Chapter Ten:
Tommy groaned as he woke up, aware of the slight weight that was on his chest. He kind of looked down at the blonde hair that was nestled into him. Olivia had joined them in bed around one in the morning, after having had had a nightmare. He sifted her over, closer to Kim, who had had a rough night as well, and then sighing climbed out of bed.
His parents were up already when he went downstairs. He gratefully accepted a mug of coffee from his mom. As he took a sip he noticed an envelope addressed to his home in Reefside. He frowned, "How did this get here?" he asked.
"Hayley dropped by while you were at the youth center last night." Janet stated, "Said it was the Christmas Present you were waiting for, for Olivia I believe.
Tommy quickly grabbed the envelope and opened it. He scanned the papers as a grin appeared on his face, "The adoption went through, it's official."
Janet and James both started to cheer when the doorbell interrupted their little celebration. They hurried over to the door to find David standing on the front porch.
"David, come on in," Janet greeted her son's older brother, "We just learned that the adoption just went through."
David nodded as he was let in, Sam had already informed him that the adoption had come through, which was one of the reasons that he had came over today. The other reason rested in his pocket.
David entered the kitchen to find his brother, who was sitting at the table, staring at the completed Adoption papers while sipping on his coffee. He was more asleep than awake. David laughed, "You've been to Briarwood recently?" he asked.
Tommy shot up, "What, no, why would I go to Briarwood?"
David laughed, giving him a knowing look, "It's were the most current power ranger is, they call themselves Mystic Force."
Tommy gave him a querying look, "And what does that have to do with me?"
"You're so tired; I thought maybe you're back in uniform again."
Tommy snorted, rolling his eyes at his older brother, "I've never been to Briarwood, and I was careful not to stop there on my way there. I do not need to get caught up in power ranger activity again."
David laughed, "Didn't you say that right before you became the red ranger?"
Tommy thought for a moment, "Shoot, I did say that didn't I."
David smirked as Tommy yawned, "So, if you aren't secretly saving the world, why are you so tired?"
"It was a long day yesterday, what with a three hour car trip, the car accident, and the impromptu party. Kim's leg kept hurting last night. It made it hard for her to sleep, and Olivia climbed into bed around one in the morning."
"Speaking of Kim," David stated, pulling a jewelry box out of his pocket, "I was helping Grandfather clean out an old trunk in the attic and I stumbled across this." He handed the box to Tommy who opened it to reveal a beautiful antique ring, "It was our mother's, and according to Grandfather she inherited it from her Grandmother when she got engaged to Dad."
"Why are you giving it to me? If it's a family heirloom, shouldn't it go to you? You are the older brother." Tommy handed the box back to him, but David refused to take it, shaking his head, "No, I want you to keep it. Give it to Kim for Christmas, you have to propose sometime."
Tommy looked at the ring, "I guess I should do it officially, shouldn't I? We already set the date, the first day of spring break, that way we both won't need to get subs while we are on our honeymoon."
"You have your wedding all planned out and you haven't even asked her yet?" David demanded, just as Olivia entered the room, hugging the white teddy bear that Kim had given her when she first moved in with them. Tommy had laughed when he had seen it; it was the same one that he had given Kim right before she moved to Florida.
"Ask who what?" she asked sleepily.
Tommy smiled, "I need to ask Mommy to marry me."
"Oh, you aren't going to ask me if I want to be your daughter. Because the answer is yes." Olivia stated sleepily while Tommy helped her pour a bowl of cereal.
"I see, Uncle Jason is wondering if you would like to go to the park with Zoey today."
"What are you going to do while I am at the park?" Olivia demanded, she didn't want her Mommy and Daddy to have fun without her.
Tommy laughed, "We are going present shopping."
"Oh," Olivia said, "I guess I can go with Zoey and Uncle Jason to the park then. You will remember to pick me up right? I don't want to miss the Party tomorrow. Grandma told me Santa will come and bring us all gifts."
