It had been years since Tommy Oliver had slept so poorly, but he was now experiencing this again. His entire world had been turned upside down last night and it was the hardest thing that he had ever had to deal with. There were some things in his life that he regretted and Kimberly had never been one of them, she wasn't even one to them now. He knew that he loved her with every fiber of his being, so why did it hurt so much to see their child?
He had tried to convince his emotional side that it was merely because he had suddenly found out that he had missed eight years of his own child's life, but that wasn't it. He missed Kimberly, he missed seeing her, being with her and he knew that if he had been with her these years would not have been so hard on her. She would not have hardened her heart to everyone around her. She would be the loving person that he remembered and that he knew was still buried under the false front of bravery. He knew that he could reach her, even if no one else was able to anymore. She still had a soft spot for him, that much was obvious from last night.
He was not accusing Kim of not being brave; he knew that was the furthest from the truth, but she had had to come up with this front to put up in front of everyone. To make them think that she was all right and that there was nothing wrong with her. He knew that she could not be dealing with this well and although she had Andros, he also knew that Andros was only her friend. Otherwise, Andros would have beat Jason's ass for talking about him kissing Kim all those years ago. He and Andros had been friends long enough for him to know that much about him. No one talked about his girlfriend being with other people, it just didnt' work for him.
It did bother him to know that Andros was spending so many nights with Kimberly when it was something he had wanted for years. He had managed to clamp his mouth shut when he saw where they had been living for the last few months, but now, it the silence of his room he had nothing to keep him from thinking about it. It was such close quarters, even for two trained rangers and he honestly doubted that everything had been platonic between them. Kim had this nice streak in her that made almost any guy weak in the knees around her. Everything that Jason had revealed to him after they got together, let him know what he had in his arms. Let him know just how precious she was and for years he had blamed himself for the break-up.
He knew that he hadn't caused it, everyone knew that, but they also knew that Kim had to have a reason. Tommy had been the one guy that she was head over heels for. She didn't act like this with anyone else, she didn't care so much, especially when everyone came with Tommy. She loved him, she was willing to give up anything from him and almost did. He couldn't believe that she had left him for their child and then after she had a miscarriage came back to Angel Grove and their one night together, after he saved her at Murianthius gave them the little girl that was lying asleep in the next room. His head couldn't stop spinning at that thought, that they had a child.
Everyone had expected the two of them to be together, forever. From the day that he called her beautiful to the day that he had gotten the letter in the mail, everyone had seen them going down a path that was much more fulfilling. The path that they wound up on careened them into a dead end and a lost cause. He had never imagined that this day would come, no one had, except maybe Trini and Jason. They knew everything that had happened over the last few years, but it was just so hard to deal with the reality. That was what kept him up, not the fact that he suddenly was responsible for taking care of someone else.
"Daddy," Jenny murmured as she walked into the room and saw Tommy sitting on the edge of the bed and walked over to him. She had seen Andros like that before, but it was kinda rare. He usually was able to sleep at night.
"Hey," Tommy said as he looked up at the clock and saw that it was five o'clock in the morning. He could not believe that he had sat up all night, but his brain wouldn't stop turning. He had never been able to sleep when he was thinking about Kim. He had been thinking about Kim more in the last few hours than he had in years. It was amazing that he could manage this and go without any sleep. He had always been known for needing more sleep than the rest of the rangers.
"I had a bad dream," Jenny said as she walked over to him and she placed her arms around him and he gave her a hug back. He had experienced these types of things from Kimberly and it scared him that their daughter was the same. She didn't try to take a deep breath and figure it out, but instead came running to him.
"What happened?" Tommy asked as he picked her up and Jenny clung to him, even though he had just met her the day before. "Come on, it can't be that bad."
"Mama was…where she lives blew up…" Jenny said as Tommy's hug loosened and he tried to press that image to the back of his mind. Their daughter had been around the ranger world far too much and it was time that she became a normal child and got to do normal things. "Daddy…"
"I'll go check on her," Tommy said as Jenny just threw her arms around him and held him in place. "I don't even have to leave the house, Jenny. Just let me go for a couple of minutes."
"No Daddy," Jenny said as Tommy just picked her up and started walking downstairs. She was so little that it was not a problem for her, hell Kim still was easy to pick up and tote anywhere he pleased. "Daddy, I don't want Mama to live there anymore."
"Neither do I Jenny. Why don't we try to talk to her about all of this?" Tommy said as Jenny nodded as Tommy propped open the door and she looked back at him. He couldn't believe that Jenny was this worried, but she had seen far too much as an eight year old. She couldn't continue to live like this and he needed to put a stop to it.
"Mama isn't going to like this," Jenny said as Tommy smiled and held her even closer.
"Yeah, but she likes you better than me right now and you are going to have to tell her," Tommy said as Jenny looked up at the screens that had lit up.
