Okay so we have gotten both positive and negative feedback on this story, as expected. As said before i won't stop you from having your own opinions on this. We like the story, it's not our fav we have ever written but we like it. If you have any suggestions on how to make people more true to character please let us know! The thing to remember is that people are going to be different just because we have changed their past. Thanks for all the reviews and if you have a negative opinion then please don't feel like you have to review as a guest so we can't reply, we don't bite really.
Jason walked down the hallway toward Tommy's office. When no one had answered his knock, he had tried the door and found it open. Figuring Tommy and Hayley were down in the lab, he'd let himself in and was going to find him. Pushing open the door to Tommy's office, Jason stopped in surprise to see Hayley sitting at the desk. She didn't look up as he walked in, completely absorbed in what she was doing on the laptop in front of her. Frowning, Jason walked around to see what she was working on.
"Hayley, what are you doing?" he asked as he looked at her screen.
She jumped, looking up at him in surprise.
"Jason!" she exclaimed, quickly clearing her computer screen. "What are you doing here?"
"Hayley, were you messing with Mystic Force's computers?" he asked suspiciously, fairly certain he'd seen something about the Rock Porium on her screen before she cleared it.
She hesitated for a moment, but decided he'd seen too much for her to deny it.
"Just the ones in the Rock Porium," she said.
Jason snorted.
"Those are the only ones they have," he said.
"Well, it's not my fault everything they have in their base is run by magic," she pouted, crossing her arms. "I tried to get in there and couldn't get connected…Wait a minute…"
"What?" Jason frowned.
"I wonder…" Hayley mused. "Maybe if I uploaded through Tommy's power coin and the morphing grid—"
"No," Jason interrupted adamantly. "Hayley you can't do that. That's abuse of Power!"
She rolled her eyes.
"Like I'd actually risk his power coin," she said. "But I could make it work."
Jason glared at her.
"Where's Tommy?" he asked.
"Cutting down a tree," she answered, back on the laptop again. "It's getting too close to the power lines and we want to take care of it before it causes too many problems."
"Uh, Hayley?" Jason said in concern. "Should he be cutting anything down with his shoulder still healing?"
"Oh, relax," Haley said, waving a hand at him. "The kids are out there with him. He's just supervising."
Jason groaned.
"That does not make me feel better," he muttered, turning toward the door. "I'm going to go make sure no one is dead. Where exactly should they be?"
Hayley directed him to where the tree would be and Jason headed out of the house and into the woods. He didn't have to go far before he found Tommy and the rest of his team—though he heard them before he saw them. When he reached the spot, the first person he saw was Tommy. He was sitting on the ground, his left arm in a sling as he leaned back against a tree. Tommy was watching Kira and Conner as they argued. Ethan was standing near them, his attention on the chain saw in his hand. Jason didn't see Trent standing with them.
"Hey, Tommy," Jason said, stopping next to him. "So, what's going on?"
"We're cutting down a tree," Tommy answered, not taking his eyes off of the kids.
Jason frowned.
"I don't see a mark on any of them," he said, glancing around. "Have they touched a tree yet?"
"Nope," Tommy said. "They haven't gotten that far yet. Conner thinks it's that tree; Kira thinks it's that one."
He pointed at two different trees over by the trio.
"The X is on that one," he continued, pointing in the other direction.
Jason looked over to see Trent leaning against the tree with the X, axe in hand as he watched the rest of his team.
"Hey," he said, nodding in Jason's direction.
Jason nodded back, turning back to Tommy who was still talking.
"And Ethan just wants to get the chainsaw working," he was saying.
"Hold on," Jason said. "He's the smartest one—other than Hayley—in your group and he can't get the chainsaw running?"
Tommy sighed.
"He's a genius with computers," he said. "Not motors."
Jason nodded, knowing Tommy had a point.
"And none of them grabbed the gas can from the shed," Tommy finished.
Jason snorted.
"Oh, that's smart," he said.
"Mmm hmm…" Tommy said.
Jason frowned, glancing at his best friend. Something was off about the way Tommy was acting. He was watching the kids, and Jason knew he'd jump in to help if he needed, but he just didn't seem to be as focused on what was going on as he normally would have been. On a normal day, Jason would have expected him to be laughing so hard he couldn't breathe as he waited for his team to figure things out. But he was just staring, watching them quietly.
"Wait a minute," Jason said, glancing around. "Don't you need some kind of chain to direct the tree as it falls? I don't see one."
"Still in the shed," Tommy said absently. "I told them we'd need it, but they were a little distracted by Conner and the ax."
Jason glanced over at the kids in concern, but no one was bleeding and Conner no longer had the axe—which was a good thing considering he was waving his hands around as he argued with Kira.
"So, how long has this been going on?" Jason asked, trying to keep Tommy talking.
He shrugged.
"Are you talking since we got here or since we left the house?" he said.
Jason looked at him in surprise.
"When did you leave the house?" Jason said.
Tommy glanced at his watch.
"About an hour ago," he answered.
Jason frowned.
"They've been at this for an hour?" he said in surprise.
"Nope," said Tommy. "We only made it out here about ten minutes ago."
Jason raised an eyebrow. Tommy smiled faintly, shaking his head.
"Well, Hayley decided we needed to take care of the tree today since the kids were here to help," he said, starting to explain. "It didn't take too long to get out of the house because they were excited. Conner beat the rest of us to the shed and grabbed the ax."