Tommy laughed ruffling her hair, "Oh, yes, Santa will come and give you a gift. Then you can come home and go to bed and Santa will bring more presents."
…
Zack had done almost everything he could think of to calm down, but then he would think of Kim lying injured in that hospital for months on end and all those lives that had been lost and he would start seeing red again.
"Officer Taylor, man the only time I've seen that look on someone was when Andros found out that Karone had been brainwashed. You look like you're about to murder someone." Officer TJ Johnson said approaching his fellow former ranger.
"I am about to murder someone," Zack stated, before revealing what he had learned the night before.
TJ's mouth went tight before he let out a long string of words that Zack knew were swear words from Ko-35 that TJ had learned from Andros and Zhane, "What are we supposed to do? She's one of us. We can't let anyone mess with a member of the ranger family. He has to pay!"
Zack nodded his head, noticing several other officers, including Chief Stone staring at them.
The two former power rangers fell silent as the chief approached them, "What seems to be the problem?" He asked.
TJ nodded to Zack, telling him to answer the question, "I found out that my partner, Officer James Callaway, might be involved in an unsolved mystery. His ex-girlfriend accused him of nearly killing her, of course there weren't enough evidence and the charges were dropped, but I know her, consider her my sister, and she wouldn't pressed charges unless she was a hundred percent certain that she was right."
"Maybe your friend just thinks she was right?" Chief Stone suggested, before walking off.
TJ leaned forward and hissed into Zack's ear, "We need to set up a sting, trick James into confessing. Has Billy ever managed to create a truth serum? Maybe we could slip that into his drink and then ask him questions."
Zack burst into a grin, "We can do it at the party tomorrow night; I'll talk to Ernie and Billy and see what I can come up with."
"What can I do to help?" TJ asked, feeling energy flowing through him. As a former red he loved it when a plan came together.
"Make sure that he goes to the party. The whole thing will go down the drain if he isn't there."
…
"Is it time to leave for the party yet?" Olivia asked Kim for the umpteenth time since waking up that morning. Kim moaned, why couldn't she just send her over to her cousin's house to play, but she couldn't, they were over at the Kwans for the day.
"Not yet sweetie," Kim sighed, before casting her mind out on something the little girl could do. Tommy and his father had left early that morning to help the local food bank prepare Christmas boxes and hand them out. "Why don't you remind Grandma that you need to decorate a couple of cookies to leave out for Santa tonight? I'm sure she can spare some for the party's cookie decorating contest."
Half an hour later she was back, "Is it time to go yet?" she asked.
Kim sighed, "Once you take a bath and get changed into your dress, Daddy will be back and we can leave."
Never before had Kim seen Olivia bathe so quickly, she loved playing in the tub and would complain when she was told she needed to get out. As she was finishing braiding Olivia's hair, Tommy returned with his father.
…
Zack hurried over to a man with blonde hair, "Did you get my message?"
Billy rolled his eyes, showing him the small vial that he had in his pocket, "Nobody messes with my sister and gets away with it. How is this going to work, anyway? We can't put the serum in the punch, there are too many power rangers attending the party and we don't want it to turn into a power ranger meet and greet."
Zack nodded, "Let's not forget that there are also a lot of Christmas surprises that would be ruined."
"So how is it going to work?"
Zack nodded to where Ernie was setting up, "TJ is going to bring James by early, when the rest of the teams are planning on showing up to help set up. After we're done, TJ's going to offer to buy him a drink and Ernie's going to slip the serum in. TJ's going to guide the conversation to Florida and the Pan Global Games. James will be forced to confess and I'll be hiding behind the counter with my voice recorder. And bingo, we have a confession."
"This serum is probably my best invention yet," Billy stated, "It makes whoever drinks it answer any question honestly. And it is untraceable, so he can't say we drugged him or anything. But it wears off fast, so get the confession as soon as possible."
