Two days later, Tommy and Kira sat in their apartment, wrapping the last of their Christmas presents in preparation for the guys coming over. They were all heading home so they could get back in time for Christmas, but they had all agreed to stop by the apartment before they left so that presents could be exchanged. Kira groaned at the virtual mountain of gifts she still had left to wrap.
"I told you not to leave it till the last minute." Tommy laughed as she struggled with the scotch tape snaking it's way round her fingers. "This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't procrastinated so much."
"Yeah, because getting ready for the concert was no work at all." She whined as she shook her hand feverishly in a vain attempt to free it from the tape. "And it didn't help that you used all the paper, meaning I had to go to the store."
"I told you I was sorry about that." Tommy shot back. "It wasn't my fault."
"Oh so it wasn't your fault you forgot the name tags." She chuckled, finally freeing herself from the tangles sticky mass of tape. "Meaning you had to OPEN them all again!"
"To be fair I hadn't slept that night." Tommy reminded her.
"And who's fault was that?" She quizzed him, throwing a roll of paper at his head.
"Domestic violence is not one of your more attractive features." Tommy laughed as he threw his arms around her, wrestling her playfully onto the couch.
"And what are some of my more attractive features?" She laughed, throwing her own arms around him and pulling him into a tender hug.
"Well you're probably the most beautiful woman in the world." Tommy answered her, kissing her repeatedly.
"Probably?" She quizzed him, looking deep into his soft, brown eyes.
""Learn to take a compliment sweetheart." He replied with a smile, drawing into a long, deep kiss. Just then the doorbell rang, tearing the moment away cruelly. Tommy and Kira both shared a little giggle as they looked into each other's eyes.
"Could we not just pretend we're not here and carry on?" Tommy moaned.
"It'll be Barry." Kira announced. "He said he'd probably come over this morning with the sales figures."
As they got up, Kira quickly pulled her hair out of the ponytail she'd tied it into and quickly re-set it, trying to make it a little less obvious they'd been wrestling on the couch. Tommy moved over to the front door, opening it wide. Sure enough it was Barry, standing in a brilliant white Italian suit, carrying a large brown bag and a bouquet of yellow roses.
"Morning Tommy." He quipped, shaking his hand. Tommy returned the gesture tentatively. He hadn't seen Barry since the night of the set-up at the concert, though he had by this point resigned himself to the fact that he at least appeared to have Kira's best interests at heart. "Good grip. Where's Sparky?"
"I'm in here." She yelled through.
"Losing by two falls and a submission to a roll of scotch tape." Tommy piped up with a smirk.
"Well I got all that business out the way a week ago." Barry shot back, striding into the living room where Kira greeted him with an enthusiastic hug. "Advantage of being Jewish I suppose, Hanukah usually comes first."
"Hi Barry." She began, accepting the bouquet. "These are great" Thanks."
"Well they're not in season, so they took a bit of finding." He replied truthfully. "But I know how much you like Yellow, and to see that smile it was worth sending my PA all over town." He set down the bag on the floor and began helping Kira with the presents. "The girl never gets anything done this close to Christmas anyway, so I just told her to run that one errand and then just start her holiday."
"That's pretty decent of you." Tommy remarked.
"Well, you know the holiday doesn't really mean anything to me, so it's really six-and-half-a-dozen to me." He responded, picking up the tape. "But it's always a great little morale booster if you can let the workers get a little family time." He suddenly stopped in his tracks as he came across a pair of heavy butterfly swords on the floor. "Your friends certainly have interesting hobbies I'll give them that much." He quipped with a slightly confused look on his face. "Remind me not to gatecrash any of their parties."
"Those are for Trent." Kira laughed, retrieving the heavy-bladed weapons from him. "He's really heavily into Kung Fu."
"Trent?" He asked, trying to remember him. "Dark hair, well-built, always wears white?"
"That's him." Tommy answered him. "Anyway, how did the sales go?"
"Oh glad you brought that up Tommy my good man." He chimed in excitedly, rising to his feet. "The local news station covered the concert live. It was beamed to pretty much the whole state! You've had by far the fastest selling debut of any act I've ever represented!"
"Really?" Kira asked, suddenly forgetting about the presents.
