Part 19

Kimberly woke to the smell of antiseptic, the sound of monitors beeping and a dull ache in her side. She blinked, trying to focus, disoriented from the change of scenery though the logical part of her brain informed her she was getting care. The why and the how quickly followed as she realized she was in the hospital - again - only this time it wasn't a gymnastics related injury but a Rangers one. She stiffened as she suddenly became aware of another presence in the room. If it was Tommy, she was going to-

"I hear you make this a habit before competitions."

Kimberly let out a sigh of relief, a smile curving her lips. "Ali."

Ali smiled shyly. "I hope you don't mind. Coach is in a coma and one of the staff asked us to rotate through your room so you'd have a familiar face when you woke up. With coach out of commission and the gym needing repairs, it gives us something to do too."

Kimberly pushed herself up on her right arm and immediately hissed as the throbbing in her side turned into a sharp pain. She held up her hand as Ali jumped to her feet, gritting her teeth and willing the pain to subside. It did, but it took several anxious moments to do so.

"I should get the doctor."

"Ali."

She turned, barely a half-step from the door, a concerned look on her face. "Did you need something else, Kim?"

"Did anyone call my mother?"

Ali's smile was reassuring, though the look on her face seemed troubled. "We called the names in your contact file. Don't worry; they all know you're safe."

Kimberly frowned as the door closed behind the other gymnast. Contact numbers? Who else was listed besides her mother? Her father maybe? She shook the thought away, settling herself more comfortably on the bed and taking stock of her injuries.

Her side was sore, the throbbing having faded once the initial movement was complete. She made a face, knowing at that moment that her chances for participating in the Pan Globals had just been knocked down to next to non-existent. There was a slight pressure on her thigh and she peaked under the hospital gown and sheet to find a large bandage stuck to the area. Her arms and legs were bruised, purpling nicely and indicating that a day had passed at the very least, and her lower back was tight where the bruises from the last two fights had coalesced into one large section of pain. She shifted, trying to find a comfortable position, only to look up as the Doctor came in.

He smiled, honest eyes in a not-quite handsome face immediately setting her at ease. "Ali tells me you're not only awake but feeling somewhat better, Kimberly."

She nodded. "Somewhat. What's the damage Doc?"

"Jerry." His correction was accompanied with a quick peek at her chart. "I prefer if my patients call me Jerry. I find it keeps everyone on friendlier terms."

"Alright, Doctor Jerry." She returned his smile, willing to compromise. "So what's the damage?"

The Doctor sat on the chair Ali had vacated and flipped her chart closed, placing it in his lap. "Do you want the good news or the bad news first?"

"Bad." Her response was immediate. "Good news only makes the bad seem worse."

"Alright. The bad news is this; you've bruises to almost fifty percent of your body and there's a slash in your side that required twenty five stitches to close and they'll need to come out in just over a week."

"And the good news?"

"You can be discharged at any point once I've done my final evaluation; none of your injuries, except the blood loss, were of major concern. You've very lucky that building spar only grazed you. Any closer and you'd be missing parts of your innards."

Lucky indeed; Archerina's shot could have easily hit something vital. She shivered. "Thanks."

"I understand you're a gymnast."

"I'm supposed to compete in the Pan Global games this year; can I assume it would be against Doctor's orders and inadvisable."

"You'd be correct. We wouldn't want you to tear the stitches out - it might do more damage." The look he pinned on her was serious. "I understand that this opportunity isn't something that's easy to give up, but in the interest of preventing permanent damage to those strained and repaired side muscles, keeping them as normally active as possible without over strain is essential."

"Gymnastics is their normally active state. Surely a normal routine wouldn't hurt."

"A light routine, to keep them limber and ensure no degradation of those muscles could be beneficial, but competition routines are anything from light. Don't go thinking that just because your body is used to that kind of strain that you'll be able to complete and heal at the same time."

"So it's one or the other."

"No; you have to heal, Kimberly Hart." His tone was stern. "I may not be able to prevent you from competing if you should so choose, but I can ensure you understand the consequences. If you don't let yourself heal from this and you tear that side worse than it already is, you could harm something beneath it. Those muscles aren't in any shape to be thrown about like strawberries in a blender."

