Author: Jadelyn Tate
Story: Begotten
Characters: RJ, Kim
Disclaimer: I own no one, the idea of RJ and Kim being siblings is all Tara's over at PRU's, I'm just expanding it into a fic.
Summery: A Shark. A Crane. A Wolf. And you thought your family had issues.
Author Notes: I made a couple videos for Begotten over at my YT account. Go forth and enjoy!
"Kim, are you okay?" Lily asked her voice quiet as she stood by the stairs. Kim had been sent back up after snapping at Theo for the third time in the parlor below. She'd drawn the short straw (literally) when they were deciding who was going to find out what was wrong.
"Nothing," she replied, banging a pot on the stove. Lily snorted.
"Kim, I know something's wrong," she told her and she turned around, fork in hand. "Talk to me."
Kim stared at her a moment before her shoulders slumped. "I don't know whats going on with Adam or Jason."
"The guys who are always around?" Lily asked and the woman nodded as she slipped into the chair by the counter.
"Jason kissed me on accident and Adam…oh, I don't know!" she cried out, banging her head on the counter top. Lily reached over and placed supportive hand on Kim's shoulder. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Casey, Dominic, and RJ peaking around the corner of the stairs, watching.
"Do you like them?" Lily asked quietly. Kim was silent for a few minutes.
"I had a crush on Jason when I was in junior high," she finally confessed, looking up. "And I've had unfriendly thoughts about Adam for a while."
Lily smiled sympathetically. "So you thought you liked Adam but now that Jason kissed you, you're not so sure?" she asked and Kim hesitated before nodding again. "So why are you so irritated today?"
"They're avoiding me."
"Avoiding you?" Lily asked, surprised. Does she not know the two of them were by her side almost constantly when she was sick?
"Yeah," Kim agreed. "I've tried calling them both and they either never answer or have to get off a few minutes into the conversation."
"Maybe they really are busy?" Lily suggested and frowned when Kim shook her head.
"Aisha said they're avoiding her too and Rocky apparently is having fits cause something's going on with Jase and Adam and he and Tommy somehow got put in the middle. Billy, Kat, Tanya, and Zack have taken to avoiding their phone calls so they don't get pulled in," she told her.
Lily paused, taking that in. "They're fighting over you!" she gasped and Kim nodded miserably.
"I think so, yeah," she consented. "And in the process, they're both avoiding me."
Lily sighed. "I'm sorry Kim," she said, rubbing her shoulder and knowing there was little she could do. She suddenly brightened. "How about we have a girl's night? Fran and I can get some ice cream and I'll call Aisha!"
Kim looked up at her hopefully. "That sounds wonderful," she agreed with a happy sigh. Lily grinned as the boys disappeared from the doorway.
"We need to do something," Casey grumbled. He, Dom, and RJ had slipped back downstairs and told Fran to go upstairs. Casey had dragged Theo into the kitchen (thank God the rush was over!) and told him what they had heard.
"What can we do? I'd rather not corner the original red or the second black," Theo pointed out and Dom nodded in agreement. RJ made a face.
"I'd be more worried about Kim and the girl's reaction, actually," he said and the guys all paused as they considered that. A collective shiver went through them.
"Have I mentioned those girls are scary as hell when they're pissed or PMSing?" Dom asked and RJ nodded.
"A few times, yeah," he grinned and Casey and Theo snickered.
"I still say Kim and Lily are rubbing off on Fran," Casey mentioned and Theo nodded in agreement. RJ and Dom snickered. Casey made a face. "I still wince when I think of her blow up at me when I forgot to put away the flour."
"You know what's sad?" Dom asked suddenly and the other three looked at him. "We outnumber them on this team but we're still afraid of em!"
RJ, Casey, and Theo all laughed.
"Seriously, though, we have to do something," Casey repeated. The others calmed and nodded, looking thoughtful. Theo suddenly grimaced.
"But what can we do that won't piss off the girls?"
"Something HAS to be done," Tommy declared. At his side, Rocky nodded frantically. Andros glanced around, taking in the amused and uncomfortable looks of every male ranger, ally and former villain Tommy had been able to contact (which was almost everyone but the Galaxy's). He absently wondered how they had all been dragged in but dismissed it almost immediately—two of the original rangers we're having a tiff and driving Tommy nuts in the process; the original green would call in anyone he could think of to help.
"Where are the girls?" Eric asked from his spot on Tommy's couch. Billy snorted.
"At JKP, having a ladies night with Kim and her two girls," he answered. The guys all looked at each other.