"If sales keep up the way they're going, It'll be going gold by the end of the week." He replied as Kira suddenly found herself unable to contain her excitement any longer. Launching herself into Tommy's arms, the two spun around the room, laughing with excitement.
"That's great news Kira!" Tommy congratulated her.
"I just feel a little bad for Aftershock." She replied. "If I received that much coverage, then they surely must have been getting some flak."
"Actually Jake was bloody thrilled about your performance." Barry interjected. "The media must have seen something in you they like, because they never broadcast anything about them." Barry gave a knowing wink to Tommy who accepted the gesture with a small nod of the head. Obviously Barry had had something to do with the lack of career-hampering publicity from the local media.
"Well I'm just glad everything's worked out so well." Tommy replied.
"What can I say? There's only two things you need to get to the top of the business. If you have the talent, you rise as high and as fast as you like." Barry quipped with his used-car salesman style grin.
"So what else do you need?" Kira asked. "You said you need two things."
Barry just opened his arms as he continued to grin. "A great producer."
"Well she certainly has that." Tommy conceded. Barry grinned at him, accepting the gesture. "Thanks Tommy, that means a lot." He replied, shaking his hand. "Anyway time for some presents."
He reached into the bag and produced a large piece of rock, handing it to Tommy. "Well I hear Dinosaurs are your thing, so I thought you'd appreciate this. Some workman dug it up in New Mexico a couple of weeks ago."
Inspecting the piece, Tommy marvelled at the clarity of the fossilised remains. "Thanks Barry." He answered him, running his fingers across it's surface. "How did you get this?"
"EBay." He answered. "As for you Sparky, I really just couldn't wrap this." He threw a car key which she snatched out of the air.
"Are you kidding?" She screeched.
"Can't have you driving around in that old bucket you call a car." Barry answered her. "There's a Camero with your name on it in the parking lot."
Kira hugged him excitedly, continuing to stare at the key in disbelief. "Glad you like it." He laughed.
"Well we got you a little something as well." Tommy stated, reaching under the tree and pulling out a small parcel. Merr…Uh…Happy Hanukah."
Opening the parcel, Barry found a small box containing a pair of gold cufflinks. "Thanks. These are great." He said. "Anyway I'll not hold you up any longer. Kira here needs to get cracking. That paper isn't going to wrap itself round that little lot."
"I'll just see you out." Tommy replied, accompanying Barry into the hallway. "Barry, I just wanted you to know we appreciate everything you've done for Kira. And for what it's worth, I think it's a good thing you did, keeping Aftershock out of the news."
"It's like I said to you the other night." He replied, shaking Tommy's hand firmly. "There's worse than me in this business. I did take advantage of their misfortune to put Kira over, but there was no reason to completely burn them."
Tommy moved a little closer to speak with him more directly. "Look Barry, I can't help notice that you and Kira have gotten very close, and the amount you've done for her seems a bit over and above the call of duty." He ran a hand through his hair as he tried to broach the subject. "Do you…have feelings for Kira?"
Barry just seemed to start laughing at his own private joke, before turning his back and walking away. "Why don't you ask my husband?" He asked as he boarded the elevator.
Later in the day, the group assembled in the living room. As the parcels were being handed out and wrapping paper was carelessly torn and thrown on the floor, Kira wandered the room picking up the discarded paper.
"So I guess we better get going." Jason announced first, getting out of his chair. "The drive back to Angel Grove takes about four times longer with all the bathroom breaks."
"Well you try having a hyperactive little person inside you using your bladder as a football." Trini complained.
"Not a complaint honey." He chirped, hoping to earn a measure of forgiveness.
"Well It was lovely meeting you at last Kira." Trini announced, kissing her on the cheek. "I'll be back in town for the bachelorette party."
"I can't wait." Kira replied, a huge grin on her face. "I can't believe it'll only be a few months."
"Well you sound happy now, but just wait until you see all the work that has to go into it." Jason stated sagely. "Remember the run up to our wedding Trini?"
"Don't remind me!" She groaned, feeling exhausted at just the memory.
"Anyway, we'll see you guys in May." Jason yelled back as they left the apartment.