"Oh, that sounds safe…" Jason muttered.
"No one got hurt," Tommy said. "But they grabbed the chainsaw, too, and were heading back out as I was trying to go over the list of everything we needed. So I just let them go. Then Conner took off in the wrong direction, with the other three following him as he ran ahead with the axe…"
Sighing, Jason shook his head as Tommy continued.
"Instead of following them, I started heading in this direction and waited at the edge of the woods for them to realize I hadn't followed," he said. "Took about fifteen minutes, but they finally came back. By that point it had been about a half hour or so. We made it out here in about ten minutes and have been here since. I've just been waiting to see how long they'll argue before realizing Trent is the only one near the correct tree…"
Jason chuckled, shaking his head. They were both silent for a moment as Kira and Conner continued to argue, each adamantly insisting they knew which tree they were supposed to be cutting down.
"You know, I'm pretty sure they're doing it on purpose," Tommy said quietly after a few moments.
Jason frowned, glancing down at him and then back at the kids.
"I guess I wouldn't put it past them," he agreed. "But either way, it's entertaining."
Tommy nodded as Jason sat down next to him.
"So, I think I'll just join you," Jason said, making himself comfortable.
Smiling faintly, Tommy didn't argue as the two men continued to watch the younger rangers.
Explosions and Missing Tommy
"Hey sis, where's the remote?" Madison asked, glancing around the living room with her hands on her hips. "We have a current events report due tomorrow, remember?"
Groaning, Vida fell backward on the couch, muttering to herself. Rolling her eyes, Madison started searching for the remote. But she couldn't find it anywhere. Deciding to check under the couch cushions, she started poking at Vida, tickling her to get her twin to move.
"Hey!" Vida protested, falling off the couch with a thump.
"Well, if you would help I wouldn't have to do that," Madison said as she searched the couch. "Ah ha!"
She held up the remote control triumphantly.
"You know," she said with a grin, looking down at Vida. "It's going to be awfully hard to watch the TV from down there."
Vida reached up and snatched a cushion off the couch, whipping it up at her sister. Madison blocked it, laughing, so Vida grabbed her ankle instead, tipping her onto the couch. Grabbing another pillow, Madison hit Vida back and soon a pillow fight was going on, the remote forgotten on the floor as the fourteen year old twins pummeled each other with couch pillows.
"Girls!" Mrs. Rocca exclaimed, walking into the living room. "Aren't you supposed to be doing homework?"
They froze in the act of hitting each other with pillows, turning to look at their mother.
"Umm… yes," Madison said quickly, dropping her pillow. "We were just—"
"Looking for the remote!" Vida said, snatching it off the floor. "See? Here it is."
She smiled innocently at their mother, who just sighed and shook her head.
"Just get it done," she said, leaving the room again.
Giggling, the girls dropped down onto the couch.
"Alright, let's get this over with," Vida grumbled as Madison turned on the TV.
She flipped through several news channels, trying to find something at least somewhat entertaining to write a report on.
"Ooo!" Vida suddenly exclaimed. "Stop there! There was some kind of explosion."
Rolling her eyes, Madison left it on the channel and set aside the remote, grabbing her notebook instead.
"Wow," she said, turning back to the TV. "It was an entire island…"
The news reporter seemed just as shocked as the girls. She was saying something about the small island off the coast having exploded not too long before.
"The small, unnamed island began evacuations just a few hours ago," the reporter said. "It is still unknown what occurred there, but even from shore you can see the smoke rising from the wreckage."
Madison frowned.
"Where is that?" she asked. "You don't think that was where Tommy was, do you?"
Vida shook her head.
"Nah," she said. "Tommy's studying to be an anthropologist—"
"Paleontologist," Madison corrected.
Vida rolled her eyes.
"They both study old things," she retorted as Madison sighed and shook her head. "The point is—just how dangerous could his job possible be?"
Both girls froze as the reporter continued.
"The island was the location of a top secret project for Mercer Industries," she was saying. "Little is known about what research was actually going on there, but over the past twenty-four hours a series of unfortunate events has brought the research to a rather abrupt halt. Anton Mercer, owner of Mercer Industries and head of the project, went missing—"
"That was Tommy's island!" Madison exclaimed, her eyes wide. "That's who he's working for."
"But they said the island was evacuated," Vida said, trying to reassure herself and her sister. "There's no way he was on it when it blew up."
"And while there is still no sign of Anton Mercer," the reporter continued, "most of the personnel employed on the island were safely evacuated before the explosion occurred. Currently there are only two others listed as missing, both of them high level researchers on the project. Neither name has been released as of yet, but—"
The front door slammed open, making both of them jump and spin in surprise. Jason sprinted into the living room, phone pressed to his ear as he snapped at whoever was on the line.
"I've already heard this from three other people, Zach!" he snapped. "I'm by a TV now. Let me figure out what's going on and then I will call everyone. If you guys don't stop calling me I may miss something important about—"
Seeing his sisters sitting in the living room and what they were watching, he froze.
"I've gotta go," he said roughly, hanging up the phone. "What are you two doing?"
"We were doing our current events report," Madison said. "Jason, that's not really Tommy's island, is it?"
Jason sighed, running a hand over his head as he walked to join them on the couch.
"I'm afraid it is," he said, sitting down between them as he watched the TV.
"But Tommy wasn't on it, right?" Vida asked. "He evacuated with everyone else, didn't he?"