"I feel sorry for RJ and his boys," Zack said, voicing what they'd all been thinking. Titters went through the room as a sudden flash of light revealed Kat, Aisha, Tanya, Trini, and the four aforementioned guys. Andros began laughing at RJ, Casey, Theo, and Dom's frantic expressions. Looking amused, the girls disappeared.
"Have a seat, we're discussing what to do with Jase and Adam," Tommy greeted them with a smile. RJ sagged forward.
"Oh, thank God," he muttered, plopping down. "She's driving me nuts!"
"Driving you nuts?" Theo asked incredously as he settled down by Ethan who greeted him with a smile. "You're not the one she snapped at three times!"
"Yeah, and you didn't have to train with her in her mood," Casey added as he settled by his older brother. Carter and several of the guys chuckled as Dom nodded in agreement.
"I think I cracked a rib," he muttered and Rocky snickered.
"One of the reasons we tried to not train with the girls," the red ape smiled. "They tended to bruise us up more."
"That's only cause you tended to treat them like porcelain," Wes muttered and ducked the flying pillow sent his way.
"The point is," Tommy interrupted before they all started a pillow fight in his living room; he'd rather not face Hayley's wrath if something got broken. "We have to do something about them."
"I have a question?" Daggeron asked from his place next to a perplexed looking Leanbow. "What, exactly, is going on? All Xander and Nick would tell us was it was a male meet-up to deal with two rangers issues."
"Jason and Adam are fighting over Kimberly, the original pink ranger," Tommy answered.
"And coincidentally, his ex-girlfriend," Justin added with a smirk. "He used to have a thing for Pinks."
Tommy made a face.
"Jason is my best friend and Adam comes a close second; they've put me and Rocky in the middle," he said. Daggeron and Leanbow nodded as a flash of purple revealed a man very few in the room knew. Tommy's eyes lit up; he and the other rangers had gotten over their issues with the man and his wife fairly quickly after Zordon's death and now they were both good friends of his and Kat's, much to the others amusement.
"Hey Zedd, how's Rita?" he asked and Zedd smiled.
"On her way to help with Kimmie's 'problem'," he answered as he moved to stand next to Leanbow. The man nodded a greeting.
"Please don't tell me she's gonna try magic," Tommy pleaded and Zedd snorted.
"No, she's just planning on giving her opinion," he told him. Every male ranger who knew the witch paused.
"Which would be…?" Carlos asked slowly and Zedd smirked.
"That when she first popped up, she swore Jason and Kimberly were together but that Adam always seemed to connect with Kimberly more than any other male ranger," he answered with a smile. RJ made a face.
"That's gonna confuse her even more!" he groaned and the others nodded. Zedd looked at RJ in slight confusion.
"Oh, right, introductions!" Tommy realized. "Zedd, meet the new rangers, Casey, Theo, RJ, and Dominic. RJ is Kim's younger brother," he told the older man who nodded.
"I thought you looked familiar," he told the purple ranger. RJ made an odd little face but didn't comment. Zedd smirked and Tommy rolled his eyes.
"This probably won't help, but I just have to ask," Mack spoke up from his place by Tyzonn. "Who do you want her to end up with? You have the most history with her. Romantically, anyway."
Tommy paused. "I will always love Kim in my own way," he started. "But I thought the same thing Rita did when I first arrived in Angel Grove."
"You thought Jason and her were together?" Devin and Trent asked at the same time in surprise. Tommy nodded as the two boys smirked at each other. It never ceased to amaze him how close those two boys had gotten since they'd graduated high school. Devin and Trent were about as close as Conner and Ethan.
"I'd never met two people who were that close without being a couple before," Tommy shrugged. Billy nodded.
"Trini thought they would be good together," he offered.
"What did you think?" Blake asked, slightly fascinated by the relationships among the originals.
"I honestly think she's better suited for Adam romantically," the original blue confessed. "Jason has always adored her, but in a little sister capacity. This is the first time he's ever considered her as more than a friend."
"Why is he looking at her now?" Cole asked.
"What's changed?" Merrick added. Everyone shrugged.
"Jason accidentally kissed her," Theo said quietly from the floor. The group all looked at him in surprise.
"How does someone accidentally kiss someone else?" Shane asked skeptically.
"Lily was spying and saw Jason about to kiss her forehead so she had the Cheetah trip him slightly and…well…" Theo trailed off uncomfortably.
"In other words, her yellow ranger was playing match-maker," Will said with a smirk.
"God, she sounds like Ronny," Dax groaned. "I'm kinda hoping we don't have a team-up cause those two together would be scary.