"I suppose we better go too." Conner sighed, picking up his backpack. "With Ethan driving us back we'll probably arrive in nice time to turn round and come back for the wedding."
"At least I didn't dent the car." Ethan snapped.
"You drive so slowly it probably wouldn't be POSSIBLE to dent the car." Trent put down sarcastically.
"Why me?" He asked with a groan.
"Anyway try not to get into any trouble." Tommy called after them. "I want everyone in one piece for the wedding."
"Mind giving us a lift to the airport?" Tori asked. "Save us getting a cab."
"Our flight isn't for a couple of hours yet, but Tori's a nervous traveller." Blake informed them.
"The word is CAUTIOUS." She snapped. "Airlines can delay you for six hours without having to compensate you, but if you're one minute late they can leave you behind."
"Whatever." Blake giggled. "Anyway, I'm sure we'll have a blast when it comes time for the wedding. Knowing Shane and Hunter, they'll have something planned for the bachelor party."
"Well it better not be anything too wild." Tommy interrupted him. "They do WANT to be invited."
As they left, Zack got up off the couch. "Well it was great catching up, but Tomorrow's kind of a busy day for me."
"What're you up to?" Kira asked. Zack never responded, simply gesturing to his clothing. "Oh, right I should have thought."
"Anyway I'll not be a stranger." He called out as he shook Tommy's hand and turning to leave. "Jason was right about one thing, It will be a busy couple of months."
"Oh for the days when we could just have morphed and teleported home." Rocky sighed, collecting his belongings. "I reckon we've just about wore out the patience of our fellow trainers at the gym. I reckon they'll want a bit of time off now."
"Keep in touch." Adam commanded, hugging Tommy. "We want to be here for the mad party."
"Well nothing too mad's going to happen." Kira stated authoritatively. "And definitely NO strip clubs!"
"You do have to nip these things in the bud early." Kat agreed, hugging Kira goodbye. "I mean if I hadn't put my foot down with Rocky's bachelor party, Jason would probably have got him lost in Monte Carlo or something."
"Take care guys." Tommy said softly as they turned to leave. "We'll see you in a few months."
"Oh I almost forgot." Kat suddenly jumped as she remembered something. Pulling a parcel out of her hand luggage, she handed it to Kira. "You'll probably want to wait until AFTER we leave to open this. Merry Christmas."
"Thanks. Merry Christmas." She replied, tucking the gift under her arm.
"Well I guess that just leaves me to make my own departure." Billy sighed, pulling on his coat. "I have the ship cloaked just a little way outside of town."
"Well it was great to see you again Billy. We all miss you like mad." Tommy said, pulling Billy into a strong hug.
"The feeling is quite mutual. Cestria should be able to join me for my next visit." He informed them.
"Really?" Kira asked. "Won't she…stand out?"
"I appreciate your concern for her welfare, but it really is quite unwarranted." Billy laughed. "I've developed a cloaking device that should easily mask her true origins from those less understanding individuals."
"What did you say you do for a living again?" Tommy asked. "Personal cloaking devices? What are you? Military research?"
"Actually I run a joke shop." He answered. "The personal cloaking devices are considered quite humorous, and the EMP charges I developed last year oare our equivalent of whoopee cushions."
As Billy left, Tommy and Kira found themselves once more alone in the apartment for what seemed like the first time in years. It had been a draining few days for both of them.
"So what did Kat get you?" Tommy asked, suddenly curious. Kira tore open the paper carelessly, finding a large, flat box inside. Opening the lid, her jaw almost hit the floor as she saw what was inside.
"Is this your present or mine?" She laughed, looking at the article of clothing inside.
"Well I think it's a bit small for me." He chuckled. "But I suppose you could argue it's a little of both."
Turning to look up at him, she pulled into a long passionate kiss.
"Just a shame it's going to be a while before we get any use out of it." She stated.
"Meaning?" Tommy asked.
Kira looked at him, a cheeky, mischievous smile crossing her face. "Well we're not married YET, are we?"
Fin.
Well there goes the second of my Kirommy series, I reckon I should be able to come up with at least one more, at least to see them up the aisle for their happy ending. That said, with how much it's taken to get them THIS far in their relationship, you just know it's going to be anything but a smooth ride.