Kimberly walked through the laboratory; she had the feeling that Andros would be joining her soon. She had not wanted to have this meeting with Tommy, but when she was placed in front of him she really had no choice. He had asked for answers and if he wanted the truth, she had to say some things that would hurt him. It was not a truth that she even liked to live with and it was something that Tommy was definitely going to have to get used to, quickly.
"Kimberly, why leave him like that? He's going to need you," Andros said as he walked into the room and Kim looked back at him. Andros knew exactly why Kim was not with them. He knew exactly why she couldn't stay around Tommy; he knew the temptations and she had promised herself long ago that she would not make Tommy what she was now. She had promised that their child would have at least one parent that was normal and she'd be damned if she didn't see that promise through.
"I don't want to turn him into what I am. You know how much it has hurt me," Kim said as Andros gave Kim a sympathetic look. When she had found out that her Ninjetti powers had an even deeper connection than what most of the others experienced, it had been hard to take. When she suddenly transformed into the red crane, she knew and so did everyone else that had seen it, that she was a permanent ranger. Tommy hadn't experienced it and neither had anyone else that had been a Ninjetti or any other ranger for that matter. No one else knew what it was like to have this burden and she didn't think it fair to make them go through it.
"But how much will it hurt the two of you when you begin working together and he suddenly starts having feelings for you again. I saw it tonight Kim. No matter how much you tried to stomp it out, he still loves you more than anyone else in the world," Andros said as Kim looked away from him. She hated hearing that from him. She knew it was true, but she also loved living in the pure bliss that was her ignorance. If she acted like she didn't realize it, then maybe it was not true, but when someone pointed it out to her, she knew it was true.
"You're not telling me anything new, Andros. I never thought that I would have to work with Tommy again. I thought that he had retired," Kim said as an excuse as Andros just shook his head. She was making him mad, but he didn't know how to make her understand that what was ahead of them was going to take much more out of her than normal.
"And I thought that you were not this stubborn," Andros said as Kim smiled. She had been working with him for so long and even if he was frustrated with her, she knew that they would definitely look out for each other. They were the only two that could say that for sure after everything that had happened.
"Usually you would be right, but we're talking about Tommy, you have to remember that," Kim said as Andros nodded. It made sense to him that she would be this stubborn about Tommy. If the truth were known, she had never fallen out of love with him either, but she certainly didn't think that being with him would help him now. He deserved a life on Earth, her right to that had been forfeited a long time ago.
"Kimberly, he's going to find out more than you want him to know from the others, very soon. If you want him to know the truth, you better go tell him yourself, as soon as possible. You don't want him to be thoroughly pissed off at you when you finally begin working together again," Andros said as Kim nodded. She knew that she was going to have to face the man that still haunted her dreams soon, but she had hoped that she could hold it off. Trini tricking her into coming to cuss out Jason had messed up her entire plan.
"I explained to him that I had a miscarriage, but how do I explain to him the child we actually do have? The one night after Murianthius probably wouldn't make him think of a child," Kim said as Andros let out a long breath. Things had always been complicated when it came to Kim and Tommy; now he was seeing just how truly complicated it was. He had met Kim's child when she began working with him, but he had never known it was Tommy's. He had always suspected, but never had the courage to ask. Kim was not a ranger to be messed with, which was something that a lot of rangers had to learn to respect. She had the status of Tommy in his mind, without all the fanfare, and soon many other rangers were going to be forced to recognize a second legend in their midsts.
"But the pictures that Jason and Trini have will. He's going to go stay with them tonight and I'm sure he is going to pick their brains for everything that they are worth," Andros said as Kim looked over at her sleeping child and then back at Andros. "What do you want me to do boss?"
"Teleport him here, we might as well have this out in the open now. I know that all of the other rangers are going to be happy that it's out in the open. They won't have to lie to him anymore," Kim said as Andros left the room and Kim walked over to the sleeping child. She did not want to wake her up, but she knew that she would want to meet her father. She had been asking about him, ever since the day she saw the picture of Kim and Tommy together, she recognized herself in Tommy. She was sure it was her dad and for a six year old that was pretty smart, now she was eight and had a lot more questions that Kim could no longer hold off.