Groaning, Jason rubbed a hand over his face.
"Jason?" Madison said.
Both of them were looking at him hopefully, but he just shook his head.
"I'm sorry…" he sighed. "But Tommy is one of the three still missing…he never checked in after evacuation."
"No!" Madison cried, tears welling up in her eyes. "He can't have been on there! He's supposed to come home in a month for a visit. He promised!"
Vida just stared in shock, shaking her head in denial. Sighing, Jason put an arm around both of them.
"I'm sure he's fine," he said, trying to sound reassuring. "You know how Tommy is—he probably got distracted helping someone else and forgot to check in. They'll find him and then we can all yell at him for scaring us all to death."
The girls buried their faces against him, both crying now. Mrs. Rocca came rushing into the room. Her face was pale and she was clutching the house phone.
"Jason!" she said in surprise. "What—Have you heard?"
He nodded grimly.
"Yeah," he said. "That's why I'm here…I was closer to here than my house and I wanted to see the news for myself…"
"Have you heard anything from Tommy?" she asked hopefully.
"Nothing," he said, shaking his head as he continued to hug the girls. "Hayley can't even get a hold of him…"
Mrs. Rocca took a deep breath.
"I just spoke with his father," she said. "His mother isn't taking the news well…"
"I should go over there," Jason said, taking a deep breath.
"We'll all go," Mrs. Rocca said. "They'll want someone to help with dinner and company will be a good thing right now. Girls?"
Both of them glanced up at their mother, nodding.
"Go get your things," Jason said. "I'll meet you there. I need to go get Trini and make a few phone calls…"
Extracting himself from his sisters, he strode toward the door.
The atmosphere at the Oliver house was subdued all evening. Mrs. Oliver spent most of the time sitting in her chair, watching the phone and hoping for a call as Mr. Oliver paced around the house. Jason had arrived shortly after his parents and sisters with Trini and two-year-old Mark in tow. But he hadn't spent a lot of time actually inside the house. He kept slipping back outside to answer phone calls or to make a call, and when asked who he was talking to he just shrugged it off as not important. Madison and Vida tried to play with their nephew, but their hearts just weren't in it.
"Here, let me take him," Trini said softly, reaching out to pick up her son later that evening. "I should start getting him ready for bed anyways."
The girls nodded mutely, allowing her to take the baby. Trini mumbled quietly to him, concern still clearly visible on her face. When she had arrived earlier they could tell she had been crying, but they hadn't actually seen her cry at all. But there had been plenty of tears all around as the day wore on and there was still no news of Tommy. The facilities housing the evacuated personnel had been checked thoroughly several times and there was no sign of Tommy, Anton Mercer, or the other missing man. They were just gone.
"Any news?" Trini asked, looking at Jason as he walked back inside again.
He shook his head.
"Nothing," he said softly, stopping to hug Trini and Mark. "Between Hayley and me we've called everyone we could possibly think of to help search and they're all coming up with the same results. There is no sign of him anywhere…"
She nodded, taking a shaky breath before continuing out of the room to get Mark ready for bed. Mr. Oliver had offered all of them use of their guest rooms for the night, which they had all gratefully accepted. Mrs. Oliver had gone to lie down several hours before at her husband's insistence. He said she'd cried herself to sleep. Mrs. Rocca had taken over fussing and making sure everyone was taken care of as Mr. Rocca and Mr. Oliver sat quietly near the phone.
"They're going to find him, right?" Madison asked quietly, looking at Jason.
"We're doing everything we can, kiddo," he said, holding out his arms to her.
She walked over for a hug, burying her face in his shirt.
"I didn't hug him goodbye," she mumbled, starting to cry again. "I told him I hated him and I wouldn't hug him goodbye…"
Jason sighed, hugging her tighter.
"It'll be alright," he said. "You'll see. Tommy's pulled out of worse."
"When?" she said, looking up at him. "How has anything he's done been worse than this?"
Jason hesitated.
"It's not important right now," he finally said. "But believe me, if anyone is going to get through this it'll be him."
His phone started ringing again and Jason quickly pulled it out of his pocket.
"I've gotta take this," he said. "You should try and eat something, I know you didn't eat much at dinner."
She nodded mutely as he spun and headed for the door again.
"Wes," he said as he answered the phone. "Please tell me you've found something—"
The door front door shut behind him, cutting off the conversation. Madison turned and wandered back toward the sitting area where everyone else was. Vida had curled up in one of the chairs, hugging a pillow. Seeing the look on Madison's face, Mr. Rocca held out his arms for her to come to him. So she inserted herself onto the chair with him and he wrapped his arms around her. For the rest of the evening they waited anxiously for news, but nothing came. Which meant sleep didn't come easily either. Vida and Madison ended up on the couch in the living room at the Oliver's while their parents went home for the night. They curled up together as they tried to sleep, not caring for a little while that they were fourteen and supposed to be too old to share a bed anymore. But even sharing a bed they still didn't sleep well, both of them waking up with nightmares that kept them awake for most of the night. But by morning, there was still no change. No one had heard anything at all from Mercer Industries and Jason's phone calls were getting him nowhere except frustrated.
"Why do I even bother?" he growled, storming back into the room. "Nobody is doing anything!"
