Chapter 7: Beth and Tommy's First Day of School.

Notes: Power Rangers are the property of The Walt Disney Company. My thoughts and prayers are with the friends and families of the victims of the Virginia Tech shootings. Thank you to everyone who reviewed and keep reviewing.

September 7th, 2004

Tommy was sitting in the kitchen, drinking his coffee and reading the newspaper when Kimberly walked in… "Now, modeling what the stylish 6 year olds are wearing to kindergarten this year… Elizabeth Hart-Oliver…"

Beth walked into the kitchen, as if she was a runway model, wearing a pink top, a jean skirt, pink sneakers and white socks. Over her shoulder was a Power Rangers backpack. And then she stood next to her mother and asked "How do I look, Daddy?"

Tommy smiled and walked over to his daughter knelt down and said, "You look great, Pumpkin… So are you ready for your first day of elementary school?"

"Yeah…"

Kimberly smiled and wiped a tear from her eye, "I can't believe my baby girl's going to kindergarten."

Beth looked up to her mother and hugged her, "Don't cry, Mommy…"

"I can't help it sweetheart…" said Kimberly, as she knelt down and hugged her daughter.

Tommy stood up and looked at the clock on the wall, "It's time to go…"

Kimberly hugged Beth and kissed her on the cheek, "I'll see you tonight… and I want to here all about your first day…" she stood up and said, "Oh! Before you go, let me get a picture of the two of you on the front porch." They walked out on the front porch and Kimberly took their picture. Then, Tommy and Beth climbed into his Jeep and headed to school.

Tommy and Beth walked into Reefside Elementary School. Soon, they reach Beth's classroom, just before Tommy opened the door Beth grabbed onto his arm and said, "Daddy… I changed my mind… I don't want to go to school…"

Tommy knelt down and looked his daughter in the eye. "I know you're scared… I was scared my first day of kindergarten"

"You were scared?"

"Yeah… But… you have one thing that I didn't have my first day of kindergarten."

"What's that?"

"I know for a fact that some of your friends from preschool are in there waiting for you. My first day of kindergarten… I didn't know anyone… My family moved to town a few weeks before and there were no kids in my neighborhood that were my age."

"Really…"

"Yeah, I was their all by myself. But, you'll have your friends. So are you ready to go?"

"Yeah…"

He stood up and they walked in and were greeted by a woman around 30, "Hi… I'm Miss Johnson… And you are?"

"I'm Beth Oliver…"

Miss Johnson looked at her list, "Ah yes, there you are…" she checked Beth's name off her list, "Why don't you go join the other kids we'll be starting class soon."

"Beth!" called out a girl's voice. Beth looked and saw her friends Annabelle, Brittany, Rebecca, and Amara playing together.

Beth smiled and looked at her father, "Bye, Daddy…"

He got down on his knees and hugged his daughter, "Bye, Sweetheart, I'll see you tonight."

"Are we going to the museum after school?"

"Of course. I'll see you then." He kissed her on the cheek, "I love you."

"I love you, too, Daddy…" Beth then ran over and joined her friends.

Tommy smiled as he stood up, then Miss Johnson said, "You've got a great girl there, Mr. Oliver…"

"Thank you… If you'll excuse me I've got to head over to the High School. I'm the new science teacher…"

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That afternoon, Tommy pulled up to the museum with three teenagers and Beth in his Jeep. Tommy had been assigned detention duty and was forced to take the teenagers along on what was suppose to be some father-daughter alone time. They walked up to the museum and found a large closed sign across the sidewalk leading to the museum. "That's weird…" said Tommy.

"Oh well," said Conner McKnight, the school soccer star, "No museum for us…"

"Great…" said Kira Ford, an aspiring singer/songwriter, "Let's go home."

"Tell you what," said Tommy, "Why don't you guys look around the grounds. If any of you guys find anything prehistoric, I'll cancel detention for the rest of the week."

"Sweet," said Ethan James, the school computer geek.

"I'm gonna see if I can find someone who will tell us when they will be opening up." Then the teens walked away while Tommy and Beth walked up to the museum. They got to the door and saw a sign on the door that read "UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT: IN CASE OF EMERGENCY CALL ANTON MERCER INDUSTRIES." Tommy thought to himself… "Anton Mercer… That's impossible…" Then he looked at Beth, "Come on, let's find the kids…"

They started walking to the car and Beth said, "Daddy, wasn't their a T-Rex next to the museum?"

Tommy looked and saw it was gone, "Where did…" He held on to Beth's arm and looked around he heard something looked up and saw the T-Rex walking around the corner of the building and walking toward them. "Run!" said Tommy. Beth took off and Tommy followed close behind. They jumped in the Jeep and Tommy locked the door, "Yeah… Lock the door… Tommy real good…" he thought as he and Beth bucked up and he fumbled with his keys. Then once the Jeep started he tore out of the museum parking lot.

"Daddy! He's getting closer!" said Beth, as they were trying to escape. The T-Rex hit the Jeep with his snout, causing it to swerve a bit. But he was able to keep it under control.

Soon they reached a freeway overpass and the T-Rex smashed into it head first and fell. Tommy stopped the Jeep, "Stay here," Tommy said as jumped out and ran over to the fallen T-Rex. When he reached its head, he saw part of the T-Rex's "flesh" had been torn away, revealing some electronics that were sparking and arching. "What's going on?" he thought to himself.

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Kimberly was in the kitchen making dinner when she heard Tommy's Jeep pull in. "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" said Beth, as she ran in the house.

Kimberly smiled and turned toward her daughter, "Hi, Sweetheart," she picked up Beth and hugged her. "How was your day?"

"Great!" said Beth, "Daddy and I were chased by a T-Rex!"

"What?" said Kimberly as she set her down.

"Yeah, when we went to the museum. It was closed and when we went back to the Jeep this big T-Rex statue came to life and chased us… I was scared, but Daddy protected me…"

"I see…" just then Tommy walked in, and she looked at the husband of her child, "Tommy… What's going on?"

"I wish I knew, Beautiful… But for now I think we should go down to the lab…" Kimberly rolled her eyes as Tommy took them down to the basement. The first thing both adults noticed was that the gems were missing out of the asteroid piece.

"Let's go to your playroom, Beth," said Kimberly.

"OK…" said Beth as she took her mother's hand.

Tommy then started to work on finding out who took the gems. A few minutes later, Kimberly walked out. "Any luck?"

"No… I should have listened to Hayley when she wanted to upgrade the security down here."

"Hopefully who ever has them, is on our side…"

"Yeah…" just then they heard the secret door to the lab open.

"Tommy!" Kimberly whispered.

He looked around quickly… "Over there…" He took Kim by the arm and led them over to the hiding place he found. Tommy peeked around the corner and saw Conner and Ethan walking down the stairs. "It's two of my students… Come on…" They stepped out of their hiding place when Conner and Ethan had their backs to them. Then, Tommy said, "If your looking for extra credit your in the wrong place…"