With that Billy gave the vial of truth serum to Ernie just as the other rangers showed up to help set up, as was tradition.
…
TJ looked around the Youth Center, the place looked amazing, what with the giant Christmas tree and the big chair for Santa. He looked at James and clapped him on the shoulder, "Thanks for the help, a lot of the others couldn't help set up this year. Trini and Jason's kids just hinder the set up, and Aisha's due at the beginning of next year. We greatly appreciate your help, why don't I buy you a drink before you go home."
James shook his head, "No that's okay, my twin sister is waiting for me at home, she's come all the way from Florida to see me."
TJ smiled broadly, throwing his arm around the other man's shoulders and steering him towards the bar, "Think of the bragging rights, a former power ranger bought you a drink at the local power ranger hangout."
James frowned, "How come I never heard that this was the local power ranger hangout?"
TJ smiled, "We don't hang out here in uniform silly, only a true power ranger and their allies know that this is the place to meet. I hope I can trust you on keeping the secret, we don't want news reporters swarming the place trying to find out the secret identity rangers identities."
James burst with pride of being allowed into the secret club so he consented to the purchase of a drink.
As James took his first sip TJ asked, "So, your sister's from Florida, what does she do there?"
"She's a gymnast, works with Gunter Schmidt, ever heard of him." James asked, taking another sip of his drink as the first guests started to trickle in.
"Yes, I have a friend who trained with him." TJ stated, "She was good, took gold every competition she competed in, perhaps you know her? Her name is Kimberly Hart."
"Yeah, I know her; she was my sister's roommate. She was in a horrible car accident and had to quit the team."
Behind the counter, Zack and Billy exchanged looks; if James gets suspicious he might refuse to talk. This was the time of truth. Would the Truth serum be strong enough to tell them the truth?
"I heard about that, she told me she had been receiving threats. Do you know anything about that?"
"Yes, but I promised not to tell anyone." James said quickly, surprised at what he was saying. Behind the bar Zack pressed a hand over Billy's mouth to prevent him from celebrating that the potion was working.
"You know if you know something and are keeping quiet about it you could be arrested for aiding the criminal."
James thought for a second, "Fine I know who did it. There happy?"
TJ nodded his head, "Who was it; I promise I won't tell, as a Power Ranger I had to learn to keep my mouth shut. And remember a Power Ranger doesn't lie or break promises."
"It was my sister, Suzanne; she sent the threats and did the first accident." James said jerkily, as if he hadn't wanted to say that.
"Did you help her?" TJ asked.
"Oh, yes, most of the accidents were my doing. I even broke into the garage where her car was being serviced and tampered with her brakes. I didn't mean to kill anyone, just scare her off. I framed the mechanic; sadly he was an older fellow who had a heart attack when he found out what had happened." James said before his eyes grew wide as he realized what he just told a former power ranger and a current police officer. "You tricked me into telling you that, not that it matters. If you tell anyone I'll tell the world about the Youth Center."
Just then Ernie came by, "Go right ahead, it would be great publicity, and it's not like they'll be able to figure out their true identities, or they would have figured them out by now."
TJ smirked, "I'm keeping my promise, however, Officer Taylor didn't promise you anything, and he recorded the whole conversation."
"You drugged me or something." James accused.
"Following a tip from a fellow ranger, we used a truth serum to make you talk." Zack stated, popping up from his hiding place.
As they lead James away and radioed for someone to pick up his sister, Tommy, Kim, Olivia, Trini, Jason, Zoey and JayJay entered the party together. Jason smirked and said to Zack and TJ, "I'm glad you took care of him before I arrived or else it would have been ugly."
…
Kim sat in a chair and watched as the Children's choir sang their songs and Olivia ran around, checking out all the different booths. She couldn't believe that TJ and Zack had been able to get a confession and James was now under arrest. She smiled if she could have asked for one thing for Christmas she would have asked that Justice be served and it had.
