A/N: Yay, an update. As for some clarifications:
SerenaLupin-Potter: The girls met up in San Francisco because that's the home of the Charmed Ones on the show and it's the homeplace of the family of the former Charmed Ones. This chapter should give some insight, and ideas, as to what will happen when the girls get to Angel Grove. And yes, I will include Dino Thunder;you'll see later on.
Thanks for the two reviews I got from the last chapter. Not exactly the greatest motivator but no one can expect the greatest result. Hopefully, I'll get more reviews and suggestions from this one. Anyways, enjoy the second chapter.
Chapter 2:
It had been two weeks since Ashley returned to Angel Grove after being away for so long. As she expected, a lot of things had changed, not with the city itself but the people she knew. Most of her friends still resided in the small city and she discovered that after her unwarned departure Andros, Karone, and Zhane made the 3 and a half hour move to the home of the original earth Power Rangers. She expected to find them at their last homes when she left for San Francisco nearly three years ago, but no one answered whenever she rang the doorbell. She didn't have their cell phone numbers and she didn't have any other way to reach any of them. Deciding to take a break after putting her luggage in her hotel room, Ashley went to the park near the high school where she and her friends always hung out. She was happy nothing was changed for the worse. Finding the swings empty and with no potential of a child running up to claim them, she sat herself onto one and pushed off the ground softly. She didn't want to swing but she didn't want to stay still either; she just wanted to gather her thoughts and think about what she would say when she saw her friends again. For a moment she wished her sisters were here with her.
A distraction came to her when a little girl fell chasing after a basketball and started crying because of a scrape she gained from the fall. Rushing immediately from an innate reflex, she tried her best to help the girl. The scrape wasn't too bad and the girl calmed down quickly, telling Ashley she was a big girl and that she would fix herself later. A smile came from Ashley when the girl's words reminded her of her sisters. She figured she should try to get the girl and her basketball back to her parents.
"Hey, who are you here with?" she started, going over to grab the basketball that stopped rolling from before.
"With my uncle," the girl answered. "I don't talk to strangers unless I know them," she added immediately.
"Well, if you knew them, then they wouldn't be strangers, right," Ashley said. The girl gave a nod to agree. "I'm Ashley and I came here to walk around and play on the swings a bit. What about you?"
"I'm Laura," the girl answered. "I came to watch my uncle play with his friends. Their basketball rolled away so I went to get it and told them to wait."
"Then I guess we should get it to them, shouldn't we?" Taking the girl's hand slowly, she let the girl lead her but after only a few steps, Laura almost tripped from her hurt knee and Ashley held her up with her hand on hers. She took Laura up in her arms to carry her, seeing as how she was light enough, and asked her to give her directions to her uncle. Laura could quickly see that Ashley wasn't a person of malicious intent like those her parents warned her to stay away from, so she pointed the way and told Ashley whenever she had to go left or right. Once they found the basketball court, Laura was so fidgety Ashley could barely keep her in her arms and put her down gently onto the pavement before Laura ran forward.
"Sorry it took her forever," Ashley started trying to catch the ball before it dropped completely, "but that's my fault-". She stopped immediately seeing her old friends standing right there on the basketball court, looking back at her with the same shock, if not more. To say the least, they were all flabbergasted. However, Ashley could barely stand any silence; living with Taylor and Kimberly was anything but silent. She felt obligated to say something, anything to fill the hush. "Hi, guys." The two words came out so tentatively and softly, Ashley didn't feel any ounce of confidence in herself. Relief washed over her momentarily when Karone and Cassie both said, 'Hey', back. Ashley couldn't help but smile, but she was beleaguered by a hug from Cassie who rushed over without delay.
"Oh my god, I can't believe you're back!" Cassie shouted, not thinking about letting go of the friend she missed for so long. After giving her friend a quick scan to see that she was doing well, Cassie continued, not keeping any astonishment out of her face or voice. "What happened to you this entire time?"
"It's a long story."
"Do you think you could tell it to us," Carlos asked curtly, almost bitterly, "or do you have an hour before you take off again without warning?"