"Jason," Trini said soothingly, putting a hand on his arm. "I'm sure they're doing everything they can—"
"It's not enough," Jason snapped, earning himself a look from his wife and his mother. "I'm sorry…"
"I know," Trini sighed. "Jason, you know they have to operate within the rules. It's not fair to expect anything else from any of them. And they're busy with their own problems right now. Technically you shouldn't have even called Carter."
"Yeah, I know," he muttered. "But right now I really just want to throw the rules out the window…"
Trini shook her head as several people frowned at Jason in confusion.
"You don't get to make that call," she said quickly, trying to move on from the subject. "At least not just you. The rules are there for a reason and we can't just break them on a whim—even for him. Now why don't you come eat something?"
She ushered him toward the kitchen, effectively stalling any questions from the others in the room. The morning continued to drag by, slowly passing lunch and turning into afternoon. A knock on the door finally broke the monotony of waiting for a phone call.
"Maddy, could you please get that?" Mrs. Rocca asked. "I'm sure it's just a neighbor stopping by, but right now isn't a good time for other visitors."
Sighing, Madison nodded and headed toward the door. She really didn't want to talk to anyone right now. Getting to the front door, she unlocked and opened it.
"Hello—" she started to say, freezing in complete shock when she saw who was standing there.
"Oh," Tommy said in surprise, looking at her in confusion. "Maddy, why are you at my house? Although I guess you weren't at your house when I went there—"
"Tommy!" she screamed, launching herself at him.
Her scream echoed through the house, catching everyone's attention. Vida was the next one to the door, leaping to hug Tommy with her sister and knocking them both backward in excitement. The three tumbled off the porch into the grass as Mrs. Oliver came tearing outside followed closely by Jason and everyone else.
"Tommy!" Mrs. Oliver gasped in relief, running down the steps.
Tommy was untangling himself from the laughing and crying twins. But he'd barely gotten himself free of them when he was practically tackled by his mother. Mr. Oliver was right behind her, pulling both of them to their feet in a hug. Mr. and Mrs. Rocca watched with looks of relief and amazement on their faces as they stood on the porch. Trini was standing next to them, holding Mark as she smiled, tears of relief in her eyes. But Jason was down on the grass to grab Tommy in a hug the moment his parents eased up.
"Where have you been?" Jason finally demanded once the chaos had calmed down a bit. "Falcon, we've been looking for you for over twenty-four hours now!"
Tommy frowned, looking around.
"Well…" he said slowly. "I was on the island and then I was in Angel Grove. I promised Maddy I would come there first so I did, but no one was home so I came here."
"Tommy, how did you get off the island?" Jason asked.
Everyone was waiting for the answer, Mrs. Oliver still clinging tightly to Tommy. Madison and Vida couldn't stand still, too excited to see Tommy alive.
"There was a boat," Tommy said, rubbing a hand across his forehead. "At least I think there was…I was in the water and then there was a boat…"
"What were you doing in the water?" Mr. Oliver frowned. "Didn't you evacuate with the other employees?"
"Evacuate?" Tommy repeated. "No. I had to go back and get Smitty. He wasn't on the dock. And then it was too late to go back and catch the boat."
"Then how did you get off the island before it exploded?" Vida asked.
"I didn't," Tommy answered.
His mother gasped, gripping his arm tighter.
"What?" Tommy said, looking around in confusion.
Jason took a deep breath.
"Tommy, are you saying you were on the island when it exploded?" he asked through gritted teeth.
Tommy hesitated.
"Kind of," he finally said. "Technically I jumped off a cliff right before—I think… Maybe I was blown off the cliff…It's a little fuzzy…"
"Thomas Oliver," Mrs. Oliver snapped. "Are you telling us you were blown off the island and the doctor let you leave on your own?"
"With a concussion…" Jason muttered.
"What doctor?" Tommy frowned. "I don't need a doctor."
"Oh, that's good," Jason said. "Tommy, you need to go to the hospital."
Tommy looked at Jason in confusion.
"Jason, you know we don't go to hospitals," he said. "You're supposed to be on my side."
"Yeah, well, your side was just blown up and has a concussion," Jason retorted. "So your side gets out voted today."
"I'm fine," Tommy protested.
"Oh, is that so?" Trini said, eying him. "Then what is your name?"
"Thomas Oliver," he responded immediately.
"And what day is today?" she asked.
Tommy rolled his eyes.
"Not a fair question," he said. "I can't remember that half the time anyways when I'm working on a project."
"Fine," Trini conceded. "What's your address?"
He rattled off the answer, smirking at her. She glared back. After asking him a few more basic questions, she sighed, seeming to give up.
"Alright, fine," she muttered. "So how did you get here?"
"I took a cab," he said, shrugging.
"And how did you pay?" she asked.
"I have my wallet," he retorted, checking his pockets and pulling it out to show her. "See?"
"Ok," Trini said as he put it away. "Fair enough. Did you call Hayley?"
Tommy froze.
"Umm… No," he said. "I should do that…"
Trini rolled her eyes.
"And, Tommy?" she said, watching him search his pockets for his phone.
"Yeah?" he asked absently.
"What is my son's name?" she smirked.
He looked up at her in surprise, not expecting the question.
"Umm…" he said, fumbling for an answer. "I know this…I do. It's…ah…"
"That's it," Jason said, grabbing Tommy's arm. "Let's go."
"Where are we going?" Tommy asked, still searching for his phone.
Mrs. Oliver was still clinging to his arm as they headed to the cars. Mr. Oliver ran back inside to grab keys, as did Mr. Rocca. Jason was already pulling his out of his pocket.
