job for a long time now, I would have thought you'd be used to keeping people in the dark about your life," Will told her.
"I had, at least when I was in Australia and thousands of miles away from everyone, the only person I really had left was my dad and he knew the truth, it really wasn't that hard for me to email Tanya and lie to her about my life and the job I was doing but now it's different," Kat explained.
"Different because now you're being forced to lie to someone's face," Will remarked.
"This has never happened to me before, I mean I've always been able to keep my personal life separate from my job but now my job is forcing me to lie to the one person I never thought I'd have to lie to and when I think of how all this must be hurting Tommy, I wonder if it's really worth it anymore," Kat told him.
"Are you changing your mind about this assignment?" Will asked.
"No, I made a commitment and I intend to see it through," she said.
Back in the lab, the rangers had once again destroyed on of Mesogog's creatures. Trent had ended up saving Conner from the monster and the team's bond was mended.
"Dude, you rock," Kira told Trent.
"Bro, you were awesome out there," Ethan said.
"Thanks for the help out there Trent, it's always a lot easier when the whole team works together," Tommy said.
"Thanks, Dr. O, like I said I'm in this for good, that is if you'll have me," Trent told them.
"Well, I vote yes," Kira said.
"Me, too," Ethan agreed.
"Conner?" Tommy asked.
"Just one question, are you sure you want to this, there's a very real chance you'll have to face Mesogog someday," Conner said to Trent.
"If Mesogog wins, then my father is lost forever, Mesogog has to be defeated no matter what," Trent said.
After a few hours of celebrating Trent's return to the team once again, the teens finally decided to call it a night and head home.
"You guys be careful, it looks like a storm is coming," Tommy told them as he looked up at the sky which was quickly turning black.
"We will, Dr. O," Conner said as they all piled into his car.
Sometime later, Tommy who had fallen asleep on the couch was awoken by the sounds of someone knocking furiously on his door. He could hear the sounds of the rain as it came pounding down on the roof of his house and he could hear the loud rumbling of the thunder. He quickly ran over to the door fearing that it could be one of his students out there in all that mess and was prepared to scold them for venturing out in this kind of storm.
"What are you doing here?" he asked as he saw Katherine standing on his doorstep and completely drenched from the rain.
"Can I at least come in first?" she asked as he stepped aside.
"I can't believe you came all the way here in the middle of this storm, it's so dark out there you could have gotten yourself in an accident or something, I'm sure your boyfriend wouldn't like the idea of your going out alone like this," Tommy told her.
"I know it wasn't a smart thing to do but this couldn't wait, there's something you need to know," Kat replied.
"Look, if you're here to tell me once again how much in love you are with your boyfriend, then save it, I think his coming out of your bathroom in nothing but a towel made that pretty clear," Tommy told her.
"Do you think maybe you could get me some dry clothes or something, I want to talk to you but I don't want to do it while dripping wet all over your carpet," she said.
"Yeah, I'm sure I can find you something," he said as he motioned for her to follow him upstairs to his bedroom.
"Thanks," she said minutes later when she was finally in dry clothes again.
"You said you wanted to talk to me," he said as he sat down on the bed.
"I wanted to explain about Will and the whole shower incident," Kat said as she sat down next to him.
"Kat, you don't owe me any explanations, what you and Will do in the privacy of your apartment is your own business," Tommy told her.
"Nothing happened between us, his shower was busted and he simply came next door and asked to borrow mine, that's all, he's my partner and neighbor but other than that there's nothing between us," Kat informed him.
"Nothing between you huh, then how do you account for all those times you kissed him in front of me," Tommy replied.
"They were just kisses nothing more, Will and I realized that there's nothing between us other than friendship," Kat told him knowing that she couldn't explain to him that they had only been faking the relationship.
"So it's over between the two of you just like that," Tommy said.
"You were right all along, I was only trying to convince myself that what I wanted was a relationship with Will but now I know that I was wrong and that I was only using Will as a way to keep myself from what I truly wanted but was afraid of," Kat explained.
"And what could you possibly want that would make you afraid enough to use your partner in that way?" Tommy questioned.
"You, I want you Tommy, I tried to fight it because I was afraid of getting hurt again but I can't keep this up anymore and when I realized how hurt you must've been seeing Will at my apartment like that, I realized that I couldn't let you keep believing a lie," Kat revealed.
"And why should I believe that you're telling the truth now, I mean what's to keep you from getting scared and pushing me away again because I gotta tell you I can't take much more of this, either you want me or you don't and I don't want you to be here until you know for sure how you feel," Tommy replied.
"I love you Tommy," she said as she looked him straight in the eyes and didn't look away.
"You sure about that?" he questioned.
"I've never been surer of anything in my life, I love you Tommy and that's why I couldn't let you keep thinking that I loved anyone else because it's not true, the only thing I wonder is if you love me or if maybe I'm too late," she said.
"Do you really think I would have been questioning your relationship with Will if I didn't?" he asked.
"So you do," she said.
"You really want me to say it, then yes, I do love you Katherine, I always have, and I've been miserable without you, I thought your coming to Reefside was like a sign that we've been given a second chance and seeing you with Will was driving me crazy, I wanted to kill him," Tommy told her.
"That won't be necessary, he's my partner and friend, a friend who's been very forgiving to me especially since I used him the way I did," Kat replied.
"Yeah well, as much as I'd like to keep talking about what a good friend Will's been to you, there's something else I'd like to finish first," Tommy told her.
"And what's that?" she asked.
"The last time you were here we started something and unfortunately my students interrupted us and I think it's safe to say we won't have that problem this time," Tommy said with a smile as he leaned over to kiss her.