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"Trini, please don't tease me like that," Tommy said as Trini was showing Tommy the pictures of Kim that she had. She had gathered that Kim had not told Tommy about the child that had survived, so she was having a hard time picking out pictures that she could show him. All the recent pictures of Kim had her with their child and she knew that Tommy would figure it out in about two seconds if she showed one of those. "Where are the new pictures?"
"I don't know," Trini said as she began staring at Tommy as he was shimmering.
"Is something wrong?" Tommy asked as he looked down at himself. One second he was sitting on Trini's living room couch, the next second he found himself landing with a thump on a metal floor.
"Sorry to have to do that to you Tommy, but it's on the boss's orders," Andros said as Tommy managed to gather himself up so that he could stand.
"The boss?" Tommy asked as he could roughly figure out who that was, but he still didn't want to hear it.
"Yeah, she's got some…news for you," Andros said as he definitely could not think of the right way to say that Tommy was going to meet his daughter without giving it away.
"I think I've had enough news from your boss," Tommy said as Andros nodded. He had expected to hear something like that from him. Tommy had definitely not had a good day, except for the defeat of Mondo's cronies, it had been an utter disaster.
"Yeah, I thought that too, but if I had not teleported you, then you'd find this out from one of the others and even she doesn't think that is right," Andros said as a little girl ran into the room, in her night shirt and jumped into Andros' arms, as Kim chased after her.
"Tommy," Kim said, carefully, as Jenny laughed as Andros tickled her, while holding her securely.
"Mama," Jenny said seriously, as she swatted away Andros' hands and Kim looked at her. She could see the question forming in her mind already.
"Don't ask that just yet," Kim said as Jenny gave her a sullen look and Kim rubbed her forehead as Tommy stared, completely dumbstruck. Kim was a mother? But hadn't she lost their child? Hadn't she told him just a few hours ago that she had a miscarriage? "Come with me."
"I'm a little bit confused," Tommy said as Kim nodded. She would be confused if she had all of this happen to her as well.
"I don't blame you for being confused, there's a lot of things that you need to know, that I honestly thought I would be able to put off for awhile," Kim said as they walked to an outer ring of the ship. "Do you remember the night we came back from Murianthius?"
"Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?" Tommy asked as Kim looked back towards the room that they had just exited.
"I guess I should say do you remember what we did," Kim said, carefully, as Tommy nodded his head. How could he forget that night? It didn't even matter to him that they were no longer together, it was great to have her, one last time. "I didn't have a miscarriage that time Tommy."
"Kim?" Tommy asked as he stopped in his tracks and then completely turned to face the room. "She's mine?"
"Yeah, she is and that's another reason that I have stayed away from you. I wanted to make sure that she would have one normal parent if anything happened to me. Then you have to go and find the Dino gems," Kim said as Tommy looked over at her. He could see that this job was taxing on her, to say the least. He just couldn't understand why she wouldn't tell him about a lot of things. He could have helped her. "Tommy, please don't ask me why. I don't know if I can take that tonight."
"Look at what this is doing to you," Tommy said as he reached out to her and she allowed him to wrap his arms around her. She needed someone to just understand and not try to make it go away and she knew Tommy was that person. But she also wanted to keep her distance. "Why don't you take a break from it all?"
"It's not so easy, the world depends on me to keep it safe, I can't really take a break," Kim said as Tommy let out a long sigh. He hated when her answer was so politically correct.
"You could share," Tommy said, simply, as Kim pulled away from him and shook her head no. It couldn't happen, even if she wanted for him to help her, it wasn't in his best interest for her to allow it. She knew just how much of a curse this life could be and she didn't want another ranger to go through it.
"I promised myself that she'd have one normal parent and Tommy, you're as close as it is ever going to get for her," Kim said as she let out a shaky breath and then looked back towards the room where they had left their daughter. It was time that Tommy met her, but she was not sure how he was going to deal with the reality, as it had kinda been forced on him.