A bright flash of lightning lit up the room as Kim flipped idly through the channels on the TV, she still wasn't feeling that great and for the most part, had stayed in bed all day. A loud crash of thunder crashed down overhead rattling the windows, as the door to the bedroom flew open and a pink blur threw itself into the bed, burying itself carefully into the blankets.
Kim smiled slightly at the quivering form, "Come on Jaslee, the storm won't hurt you," she insisted, slightly rubbing soothing circles on her back.
"I know that," Jaslee insisted, peeking out of the covers, "but I don't like how loud the thunder is. Why is the thunder always shouting?"
Kim frowned for about one second before replying, "Maybe it just wants to be heard over the storm," She suggested.
"Well, I still don't like it." Jaslee insisted, sticking out her bottom lip.
"Come on, Jaslee," Kim said, "Let's watch something together to get our minds off the storm."
Jaslee carefully crawled out of the blankets, giving her mother a look, "Like what?" she asked cautiously.
"Well," Kim said, carefully dragging herself out of bed, holding onto the headboard for a second to get the world to settle down and stop spinning, "Why don't we head down to the living room and see what movies we have."
"Can we watch a Barbie one?" Jaslee asked eagerly, her face lighting up.
"Of course."
…
Downstairs the storm didn't sound nearly as loud as it had in the bedroom. The rain was still pounding down hard on the windows, but the sound of it hitting the rooftop was muffled now. A low rumble of thunder caused Jaslee to squeeze her mother's hand.
Kim started to glance down at her but stopped to grip the railing as the world spun. What was wrong with her? She hadn't felt like this since Kat stole her power coin.
"Beautiful?" the sound of her husband's voice seemed to have some effect on her, for as soon as she heard it, the world around her stopped spinning.
"Tommy," she said softly, grunting as she tried to steady herself.
"What are you doing out of bed?" Tommy demanded, scooping up Jaslee from beside her.
"The storm upset Jaslee," she responded.
Tommy glanced at Jaslee and then looked at Kim, "I see," he said, rubbing the back of his neck, "Well there isn't anything I can do about that."
"We can help distract her," Kim suggested, "By putting on a movie in the living room."
Tommy nodded, scooping Jaslee up in one arm while pulling Kim close to him with the other.
In the living room, Kim was forced to sit down on the couch while Tommy went through their movie collection looking for something that the whole family might enjoy.
Kaboom the sound of the thunder rattled the windows as a stripe of lightning lit up the sky outside.
"That was close," Tommy said, peering out the window, before jumping away from it as something hard slammed against the window, spreading spider web like cracks across the glass.
"What happened?" Kim said, jumping off the couch only to grab onto the armrest.
"The wind blew a tree branch into the window," Tommy explained, "Luckily I have bulletproof glass."
"Bulletproof glass?"
"They didn't have monster proof glass," Tommy explained with a shrug, "When you have a power ranger headquarters in the basement you need to take precautions."
"Can we please watch a movie?" Jaslee asked, popping in between her parents, "What happened to the window?" she demanded.
"The storm broke it," Tommy insisted, drawing the curtains so that they didn't have to see the cracked window, "Let's pick out a movie."
Tommy had barely taken a step towards the TV when the lights flickered a couple of times before going out.
Tommy frowned, waiting for a second to see if the backup generator was going to kick in, when they remained in the dark for a full minute he let out a sigh, "I better go see why the backup generator hasn't kicked in."
As he carefully made his way out of the room his mind was racing, the last time the power had gone out was right before they got married before Luke had been… taken care of. The Generator had worked fine then… What could possibly be wrong with it now?
He pulled the jaw of the tyrannosaurus rex in the study, rushing down the stairs, grateful for so many sleepless nights that made navigating in the dark easier. He raced across the darkened lab, and pressed a button on the wall, causing a section to release and swing outward, revealing a tunnel.
The tunnel was muddy, as was expected, as it was well vented, as was needed to house the generator against the main wall, hidden away so that it couldn't be tampered with, at least that had been the plan.
Tommy reached into his pocket, pulling out his cell phone and activating the flashlight function, "Let's see what's seems to be the problem here." he muttered to himself, shining the light on the generator.
He froze, he wasn't sure what he was expecting exactly, but the large basket on top of the generator wasn't it. It was the kind of basket that babies were abandoned on the steps of the orphanage in. What was it doing in his secret tunnels? Nobody knew about them but the team and even they couldn't have gotten in here without triggering an alarm. He had made sure of that after they had broke in the first time.
Something in the basket moved, as a soft whimpering sound filled the air. It couldn't be, this was what Jaslee had been telling them about, wasn't it? The babies that she kept saying was coming?
Tommy slowly leaned down over the basket and lifted up the blanket. Two pairs of deep brown eyes peered up at him. One of the babies wrinkled its button nose and let out an ear-splitting scream.
…
Kim glanced up at the ceiling as the lights flickered back on. Tommy must have got the generator working again. She pulled Ellie off her lap and stood up, surprised to realize that she didn't feel light-headed at all.
"Let's get that movie started," she said, turning on the TV and grabbing the DVD that was sitting on top.
"Kim," Tommy's voice made her look up as she closed the player.
"What's wrong?" Kim asked, turning to her husband, who had entered the living room carrying a large basket.
"Remember what Jaslee said was going to happen during the storm?"
Kim nodded, of course, she remembered, she had said that the babies were going to arrive during the storm, but what… was that what was in the basket, "Wha...what's in the basket Handsome?" she stuttered.
Jaslee and Ellie turned to look at their father in excitement, and Kim was sure that the only reason that Inya hadn't joined them was the fact that she had curled up on Ninja's cat bed and fallen asleep sometime between the power going out and Tommy getting the generator going.
"What is it Daddy," they shouted.
"Show me, show me," Ellie chanted.
"Is it the babies?" Jaslee demanded.
Tommy laughed, setting the basket onto the coffee table, removing the blanket so that they could see the two little babies that were inside.
…
Tommy frowned, Kim was holding the boy, feeding him a bottle while the girl slept peacefully in the basket. There was no denying that these were their kids. They both had his eyes and the boy had his nose, but how were they going to explain where they came from?
He lifted up little Willow, and gasped, there was a manila envelope underneath her. He shifted the baby in his arms so that his hands were free and opened the envelope. Inside were a bunch of papers. He pulled them out and looked at them. "It's a birth certificate," he announced, "For a Willow Ann Oliver," he read, glancing at the sleeping baby in his arm, "Born..." he paused, glancing at the clock, "About an hour ago if this is any indication." He flipped over to the next page, another birth certificate, again already filled in and signed, "Zordon Kenneth Oliver."
"Willow and Z.K." Jaslee pointed out, "See I told you."
Tommy laughed, yes Jaslee had told him, she had known, and as he held his precious little daughter in his arm as he looked around to see KIm with their son and Inya, asleep on the cat bed, and Ellie and Jaslee looking at him with expectation. It hit him, this was what life was meant to be like. Him and Kim and their children living together. Somehow, looking into the deep brown eyes of the newborn baby in his arms, he didn't feel responsible for the pain in the past. All he cared about was that he could share in the joy of the present and that he would be there, no matter what, for whatever came next.