"What do you want Tommy?" Kim asked as Jenny walked over to the screen and pulled herself up to where she was centered on the screen and Kim couldn't help but laugh as Tommy gently chuckled in the background.
"Daddy and I think you should come back and live here, with him," Jenny said as Kim coughed and Tommy spit out the water that he had just taken a drink of and Andros laughed in the background.
"Hold on just a second Jenny, I didn't say that," Tommy said, being the first to recover his voice as he pulled the girl away from the screen where she was smiling, as Andros began to truly laugh in earnest.
"You are good," Andros said as Kim swatted at him and he laughed as the girl punched in the teleportation codes for the both of them and they went away, leaving Kim and Tommy alone to face each other.
"Jenny!" Kim practically roared as Tommy just shook his head as he heard the door click locked above him.
"I can't leave, so we might as well talk, for a little while Kim. It's what she wants," Tommy said as he let out a yawn and then felt himself being teleported out of the room and looked around as he landed in his kitchen.
"I don't want to talk," Kim muttered as the tears fell down her cheeks and she turned off the screen. She didn't have the heart right now. This was the worst that she had slept in ages and it was because of seeing Tommy. It was because she knew what was next, it was because she still loved him.
"Why push me away, Kimberly? Why push me away?" Tommy muttered as he sat down at the kitchen table and covered his face. He didn't really care where Jenny was right now or if she walked in right now. Kim had pushed him away and that hurt him more than anything else.
---------------
"What was the point of that?" Andros asked as he landed next to Jenny and she smiled.
"Mama and Daddy have to talk now," Jenny said as Andros smiled down at the little girl. She forgot that the same thing that she could use to get them out, they could use against each other.
"I hope they do, Jenny," Andros said as the little girl looked up at him, confused.
"Why wouldn't they talk?" Jenny asked as Andros looked over at her and she began to cry. "I just want them to be together."
"You aren't the only one, Jenny," Andros said as he picked the little girl up and gave her a long hug as she sobbed. "I hope that you will take care of them. You may be the only thing to get them back together."
"Why did they break up?" Jenny asked as Andros looked down at the ground and Jenny glared at him. "You know, tell me."
"They should tell you, not me," Andros said as Jenny just shook her head. She was tired of no one telling her why she didn't have a father and now that she had finally met him, no one would tell him why he was away when he wanted her. What had happened? They all knew she was far too smart for her own good, but Andros now had to explain to Kim that she had better tell her daughter or the truth or he was not going to have any other choice, but to tell her.
"They won't," Jenny said as Andros looked away and the little girl punched him one hard time.
"Jenny, just stop. There is not much that I can do and I've tried everything in my power to get them back together. You are going to have to shove them back into it, because I can't anymore. No one else can do this and believe me all of us have tried it. Even Jason and Trini and they can't get them back together. They may listen to you," Andros said as Jenny merely let go of him and slid down his body and began to stalk away, towards her father's house. "Where are you going? Your mother will kill me if I don't know where you are going!"
"Back to Daddy's house. I'm going to make them talk," Jenny said as she walked on and Andros soon caught up with her as she stalked on and Andros smiled at her little deliberate steps. "Daddy! Daddy open up!"
"I got it, Jenny," Andros said as he broke open the door and the two of them walked into the kitchen, where Tommy was still sitting at the table, but now he was dead to the world. "Let your daddy sleep, he has enough on his mind."
"Okay, but when he wakes up…he's mine," Jenny said as she stalked up the stairs and Andros held in the silent laughter as she slammed the door to her room and Tommy looked up.
"You just missed your daughter ranting at you," Andros whispered as Tommy just looked over at him and shook his head. "She teleported you out, didn't she?"
"Yeah, she did and she didn't even think about it for longer than a couple of seconds. She doesn't want to face me, I don't know why she won't talk to me. I told her that I'm fine with us just being friends. What else was I supposed to say Andros? That I want to take her to her bedroom and make passionate love to her until she screams out my name?" Tommy asked as Andros began to chuckle.
"It wouldn't hurt to try, maybe she would come around to that sort of thing," Andros said as Tommy just shook his head. Kim would definitely chunk him out on his ass then and they both knew it. "Tommy, all I am saying is that she still loves you, you should try anything to get her back."
"She won't look at me, Andros. She won't be with me anymore and we both know it. I might as well kiss you and hope that she will feel it through you, somehow," Tommy said as he shuddered and so did Andros at the thought. "Let's just say that I never said that."
"Never will be brought up again," Andros said as Tommy walked over to the floor and then opened the door.
"Go back there and make it to where she can't transport me anywhere," Tommy said as Andros smiled and then transported himself away before he could say anything else. He was determined to have a conversation with her, even if it meant locking himself in the Command Center for hours on end. She was going to talk to them, they had to get this straightened out, now.