A rare expression of bewilderment crossed Ashley's face. She knew she wasn't getting a warm and loving 'welcome home' but she thought Carlos would've been one of the more understanding ones who wouldn't give her a hard time. Nonetheless, she tried to start what she knew would be a long line of apologies for her leaving but all she could get out for a while were bits and pieces of a sentence before she actually said something steady. "I'm sorry. And, yes, I'll tell you guys everything; you just have to remember that I'm sorry I left."
Karone walked over to join Cassie on Ashley's side before speaking. "You guys, she just came home. Give her a break, all right?"
The guys passed long glances between each other as if they were having a telepathic conversation over how to handle this situation. Nothing happened and no sound was made beside Laura's grabbing the basketball and dribbling it, asking her uncle T.J. what was going on. When she didn't get an answer she ran over to the children's basketball court to play with a few friends she spotted, leaving the seven people with tension and silence floating in the air. It was all broken when a sudden comment followed by an exit was made by Andros.
"Should I bother?" With that acrid remark he left, and Ashley saw just a bit of what she did to him when she left. At that moment she didn't care if the others started berating her for what she had done; she never would have blamed them. She felt that no matter how affable they were to her, they didn't have the capacity to forgive her completely, but the one she wanted forgiveness from above anyone else's was Andros's. And for two weeks, she had been doing what she was doing now, in attempts to get him to talk to her. She walked up to the bench Andros was sitting and tried talking to him once she reached his side.
"Hey, Andros," she greeted. When she didn't get an answer, as was his response every time she asked him anything lately, she sighed and took the seat beside him, surprised that, even though she could see his jaw tighten at the tension from his anger toward her, he didn't get up and leave immediately. The fact that he was at the point where he didn't want to curse her and walk away whenever she was around gave her a little hope. "Andros, we have to talk." The one statement took all of her courage to say, and maybe a little more push from her determination to sort everything out with him.
He merely stared in the direction he was already looking at, not making a single move to look at Ashley. But he broke his silent treatment of the past half month and finally said something to her. "What is there to talk about," he replied. "We went through everything as rangers, we came home to Earth, spent over five years together, and started planning a real future together; then one day you decided to leave without any warning, leaving your life behind and taking a huge part of mine with you, wherever you went. Did I leave something out?" Andros still didn't give her the look of his eye.
"To tell the truth, yes," Ashley responded, "you're leaving a lot out but I want to explain it all to you." She thought that when this moment finally came, when he ultimately talked to her, she would be calm and thankful for him speaking to her again. But when the words came out, she knew she wouldn't be serene and that this was going to be a long dispute.
Before Andros said anything, he turned his head sharply to face Ashley and shocked her with the fury in his eyes; in the entire time she had known him, he never seemed capable of such rage, especially toward her. But a lot had changed in the past three years. "There wouldn't be a need for an explanation if you hadn't left in the first place, now would it?"
Ashley had to sigh at that; he was telling the truth. Yet, it didn't stop her from breaking into a variation of one of the tritest sentences ever. "You're right, but there's nothing I can do about the past, but I can and I need to tell you why, if just to make everything clearer so that you won't hate me completely."
"Maybe I don't want to hear your explanation." At that, his patience ran out and Andros got up to leave but Ashley wasn't going to let him get away after they had come so far.
"Then I guess I'm going to have to do everything I can to make you listen." For awhile they passed words of hostility and blame until they had almost nothing to say now and stood in silence staring at each other. Still, they had nothing sorted out. For minutes, everything moved but them from their frozen positions and gazes. They both shook out of their infuriated reveries when a girl Ashley had never met before came up to them and greeted Andros.
"Hey, Andros, what's up," the girl greeted him before giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. Ashley was taken over by disbelief and she was about to ask Andros who the girl was, but the girl in question beat her to the inquiry. "Andy, who's this?" she asked, wrapping an arm around on of Andros's as if claiming him.
"Just a friend," Ashley answered before Andros could open his mouth to respond. She recovered from her shock and stuck out her hand for the girl to shake, trying to keep a full front of amiability. "I'm Ashley, and you are?"
The girl shook Ashley's hand but let go almost as quickly as she took it. "I'm Andros's girlfriend, Teresa." She gave a smug smile of great pride at the statement and turned quickly to Andros before returning her attention back to Ashley. "How do you know Andy?"