"Ho Ho Ho!" Bulk called out as he entered the Youth Center dressed as Santa. He always volunteers to play Santa at the Christmas Party ever since that first Christmas when that little girl thanked him for giving her what she truly wanted.
He sat down in his chair and took every kid onto his lap one at a time. As he listened to the child's wish list his helper found the present with his or hers name on it. Bulk smiled as he saw several of the children's faces light up. Those kids probably wouldn't get another present that year and the presents were carefully selected for each child from the toy drive that was held in September. The rest of the presents came from the parents.
Olivia climbed up onto Santa's lap, shooting Tommy a confused look as he whispered something into Santa's helper's ear.
"And what's your name?" Santa asked.
"Olivia Whimmer." She stated proudly.
"Well Olivia, what do you want for Christmas?" Santa asked.
"I already told you. I talked to you at the mall in Reefside." She stated proudly.
"I see you haven't changed your mind then." Santa said; he had learned a long time ago that it was better to just pretend that he knew what the kids were talking about.
Olivia grabbed her present with a thank you and climbed off his lap. It wasn't until she got to where Kim and Tommy was when she noticed something wrong with her package. "This isn't right, this is for a different Olivia, my last name starts with W, and this last name starts with O."
Tommy smirked, "Santa doesn't make mistakes, why don't you open it now." He suggested.
Olivia opened it up to find a pink teddy bear that was holding a piece of paper. She grabbed it and stared at it, "I don't know how to read, but it has my name on it."
Tommy sat down next to Kim and scooped Olivia onto his lap, before pulling out his reading glasses and reading, "'This Certificate indicates that Olivia Anne Whimmer will now be known as Olivia Anne Oliver and her parents are now Kimberly Anne Hart, and Thomas James Oliver."
"That's a cute little certificate." Kim stated as Olivia ran over to show Tommy's parents.
Tommy shrugged, "It was Mom's idea, I was going to wrap the actual adoption papers, but mom was worried they might get damaged or lost so she created the certificate."
…
"Santa came! Santa came!" Olivia called out as she jumped onto Tommy. Tommy kind of groaned as he glanced at his watch, it was only five in the morning.
"It's too early Olivia, go back to bed." Tommy grumbled.
"I'm too excited to sleep, Santa came."
Kim moaned and sat up, "Now I see that my mom really did curse me when she said I was going to have a kid just as bad as I was."
Olivia refused to go back to bed so they all trumped down to the living room. Sure enough a large pile of presents stood in front of the tree.
…
Two hours later, wrapping paper covered the floor to the point nobody could tell if it was hardwood or carpet. Olivia had gotten a new doll with every accessory you could think of and a toy kitchen. Tommy had laughed and stated that he would need to rent a moving van just to get all of Olivia's presents home. What really touched him though was when Olivia announced that her favorite toy was a stuff white tiger from Santa.
As Janet went to start making breakfast she tripped over something, hidden beneath the wrapping paper was another present, "Hey we missed a present," She called out to the others, "'To Beautiful from Handsome.'" She read, "Kim it's for you from Tommy."
Kim shot Tommy a puzzled look, had he forgotten that he had bought her a gift that she hadn't opened yet. Tommy smiled at her.
Kim opened the present to find a black teddy bear from Build a Bear dressed like the black Dino Thunder Ranger, around its neck hung a sign that read, "Squeeze me."
Kim looked at Tommy, who purposely looked the other way, so she squeezed the bear's stomach. Tommy's voice filtered from the bear's voice box, "I love you Beautiful, more than life itself. Make me the happiest man alive and be my Mrs. Oliver."
Kim whipped around to find Tommy kneeling behind her with a ring in his hand, "It's a family heirloom, David gave it to me; it was my great-grandmother's." He explained as he slipped it onto her finger.
Kim laughed, "I guess we really are a family now."
…
A/N: The End and Merry Christmas. See you all next year.