"The hospital," Jason growled.
Trini followed them down to the vehicles as Jason towed the protesting Tommy. Madison and Vida walked with Trini.
"So how did you get him to do that?" Vida asked. "He was fine until you asked him about Mark."
Trini shrugged as she opened the door to put Mark in his car seat.
"I'm not going in to details," she said. "But Tommy has had some practice acting like he doesn't have a concussion. So he's really good at come backs for the basic questions, especially once he's on a role. I had to distract him and then catch him off guard with a question he should have been able to answer without hesitation. It's fairly effective—used it on Jason before, too."
The girls laughed. Jason had shoved Tommy in the other side of his car. Mrs. Oliver climbed in with him and trapped Tommy between her and the car door. Madison and Vida turned to get in their parents' car along with their parents and Mr. Oliver. Once everyone was in a vehicle, Jason took off toward the hospital and pulled out his phone.
"Who are you calling?" Tommy asked suspiciously.
"Who do you think?" Jason retorted.
Tommy groaned.
"Don't call her," he grumbled. "She's just going to yell at me…"
"She's not the only one," Jason growled as Hayley answered. "Hey, Hayley. We found him—"
He jerked the phone away from his ear as she shouted.
"Alright, alright," Jason muttered, passing the phone back to Tommy. "She wants to—talk—to you, bro."
Tommy took the phone reluctantly and spent the rest of the ride to the hospital trying to answer Hayley's questions.
As his dad parked the car in the driveway, Tommy reached for the handle of the door to let himself out.
"You stay right where you are," Mrs. Oliver scolded, glaring back at him. "We will help you."
Groaning, Tommy let his head fall back against the seat. He'd spent all night at the hospital and had finally been released that morning. And his mother had been fussing non-stop and wouldn't let him do anything himself. As he waited rather impatiently for them to let him out of the car, he glanced around, frowning as he saw more cars than he should have. Including Jason's car.
"Why is Jason here?" he asked when his dad opened the door.
"Because he came back this morning to wait for you to get home," Mr. Oliver answered. "Trini and the rest of the Roccas are here, too."
"Oh, good," Tommy muttered as he climbed out.
Mrs. Oliver insisted that he be helped back into the house, despite his protests that he could walk just fine on his own. Still grumbling, Tommy didn't try arguing with her. Mrs. Rocca was waiting at the door, smiling as she reached out to hug Tommy.
"You shouldn't worry us like that," she scolded gently, letting them move into the house.
"Sorry…" Tommy sighed, running a hand through his hair.
"Everyone else is in the living room," Mrs. Rocca said, still smiling.
Mrs. Oliver nodded and started shooing Tommy toward the living room. Mrs. Rocca headed the other direction, back toward the kitchen. She'd started making dinner while the Olivers were at the hospital with Tommy. Hearing them in the hallway, Madison and Vida came running out to meet them.
"Tommy!" they exclaimed, beaming as they ran to greet him.
They were careful not to knock into him like the day before, not wanting to knock him off of his feet. Hanging back a little, they waited hesitantly.
"How are you feeling?" Madison asked as everyone kept moving back toward the living room.
"Tired," Tommy yawned.
Jason and Trini were in the living room waiting along with Mr. Rocca. Mark was lying on a blanket out of foot traffic space, Trini sitting on the floor next to him. Smiling when Tommy walked in, Trini hopped up and hurried over to give him a hug.
"You scared us, you idiot," she scolded, hugging him gently. "You're not supposed to do things like this to us."
"I'm sorry," Tommy murmured, hugging her back.
The sound of the basement door opening drew Tommy's attention and he glanced to see who was coming up as Trini let go of him. It was Hayley.
"Hayley, what were you doing in the basement?" Tommy asked suspiciously.
"Sabotaging your room," she smirked.
Tommy groaned and turned to his mother.
"Can I sleep in your room?" he asked.
Mrs. Oliver hesitated, but Mr. Oliver immediately began shaking his head.
"No," he said firmly. "He is a grown man and will sleep in his own room."
Tommy sighed, but didn't argue.
"Then I'm sleeping on the couch," he muttered.
Walking over to the couch, he surprised everyone by just falling face first on to it and closing his eyes. Madison and Vida started snickering as Jason shook his head. Trini just rolled her eyes.
"Tommy, wouldn't you be more comfortable in your bed?" Mrs. Oliver frowned.
"No," he mumbled. "Hayley was in there—she probably booby-trapped everything."
Hayley rolled her eyes.
"Oh, relax," she said. "I didn't do anything to your room."
"I don't care," he retorted. "I'm not moving. My legs and arms feel like they're on fire from swimming who knows how many miles and, on top of that, they woke me up every hour last night—I'm tired…"
Vida and Madison exchanged looks.
"We are sorry, Tommy," Madison said.
"Yeah, I didn't mean to knock you off the porch," Vida added. "I guess I got a little carried away…"
Tommy turned his head and opened his eyes, frowning at them in confusion.
"The doctor told me I was in the ocean," he said. "How did I get knocked off a porch?"
The girls blinked in surprise.
"Because Vida came running out to hug you and had a little too much forward momentum," Madison said. "And I wasn't exactly helping by hanging on you…"
"No, no, no," Tommy said, shaking his head. "When was I even on the porch in the first place?"
"Tommy, that was yesterday," Mrs. Oliver said. "When you showed up here at the house."