The use of the nickname started to irk Ashley; it just didn't seem to fit Andros and she thought he would've hated being called such a name. Nevertheless, she answered the girl. "We met a couple years ago when he first came to Angel Grove. I've been out of town for quite some time and remembered Andros when I saw him in the park today."
Teresa seemed fine with the answer, although Ashley had a feeling she wasn't planning on taking any liking to Ashley anytime soon and she couldn't say the feeling was mutual. "Oh, okay. Anyways," Teresa said turning to Andros again, dismissing Ashley with disdain as if she didn't matter, "I thought you said you were going to be busy working today and you couldn't come to the park."
For the first time, he actually got to put a say into the conversation, though Ashley could see it was taking some work for him to come up with a plausible excuse. "Uh, I was, but my work ended early and I had some free time. I was hoping you'd be here today so I came." Anyone who knew Andros at all would have known he was coming up with this as he went, but Ashley couldn't believe how easily gullible Teresa was.
"That's so sweet," she said to the excuse. "Well, when you're done talking to this girl, come over to the Frisbee field; Angie and Ethan are waiting for me and they'll be happy to see you, 'kay?"
"All right," Andros replied, earning a kiss on the lips from Teresa, who gave Ashley an antagonistic look as she left. Once Teresa was well out of range, Andros exhaled a sigh at the conversation. He barely expected Ashley to be at the park, let alone Teresa too.
More moments of silence passed before Ashley willed herself to speak again. "So, you have a girlfriend." She tried her best to keep the ache out of her voice but she could feel herself breaking as the moments continued. She knew Andros would be angry and hurt when she left and a part of her wanted him to forget about her and move on, just a small part, but she didn't expect him to recover and get another girlfriend just like that. She didn't even want to think about what he did with anyone else once she disappeared. But then again, it had been three years; what could she expect?
Andros gave a shrug before saying anything. "Sort of. I don't know, really." His words were filled with hesitation that Ashley didn't know whether or not to believe his opinion on the subject. "Teresa was a girl I met here a few weeks ago and we just talked and it was nice. She's just a really nice friend."
"And she'd think you two were boyfriend and girlfriend because…?" Ashley asked tentatively, not knowing if she really wanted to hear anything more. She couldn't tell if Andros knew how uncomfortable she was in this position since he answered.
"We went on a date or two." Andros could indeed see how much Teresa discomfited Ashley and worsened the already grave tension between him and Ashley. To tell the truth, he didn't enjoy Teresa's attention much, but whenever he wanted to talk to her about it she would always stray to a completely different topic and start to annoy him with her enthusiasm at everything that he just gave up. She had enough peppiness to last a lifetime; he didn't even think Ashley had that much perkiness in the entire time he knew her. He knew she would take any chance to introduce him to people as her boyfriend and that just irked him every time he saw her; he felt like he was cheating on Ashley and himself in letting Teresa call him her boyfriend, but he couldn't do much about that. He figured he could just wait it out until she found some guy she found hotter than him and just break up with him and it would all be done with. Unfortunately it hadn't happened yet and it seemed Teresa's timing was not going to his advantage; he was actually going to say something to Ashley, maybe even let her explicate after all this time about what happened, but then Teresa interrupted them and it all went down again. And here they were, not even at square one, if there ever really was one.
"Oh." Ashley couldn't think of anymore to say. Shifting from one foot to another, she debated whether to stay and slap him for moving on so quickly or to leave and slap herself for being cursed in the first place that made her leave him. Finally, she made a decision and decided to stick to it before she broke down. "Well, you should get back to Teresa. I'll see you around… maybe." She left after Andros gave her a nod with a countenance that told her nothing more than what she knew now.
Ashley walked away as calmly as she could, hoping that she wouldn't hit anyone or anything on the way to her car since she was practically oblivious from everything around her except for her pain at the moment. When she figured she was far enough from Andros and there was nobody around, she stopped and leaned on a tree with her right arm, letting her tears break out from being held back for the last couple of minutes. How could none of her friends tell her all this had changed, that they had changed, that Andros had moved on? Maybe Teresa was just something to distract him from remembering her, a part of Ashley told herself that, but how much of that could be true? It took her a while to cry what she needed to let go and calm down before returning to her thoughts at the current time. Right now, all she wanted was to use her superspeed and run all the way back to San Francisco to Kimberly and Taylor, but it wouldn't help her condition at the moment. Ashley was about to turn around and leave when she heard a voice from behind her.