RJ shuddered in agreement; he'd heard about the Yellow Overdrive ranger from Kim and couldn't agree more. Ryan was snickering.
"You two both realize they're together now, right? With all the other yellows?" he asked and the men all paused. Yellow's, in some ways, were scarier than Pinks. Mostly, it was because they were sneakier and tended to think before they acted whereas Pink's went with the flow and listened to their hearts rather than their heads.
"We're doomed," TJ muttered.
"Women scare me," Chip said and the guys agreed. "How do you deal with them?"
"Very carefully and pray she doesn't turn you into an animal," Leanbow said dryly and several of the men snickered, Daggeron, Nick, and Zedd chief among them.
"I gave up on women, so I really can't say," Carter said and Joel snorted.
"It took Kelsey a week and a half to stop having naughty images of you two," he said with a smirk and Carter and Ryan blushed.
"I can't really say either," Chad grinned. "I fell in love with and married a mermaid, after all."
Daggeron and Nick both jerked as if they'd been slapped. "What?" Nick asked, surprised. Chad smiled.
"My wife was a mermaid before she decided humanity better suited her," he shrugged.
"Marina hates it when we call her Ariel," Ryan grinned.
Tommy smiled slightly when he noticed Xander and Chip were watching Nick carefully while Leanbow and Zedd were doing the same with Daggeron. Zedd had told him about the issues between those two and Madison, the blue mystic. Rita apparently was in a fit about the whole thing, muttering stuff about frog prince's and curses, and how magic always had a purpose even if it did tend to screw things up. Some things really were universal after all.
"What about you, Zack? Who do you think Kim should end up with?" Danny asked quietly by Max. The blue wild force ranger grinned next to his boyfriend.
"Yeah, we heard from Tommy and Billy; you're turn man!" he agreed.
"While Jason is my best friend, I agree with Billy," Zack said. "Adam is more suited for her romantically than Jason."
"What about you Rocky?" Dustin asked from where his head was in Hunter's lap.
Rocky frowned. "I don't know, I can't help but be biased when it comes to friends turning into something more. I married Aisha, after all."
"You two were friends before?" Conner asked and Rocky nodded.
"Sha, Adam, and I were inseparable all through high school until she moved to Africa after the Zeo thing," he told him. Conner nodded thoughtfully and Ethan snickered.
"You really need to figure out what to do with Kira," he told his friend and Trent and Devin nodded in agreement. The older men just looked on, amused.
"Tommy?" Xander spoke up from his place by Chip. "If she ends up with Jason, aren't you going to feel weird?"
Tommy paused. "Maybe a little, but I'll probably feel a bit weird if she ends up with Adam too," he said. "I just want her, and them, happy though, so that's all that matters."
Xander nodded, looking thoughtful.
"No matter what happens though, someone's gonna get hurt," Cam said; but he wasn't looking at Tommy, but at an oblivious Hunter and Dustin.
"Yeah, someone will be," Zhane agreed.
"RJ? You're her brother, right?" Hunter asked and RJ nodded. Andros raised an eyebrow.
"Who do you want her to end up with?" Andros asked, seeing what crimson ranger was thinking of.
RJ sighed. "I honestly don't know. In some ways, I think Adam can be too quiet and shy for Kim," he said and those who knew both of them nodded. "But on the other hand, I think his calm personality balances her bubbly one out."
"And Jason and Kim are a lot alike in personality. Jason can handle her moments and she can handle his strength and over-thinking traits," Tommy put forth. RJ nodded.
"Exactly. They'd both be good for her but in different ways," he said with a sigh.
"Maybe…" Tyzonn began and everyone looked over. "Maybe you should wait and let her decide."
"After all, she is the one being fought over," Andrew added. "Just give her time to figure out her feelings. She may not even choose either one."
"You guys could help but just being there for both of them, dealing with their issues, and being there when she finally figures everything out," Anton added. Everyone nodded and Zedd smiled at Tommy.
"One thing I learned early on about Kimberly is that she has a remarkable head on her shoulders when she chooses to use it. Whatever she decides will be best for her and no one else," he said and Tommy nodded in wry agreement.
"Is that why you tried making her your queen before you and Rita got hitched?" Rocky asked curiously. Every male but the originals turned to Zedd in surprise. Zedd rolled his eyes.
"Kimberly would have made an excellent evil queen," he agreed with a small smile. Casey and RJ exchanged slightly horrified looks.
"Don't ever tell her Zedd said that," Casey ordered his team. "She's evil enough as it is."
Everyone laughed.