"What are you talking about?" he asked, looking confused. "I thought I was in the ocean, not Angel Grove. I was under the impression that someone fished me out—though how I got there in the first place is a mystery to me—so how does the porch fit into this picture?"
Jason glared at Tommy, crossing his arms.
"You've got to be kidding," he said. "Tommy, you showed up yesterday on the porch out of nowhere—we were starting to think you were dead."
"But I was in the ocean," Tommy said. "How did I end up on the porch?"
"You said a fisherman picked you up and brought you into shore," Trini frowned. "Is that not true?"
Tommy shrugged.
"I have no idea," he said. "But if it is, how did I end up here? This isn't anywhere near the ocean."
"You said you took a cab," Madison said, trying to be helpful.
"I did?" he frowned. "But who paid?"
"You did, bro," Jason snorted. "Somehow you still had your wallet—you showed it to us yesterday."
Still frowning, Tommy groaned as he pushed himself up and started checking his pockets. He muttered to himself as he tried to find his wallet.
"You guys are crazy," he said. "I don't have my wallet in my pockets—and they didn't give me anything when I checked out at the hospital."
"That's because you gave it to me when I got there last night," Haley said, leaning on the couch and holding it out to him.
"Oh," Tommy said, taking it and looking inside. "Aww man…"
"What's wrong?" Mrs. Oliver asked anxiously.
"I must've given the cab driver at least a hundred bucks," he sighed.
"Mmm…I'd say about forty," Hayley corrected.
Tommy whipped his head around in surprise. Hayley was smirking as she counted some cash.
"Hayley!" Tommy exclaimed, reaching out a hand. "That's mine!"
"Yes, it is," she said, raising an eyebrow. "But it's not like you need it right now—you won't be going anywhere for a couple of weeks at least."
"Wait—what?" Tommy said, frowning.
"That's right," Mrs. Oliver agreed. "You'll be staying right here until you are completely recovered."
"Mom, I'm fine," Tommy insisted. "I just need a few—"
"You were nearly killed in an explosion, Tommy!" she cried. "You are not fine."
"What explosion?" Tommy said in confusion.
"Your island exploded…" Vida said, exchanging a look with Madison.
Tommy started shaking his head, rubbing a hand over his face.
"That's not possible," he said in disbelief. "If the island exploded how did I survive?"
"That's a good question, Falcon," Jason said, crossing his arms. "All we got out of you yesterday was you either jumped off or was blown off of a cliff into the ocean."
"Well, I guess that might explain a few things…" Tommy said slowly, frowning.
"Like what?" Jason said in exasperation.
"Like the pain," Tommy retorted. "An explosion explains the pain."
"Ok, but what happened before the explosion?" Jason growled.
Tommy shrugged.
"I really don't know…" he said. "There're just snatches of weird things that don't make sense and then the pain. After that—nothing…"
Everyone in the room was silent for a moment.
"Tommy," Jason said slowly. "What's the last thing you remember—before the hospital?"
Hesitating for a moment, Tommy thought about it.
"The last thing I remember was Smitty calling to tell me Anton was missing," he finally said. "They couldn't find him anywhere and no one had seen him around…"
"Oh, great," Jason muttered. "So you've lost almost two days of memory."
"Two days?" Tommy frowned.
"You were missing for over twenty-four hours!" Trini exclaimed.
"It was scary…" Madison said quietly. "We thought you were dead…"
"I'm sorry…" he sighed, running a hand through his hair.
He paused.
"Wait, what day is today?" he asked. "The date, I mean."
"It's the 8th," Mr. Oliver answered.
Tommy grimaced.
"The call from Smitty was on the 3rd…" he said reluctantly.
"Are you telling us you've lost nearly five days?" Jason exclaimed.
Tommy shrugged.
"I guess," he said. "Like I said—that call is the last thing I remember before the nurse was waking me up the first time in the hospital…"
Jason glared at him, but didn't push the issue any further. Tommy groaned, falling backward on the couch again.
"This is just great," he muttered. "I don't even remember finding Anton…"
The rest of the occupants of the room all exchanged glances, avoiding looking at Tommy. He caught the looks and sat up again.
"We did find him, right?" he asked.
Jason took a deep breath.
"Not exactly," he said slowly.
"Jason, what does that mean?" Tommy asked, though he didn't look as though he really wanted to hear the answer. "Please."
"Tommy, I'm sorry," Jason sighed. "But, as far as we know, no one ever found Anton Mercer."
Tommy stared at him in shock for a moment.
"So he's—" Tommy started to ask, cutting off mid-sentence and shaking his head.
"No one is sure," Hayley said, putting a hand on his shoulder from behind the couch. "From all of the reports I've seen they weren't even sure if he was still on the island when it—well, when the accident occurred."
"But he hasn't come forward, has he?" Tommy said, running a hand through his hair. "If he was able, Anton would come forward to stop rumors. He wouldn't just let people think he was dead…"
"I'm sorry, man," Jason said quietly.
Tommy just shook his head, looking down at the floor.
"I should call Smitty…" he muttered, though he didn't move from his spot. "Maybe he found proof Anton left the island—maybe there's a reason he hasn't contacted anyone…"
"Tommy…" Trini said hesitantly.
When he looked up at her, she was shaking her head.
"What?" he said.