"Ashley, are you okay," Cassie asked when she saw her friend leaning onto the oak tree far from everyone. She became more alarmed when Ashley turned to face her and she could see Ashley's tear-stained face and went over to comfort her promptly. She had not completely forgiven Ashley for leaving them since she had never given Cassie a full explanation but Ashley explained that it was because she wanted to tell the full truth to Andros before anyone else and Cassie couldn't argue with that. Right now, being patient and a genuine friend to her was more important.
"What happened, Ash?" Karone asked once she joined Cassie to see what was wrong.
"Nothing," Ashley said as she shrugged them off and tried to walk away. "Nothing happened." She stopped when she felt Karone grab her arm.
"Ashley," she said firmly, "Now we let you get away with not telling us why you really left; we understand that you have to tell Andros first and Cassie and I would give you years to do that, but besides that, we're not letting you get away without telling us the truth about anything else. I hope you don't think we'd actually let you go after seeing you like this; if so, then we're going to have to do everything in our power to make you see otherwise. Now please," Karone asked softly after her declaration, "could you tell us what happened?"
This time, Ashley didn't put up a resistance. She didn't want to. Yet she did want some quiet moments to herself before she told them anything, to let them in so deep into her life again. But after a minute or so of silence and some calming breaths, she found the power to recount to them the reason for her tears. "I came over here around half an hour ago to try and find Andros to tell him everything. Finally, he talked to me, but I never got to the explaining part."
"Was that all or…" Cassie said.
"Well, after a while of not speaking, this girl named Teresa came over and introduced herself as Andros's girlfriend." Ashley could just feel the looks her friends were giving each other, as if they knew this was going to happen sooner or later and that they felt sorry they hadn't warned her. "So I just said 'okay' and left."
"I'm sorry," Cassie said after Ashley finished. "We would've warned you about her but, trust me, it looked like there was nothing going on. I didn't even think Andros liked Teresa all that much."
"Me neither," Karone added, hoping it would help the girl she felt became her sister over the last few years, despite the long absence.
Ashley kept shaking her head without speaking for so long that Cassie and Karone thought she'd just leave everything at that. After a sigh, Ashley let her voice come again. "No, it's all right," she said, not believing what she said at all. "I couldn't expect him to wait for me after just leaving like that. He deserves to be happy with someone; I just didn't expect him to get over me like… that." She wasn't sure what 'that' meant, but it was the only word she could find to filled the void in her sentence.
At that comment, Karone couldn't let it all stay as it was. "He isn't over you," she said quickly. "He never was, and from the looks of it from my point of view, he probably never will be. Look," she started, holding onto Ashley's hand to assure her that she was telling the truth, "you haven't seen him these last two years. He's been miserable and I know he misses you more than anything, probably more than he missed me when I was kidnapped and turned evil." Ashley said that wasn't possible, that Andros cared more for his sister than he probably ever did for her, but Karone wouldn't let her believe it. "You have to believe me, he isn't over you. You may not have noticed it the entire time you were with him, but he was insanely happy when he was with you, more than Zhane or I ever thought he could be after everything he's been through. Just give him some more time."
With those words, Karone smiled at Ashley, hoping she would believe everything she just said; she felt that it really was the truth. She wouldn't have told Ashley all that otherwise. When Cassie started on how she agreed with Karone and how much Andros needed her, Ashley didn't speak again. Honestly, a great part of her believed her friends, but there was the small part that wouldn't believe it until it was proved. But she didn't feel like giving any objections and sparking any chance of argument. Instead, she smiled in thanks and gave each of them a hug for doing their best to make her feel better, like they always used to.
"What did you guys come to the park for?" she asked once it was all over.
"I was hoping to find you here," Cassie admitted. "I never got your cell phone and you weren't at your hotel when I called, so I figured I should look for you here first before anywhere else. I wanted to tell you about the big reunion."
"The big reunion?"
"Yeah," Karone said. "You remember that big mission a few years ago when all these red rangers went missing?" Ashley replied that she did and Karone resumed. "Apparently, all of them stayed in touch and they all thought that after so long, all us Power Rangers and friends should get together for this huge reunion here in Angel Grove. They even rented out the park for the entire day."
Once again, Ashley didn't know what to say. This must have been the big thing that was in her dream that kept bothering her and told her she had to come back to Angel Grove. All the rangers were going to be there, every team. Kimberly and Taylor had to know about this; it had to involve them too. "Really? Wow, who thought of that; it's a great idea. Big, but great."
"I think it's Tommy Oliver and the first earth Power Rangers who are heading the entire thing."
There was a quick click in Ashley's mind when she heard the name that Kimberly spoke of so rarely. Over the last two years, she learned a lot about her sisters. One of them were their regrets; Kimberly made it clear her biggest ones involved Tommy Oliver, the first green Power Ranger. Ashley and Taylor knew almost everything about their rift of friendship: the letter, the reason, the lack of communication, and why Kimberly felt it was hopeless to ever talk to him again. Maybe Kimberly shouldn't come to this thing if Tommy was going to be here; Ashley wasn't sure how she would react. Yet she couldn't help but ask for the specifics of the get-together.
"Um, so when is this reunion?"
"This Saturday, at noon," Cassie answered. "Some of us who still live in Angel Grove are going to come around 11 to help set up but everything should begin at 12."
"All the rangers are coming?" Ashley said with a tiny worry in her voice, not just for her but for both her sisters.
"Yep, every one of them, from the first earth rangers chosen by Zordon to the Mystic Force rangers."
Ashley was close to asking who the Mystic Force rangers were, but she supposed she'd find out at the big reunion in four days if they were all coming. She must have been missing out on a lot; she hadn't heard of any rangers past the Wild Force rangers from when Andros went on the big red rangers-only mission and from what Taylor told her and Kimberly about her time as a Power Ranger in Turtle Cove.
"So are you going to come?" Cassie asked, an expression of anticipation on her face that was mirrored on Karone's. Ashley nodded yes without any doubt; even if she said no, she knew Kimberly and Taylor would've taken her along. There was no way any of them were going to miss this; it may be the greatest chance for them to tell the truth about everything and to sort everything that became a mess.
After spending a couple more minutes at the park, Cassie and Karone opted to take Ashley out to lunch and a trip to the mall like when they were teenagers. Spending the day at the Youth Center and a shopping spree at Angel Grove Mall raised Ashley's spirits, but she decided to call it a day when dusk was about to hit and the girls persuaded her to join them for dinner at Cassie's favorite sushi restaurant. They said quick goodbyes when they left the mall in separate cars and Ashley resolved to take a nap before changing for dinner, but not before she called her sisters to tell them about what was going to happen in their hometown.
Closing the hotel door and setting all her shopping bags aside, Ashley took her cell phone out of her purse and immediately dialed her home number. She figured that they'd be home from work by now and probably skimming the Book of Shadows for the vanquishing spell for a new demon. She thought it was odd that the entire time she was in Angel Grove there weren't any disturbances involving any demons set on attacking Ashley for vanquishing their companions and allies, but she knew that Kimberly and Taylor would've only orbed or shimmered for her if they needed the power of three for an important spell. Every time she called, Ashley got the reply that everything was fine and that there was demon who attacked but it only took a fireball here, a vial of potion there and poof, they were gone. She was glad that things were going steady and stable for her sisters, though she knew it wasn't going to last; nothing involving her sisters, her and any demons lasted in peace.
She waited until Taylor picked up the phone after the third ring. "Taylor Earheardt speaking."
"Hey Taylor, it's Ash."
"Is anything wrong," Taylor asked instantly, not used to her any of her sisters calling just to give some news that involve spells, magic, demons and fighting.
"No, no, nothing's wrong, no demons or anything like that," Ashley assured. "But I do have some news to tell you and Kimberly and I think it's best I tell you right away. Do you guys want to put me on speaker phone or have me superspeed my ass over to the manor?"
"We'll just orb or shimmer there," Taylor answered. "There's nothing going on and we'd be happy to get away for awhile."
"All right, see you in a few." With that she hung up and waited for her sisters to appear out of thin air. For a moment, she thought she should've called back at tell them the hotel name and room number so they could find her easily, but knowing their powers for transportation and how it worked, she was sure they wouldn't have any problems. In fact, they didn't; within a five-minute period Kimberly and Taylor showed up in front of her both at once. Greeting each of them with a hug, she began her news she wanted to tell them so much since she heard it.