She hesitated, glancing around at everyone else. Mr. Oliver had an arm around Mrs. Oliver to keep her from hanging on Tommy right now. The girls had sat down in one of the arm chairs, crowded together as they looked down at their laps. Jason was trying not to meet Tommy's eye as Mr. Rocca shook his head from his chair. Hayley hadn't moved from her spot behind the couch, but, like everyone else, she was tense.
"What is going on?" Tommy demanded, looking around. "I need to know."
Hayley took a deep breath, taking over for Trini who was at a loss for words.
"Before the explosion most of the employees were evacuated and accounted for at a check-in point off the island," she explained. "However, after the explosion there were still three people unaccounted for…You, Anton, and—and Terrance Smith…"
Tommy flinched.
"He never made it off the island…" Hayley said softly.
Leaning forward, Tommy buried his face in his hands, not saying a word. Hayley kept her hand on his shoulder. For a few moments everyone was quiet, letting Tommy absorb the news—news they'd been hoping not to tell him until a little later. But the front door opening and the sound of multiple voices broke the silence. Jason and Trini both spun to intercept the other rangers as they crowded into the room. Kim and Kat were in the lead with Justin. Not far behind were Zach and then Rocky, Aisha, Tanya, and Adam. The few who had been out of town had gotten in that morning, all of them desperate to see that Tommy was alive for themselves. But, surprisingly, they all stopped to talk to Jason first. Everyone wanted to know what had happened and soon a hushed conversation was flying back and forth amidst the close-knit group as they stepped back out into the hallway. While they were busy, Tommy stood abruptly and headed toward the basement door.
"Where are you going?" Mrs. Oliver asked, frowning.
"My bed," he muttered. "I don't care what Hayley did—I'm going to get some sleep. I'll deal with everything else later…"
Mrs. Oliver sighed, but didn't try and stop him.
"I didn't do anything!" Hayley protested, glaring at him as he walked away.
Tommy just waved a hand, disappearing down into the basement. A few minutes later Jason and the others came walking back in and looked around in surprise.
"Where's Tommy?" Kim asked.
The girls and Hayley looked at each other and then back at Kim.
"He went to his room," they all answered together.
"Oh…" Kim said, frowning.
"He was tired," Hayley added quickly, before Kim could decide to go after him. "But he'll be back up later."
Kim sighed, but nodded as the other rangers reluctantly did the same. Coming from the kitchen, Mrs. Rocca stopped in the doorway in surprise.
"Well," she said. "I guess it's a good thing I made a lot of food…I was expecting a few of you, but not everyone all at once."
Jason snorted.
"You should know better than that by now, mom," he said. "Most of us don't go anywhere alone."
She rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything back.
"Oh!" Mrs. Oliver exclaimed suddenly. "Tommy needs to eat something—he hasn't eaten hardly anything all day."
"Umm…Mrs. Oliver, I don't think he wants to—" Jason started to say.
But she was already opening the basement door and heading down the stairs.
"There's no stopping her," Mr. Oliver shrugged.
A moment later they could hear shouting coming from the basement as Mrs. Oliver argued with Tommy about coming up for dinner. Sighing, Mr. Oliver turned and started to leave the room.
"Where are you going?" Jason asked.
"To get my tools," he answered. "Because the only way my wife is going to stop yelling at him is to get him out of the room. And the only way to get him out right now is to take down the door…"
As Mr. Oliver continued out of the room, everyone else burst out laughing.
Tommy jerked awake with a start, bolting upright and panting as he looked around his dark bedroom. He'd been dreaming, but he couldn't remember what about. Someone had been screaming, though. Taking a shaky breath, he drew his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, resting his head in his arms. But then he heard a cry again. Scrambling out of bed, he stumbled toward the door. There was only a sheet there right now because his father had thought it best to leave the door down to appease his mother. Tommy hadn't bothered to argue.
It was dark in the family room, too, but he could hear movement over by the couch. Someone had pulled out the bed and was sleeping there. He was pretty sure it was Madison and Vida because he vaguely remembered that they fell asleep there watching a movie after dinner the night before. Everyone had stayed at the house late, wanting to talk to Tommy and they had been worn out from the long couple days of worrying. His mother had insisted they be allowed to sleep after the trauma of the last few days, so no one had woken them up. As he moved quietly toward the couch, one of the girls jerked upright, screaming and waking up her sister.
"Maddy, it's alright," Tommy said soothingly as he rounded the couch. "Everything is ok."
Her head whipped around and she looked at him in surprise. Vida seemed surprised to see him, too, blinking sleepily as she looked back and forth between him and her sister. Tommy sat down on the edge of the bed and held out his arms. Without hesitation, Madison hugged him, burying her face against his shirt as she took shaky breaths.
"What's going on?" he said, rubbing her back. "Nightmares?"
She nodded, not loosening her grip on him. She was shaking still. Vida had scooted closer, too, hugging her pillow as she leaned her head against her sister's shoulder.
"We've both had them…" Vida said quietly. "Since we found out that you might be—about the explosion…"
"Yeah, I know what those are like," he murmured. "But they'll go away. I promise."
"But I don't like them," Madison said, pulling back a little to look up at him. "And it's worse than real life because it isn't just you…It's you and mom and dad and Jason and Vida and—and I keep seeing everyone dying and it's worse than a couple of years ago when we all almost died because someone was there to save us. No one was there to save you…"
Tommy sighed.
"Scoot over," he said to them.