"You guys have to come here on Saturday," she began, starting with nothing else, knowing it would raise a question or two. Or more, knowing her sisters.
"Where, here in this hotel room or here in Angel Grove," Taylor asked for clarification.
"Well, Angel Grove obviously, but we can meet up here first." She began on the details when Kimberly asked why. "As it turns out, a couple of the rangers from different teams and seasons kept in touch and they came up with this idea of a huge Power Ranger reunion right here in Angel Grove." Ashley assured to the two that she was indeed correct when they voiced their doubt in the form of questions. "I'm sure. It's this Saturday at noon, but I don't think it'd be good if I showed up earlier. Plus, a lot of them are bringing some different dishes to eat and I feel horrible so I'm going to try and whip something up."
"Why not just leave it up to Kim here," Taylor said, "She's the one whose cooking could bring down the best of chefs."
"Har har," Kimberly retorted sardonically at the comment. "But sarcasm aside, I'd love to cook something for each of us to bring. I just don't know if we should attend, or me at least."
When she said that, the others voiced their hesitation in agreement. "I already told Cassie and Karone I'd be coming," Ashley admitted, "but it's about time I've face everyone. Plus, maybe I'll get a chance to tell Andros the truth once and for all."
Kimberly looked up in confusion at her second sister. "You haven't told him yet, after two weeks?"
"He hasn't let me," Ashley divulged. "Today was the first time he talked to me and even then, we didn't appear to be on good terms. Then his girlfriend came in and I just had to give up on it today."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Taylor interrupted. "Girlfriend?"
Ashley released a sigh at having to tell them this but at least she didn't have any reserve in telling them what occurred. "There's this girl Teresa that Andros went out with once or twice and she figures they're boyfriend and girlfriend. Cassie and Karone tell me that he has no interest in her that way, but I don't know. It's not like he's going to forgive me or let me talk to him anytime soon." She turned to Taylor right after elucidating to them what she found out this afternoon. "And no, you can't hunt her down and beat the crap out of her for me; she's harmless."
Taylor threw her hands up in both defense and defeat. "I never said I would."
"In your head, you probably did," Kimberly stated with Ashley agreeing instantaneously.
"Oh, whatever," Taylor answered. Ashley knew that Taylor would've offered out of love and protection for her sister. "Anyways, anything else we should know about this reunion, which I will knock this Teresa chick out of if she comes?"
The comment made Ashley let out a chuckle that she couldn't hold back even if she wanted to; of course Taylor would say that. "Well, not really, except every ranger from every team will come, from Kimberly's team to a new one called the Mystic Force Rangers."
"Is it just me or do these names just get weirder every time a new team is formed," Kimberly commented.
"Who's in charge of this huge thing," Taylor queried.
There was some unease on Ashley's part when she was about to continue. "Well, technically, I think it's all the leaders of each ranger season, so mostly the red rangers I guess, but the person Cassie and Karone told me was Tommy Oliver."
All three stayed silent after the name was mentioned. Now Kimberly knew what Ashley felt like when she mentioned Andros when Ashley was leaving for Angel Grove a fortnight ago. She stood in partial shock at hearing the name; why him of all people? "Why would he be in charge of something like this?" she finally asked after some minutes of getting over the surprise.
The first thing Ashley could do was shrug with no answer. "Quite honestly, I don't know," she confessed. "But maybe he just wants to meet all the rangers again and see the new ones. I heard the guys say a couple times he was just about the greatest ranger of all time; even Andros admitted that after the finished their oh-so-secret mission they wouldn't tell us about."
"I can attest to that," Taylor added. "That's just what Cole, Wes, and Eric said after the mission when we met up with Cole to see what happened."
"I could believe they'd give him that title," Kimberly said, the look in her eyes appearing distant and pensive. "He really was a good leader."
Taylor and Ashley were unsure of what to say at this point. They could see that Kimberly was unsure about the reunion due to this new piece of information; it wasn't like any of them got wind of any of this beforehand, but that's what they get for virtually cutting off all connections with the rangers when their journey as Charmed Ones began. Ashley walked over to Kimberly to ask her if she wanted to come Saturday.
"You know, you don't have to come to the reunion if you'd be uncomfortable. Even I'm having second thoughts about this."
"I won't go if you don't want to," Taylor told Kimberly to inform her that she was behind Kimberly's decision whichever way it went.
All Kimberly could do was sigh with confusion as she walked over to sit on the bed in the room. "I definitely want to come and see everyone again. It'd be kind of cool to see just how far us Power Rangers got. Plus, there's the big bonus I'd finally get to meet Andros and Eric and have something to tease you guys about," she added with a wink which altogether didn't sit too well with her sisters. "I'm just not sure if I'm ready to face Tommy after all this time. I don't even know if I could."
"Again, you don't have to do this," Taylor said, sitting down beside the oldest of the trio.
"It's not that. It's just," Kimberly stopped midway to sigh again, trying to find the words to say and explain her vacillation. "It's not like how when you and Ashley left everyone; you two left out of the blue because you were scared you'd hurt them, and plus, you still kept in contact with your teammates up until the day you guys left. I left to pursue the Pan Globals when it wasn't necessary and barely kept any contact with many from back home. Then almost right after that damned letter, I lost connection with practically everyone. The only people I kept in touch with were Trini and Jason and even so, after a year or two, I lost them completely. I didn't have people from my team who loved me stay with me after I left for Florida. And even if I saw Tommy again, I doubt he even wants to talk to me after the letter."
"He can't be all that mad," Ashley said. "I mean, didn't you and Jason meet up with him and the team at the thing on that island when they became the Turbo Rangers?"
"Yeah, but I never really stayed to talk about anything with him. I just screamed with everyone else and congratulated him when they won the championship for the charity. I think he would've preferred celebrating that victory with Kat than he would've ever with me, anyways."
"You're not still on that, right," Taylor asked. Kimberly had told them about this almost a year ago and a half when they decided to lay everything about each other on the table, or at least enough that three sisters would tell each other.
"No, I'm not," Kimberly reassured. Ashley and Taylor could see she was honest with that statement but they could feel she had so much more confusion to dispose of before she could come on Saturday without anxiety. "I just don't know if I can do this."
As Kimberly dropped her head, Taylor and Ashley could see that this was going to be a huge deal for Kimberly, and a hard one at that. But they knew that this was probably their one big chance to tell the truth together, after all this time of running away and staying apart from the people who became their first real family of friends and teammates. "You know you're strong enough, I know you are. And remember, we're going to be here for you," Taylor promised, Ashley following right after.
"We'll be right there with you if anything goes wrong."
"I know," Kimberly said, finishing with a grateful smile at two of the most understanding friends she could ever have expected. A thought hit her that she knew might take some figuring out. "One thing though: they haven't known anything about us for the past two, three years, let alone the fact that we've been fighting together for that time. I don't even want to get into explaining that we're the Charmed Ones, at least definitely not yet. We can't appear like we know each other than most of our teammates would at this get-together."
"Good point," Ashley remarked. "But that shouldn't be too hard to do."
"How about this," Taylor suggested, "Ashley shows up with Cassie and Karone like planned, just to keep things normal. I'll come in some time later, like half an hour or an hour, and just say I got news of this off the Power Ranger grapevine or something. Then Kim could come whenever she feels ready and by then, we'll have a good feel of the place and no one would know that we know each other."
"And we'd know which way would be best for our escape if we're this close to being ostracized," Kimberly added, earning laughs from her younger sisters at the comment. "That works for me."
"So that's the plan?"
"Yep," Taylor affirmed.
"Okay, then," Kimberly said before adding, "And I'll have plenty of dishes for all of us to bring for this reunion. Any specifics?" The other girls answered in the negative and said that any type would be fine.
For a while the girls chatted about recent events until they figured it was time for Ashley to get to dinner with her female Power Ranger teammates and decided to let things rest until Saturday when they were sure everything was going to explode in their faces. There was still the troublesome bother for Ashley about the big thing she felt was going to happen. She would've killed for a premonition of Saturday at that point, but she learned a long time ago that premonitions weren't things she could bring on. Still, it didn't help her all that much with the situation. She'd just have to wait until the weekend to see if what she was worrying about all this time was worth her apprehension… and hope it wouldn't end up backfiring on her and her sisters.