Madison and Vida shifted and Tommy moved further on to the bed, sitting between them so he could put an arm around both of them. He leaned back against the back of the couch.
"I'm sorry I scared you," he said quietly as they leaned against him.
"It's not your fault," Vida said. "You didn't make the island explode."
"I know," he said. "But I still wish none of you had to go through that. It's not a good feeling thinking someone you love could be dead and there was nothing you could do to stop it. Jason and I felt the same way right after we found out about that big attack on Angel Grove."
"But I'll bet you didn't have nightmares," Vida grumbled.
Tommy chuckled.
"Oh yes we did," he said. "Me and Jason both. We're just a little bit better at hiding them."
"I don't want to hide them," Madison sighed. "I want them to go away… How do I make them stop?"
"Unfortunately, you don't," Tommy said, shaking his head. "The bad things never seem to completely go away, no matter what you do…"
The girls both sighed.
"Why did the power rangers have to go away?" Vida muttered. "They could have come and saved you…"
Tommy paused, hesitating as he thought about his answer.
"The power rangers didn't just go away," he said slowly. "Their enemy is gone and so is their reason to fight."
"But there are still people who need help," Madison said. "So why don't they help them?"
"Because they can't be there forever," Tommy said softly. "There will always be power rangers somewhere, but remember that they're people, too. They probably all have families and lives of their own that they're trying to live. The power rangers fought the battles we couldn't fight, so now we have to learn to save ourselves from the things that we can fight. And you both know Jason and I will do anything to keep you two safe."
The girls nodded.
"How do you fight an explosion?" Vida frowned.
"By running faster," Tommy retorted.
Both girls giggled and Tommy laughed with them.
"But what if we really need them again?" Madison asked after a moment. "What if the bad guys come back? Or someone else comes?"
Tommy shrugged.
"Then they'll come back," he said. "Or a new group of power rangers will take their place. That's what they're there for, isn't it?"
"To fight the battles we can't fight ourselves," Madison said softly, yawning as she repeated his earlier statement.
Both girls had relaxed as they talked with Tommy, getting sleepy again.
"Exactly," he said quietly. "There will always be rangers when we need them."
They nodded, yawning again as their heads nodded against him. But he didn't move, keeping an arm around each of them as they slowly drifted back off to sleep. Closing his eyes, he yawned himself as he settled back against the couch. Footsteps coming down the stairs caught his attention and he opened his eyes again.
"Tommy?" Jason said quietly, walking over from the stairs. "What are you doing out here?"
"Maddy and V were having nightmares," Tommy answered quietly, trying not to wake them up. "What are you doing here?"
"I thought I heard screaming," he said. "But then it stopped. I couldn't fall right back asleep though, so I decided to come down and check on them—and you…"
Tommy sighed.
"Jase, I meant what are you still doing at my house?" he said.
"Oh, right," Jason said. "After the girls fell asleep and you went down to your room everyone else started leaving. But it took a while to get everyone out of the house. Since Mark was fast asleep your mom offered us the guest room. We still had an overnight bag in the car from the night before so we took her offer. We'll take the girls home tomorrow, too."
Yawning again, Tommy nodded.
"They were asking about the power rangers," Tommy said, watching for Jason's reaction.
Jason frowned.
"What about them?" he said.
"They wanted to know why the rangers didn't save me," he answered.
Jason flinched.
"I tried…" he said, taking a deep breath. "Every team and every route I could think of. I had everyone running in circles trying to find you…I even broke the rules and called Lightspeed even though they're still fighting!"
"Jason, you're fine," Tommy sighed. "I'm not trying to make you feel guilty. The point is that they were asking me why the power rangers went away…"
"What did you tell them?" Jason asked.
"That there will always be power rangers," Tommy said.
Jason chuckled.
"For them, yes," he said. "There will always be power rangers to save them—whether they recognize them or not."
Tommy smiled as they both fell silent again.
"So what really happened on that island, Falcon?" Jason asked a moment later. "Something doesn't seem right about it…"
Tommy just shook his head.
"I have no idea," he said.
"Tommy, you can drop the act," Jason said. "It's dark, but even I can tell they're fast asleep."
"It isn't an act, Rex," Tommy said. "I can't remember anything past that phone call from Smitty. I barely remember what happened in the hospital last night. It's gone."
Jason frowned, crossing his arms.
"You're serious, aren't you?" he said.
"Completely," Tommy sighed. "And I have the worst feeling that what happened was important, but I can't even begin to think of why or what it might be…"
"Could it be something ranger related?" Jason asked hesitantly.
Tommy frowned.
"I don't think so…" he said. "But I could be wrong…"
"Well, if you remember anything, call me," Jason said. "Got it? The moment you remember anything."
"I will call you the moment I remember anything," Tommy promised, yawning. "Now go away so I can sleep."
Jason raised an eyebrow.
"Are you planning on staying there all night?" he asked.
"I'm fine," Tommy said. "I don't want to wake them up. Apparently they need sleep, too, if they've been up the past two nights with nightmares…"
"Yeah," Jason sighed, shaking his head. "I was down here a couple of times that first night… Between them, Trini, and my own bad dreams there wasn't any sleeping..."
"Awww…. Jase, you do care," Tommy smirked.
"Shut up, Falcon," Jason grumbled as he turned back toward the stairs. "Go to sleep."
"Night, Rex," Tommy yawned, closing his eyes again.
He was asleep before Jason closed the door at the top of the stairs.