Kimberly settled back against the cushions, her mind working a mile a minute. He hadn't told her she couldn't compete, just that she shouldn't due to the potential risk. But risk was something athletes thrived on and she hadn't come this far to give it all up and let the evil forces in the universe steal her dream. She managed a smile. "Thanks Doctor Jerry. How's my coach doing?"

"Resting as comfortably as we can make him. Your quick thinking to wrap his head, despite your own wounds, likely saved his life."

Kimberly blinked. She didn't remember doing anything like that - one of the other Rangers must have. "I... don't remember doing that," she told him honestly. "Things happened so fast."

"I bet they did. When you're feeling up to it, there are a few people here from law enforcement who would like to speak with you about the explosion."

"Was it an explosion? I had my back to it."

"It could hardly have been anything else." Jerry rose to his feet. "Your teammate Ali tells me you'll want to go to the competition even if you can't compete. To be safe, we're going to keep you overnight but - providing you don't take a sudden turn for the worst - you'll be out of here by morning and able to catch your lunchtime flight. Just think about what I said, though, alright, Kimberly? I don't want to have you in my ICU because you couldn't resist the lure of the gold."

Kimberly blushed as he departed, the final barb finding its mark. She had every intention of competing despite the risks to herself. She'd come too far and given up too much not to that she couldn't bring herself to even consider dropping out. It would be like admitting that Rita and Lord Zed and the Machine Empire had won and she wasn't going to give them that satisfaction. She wasn't going to let them steal her dream.

She shifted in the bed trying to find a position that was comfortable to lean back in when Ali reappeared, her expression anxious. "And?"

"I'm free to go in the morning."

A smile lit Ali's features. "That's great!"

Kimberly stared at her friend, wondering about the tension she saw in Ali's frame. "Is there something else, Ali?"

Ali cast a nervous glance back at the door and then, in a surprising move, pushed the chair against it to prevent its easy opening and then turned to Kimberly. "Are you still thinking of competing?"

"The thought crossed my mind."

"Why?" The scorn in Ali's tone was unmistakable. "Why would you compete for that lying sack of no good-"

"Woah!" Kimberly straightened abruptly. "What brought that on?"

"We found… things he's been keeping from us in his office, Kim." Ali's posture was rigid, her anger lining every muscle of her body. "Letters, packages, notes, call records. We found correspondence that was dated from last year sitting unopened in his filing cabinets."

"Ali…"

"Did you know about this?"

Kimberly felt a blush creep into her cheeks. "I suspected it, but I didn't have proof or the ability to obtain it."

"Then you know that most of the mail in his office is yours."

"Oh?"

Ali nodded. "We realized that coach wouldn't be able to contact your mother and Tommy, so we-"

"Wait a second, Tommy?"

"Yeah. He's listed as the second contact number in your folder after your mom."

Tommy was listed as her second contact number? She hadn't put anyone down but her mother. She pushed the thought away, perversely glad he had an excuse to know about her injury. "Whatever, I'll deal with that later. What were you saying?"

"I was going to say that we took the keys off coach and entered his office. When we found your folder and opened it we knew something was wrong." Ali pulled a couple of letters from her coat and stepped to the bed, handing them to Kimberly. "These were in your folder."

Her eyes dropped to the return address on one and her heart contracted. Tommy Oliver. Her hand trembled as she reached out and touched it. The postal date was listed as just one month after she'd joined the academy. Cold fury seeped into her guts as she realized her coach had started diverting her mail far sooner than she'd ever suspected. She and Tommy had been corresponding so regularly that she hadn't even noticed something was missing or when one of his letters had gone astray. She'd never known.

Dreading the other, she shifted the top letter out of the way, seeing brilliant colored paper and the same return address - Tommy. It looked like either a Christmas or a Birthday card; one she hadn't known to be missing. Tommy had sent her several cards on each occasion.

"I thought so." Ali's quiet statement brought her head back up. "You've never seen either of those envelopes."

"No." Kimberly collected them and placed them gently on the bedside table. "What else did you find?"

"Small care packages. Amy's last pay cheque from her employer dated for eight months ago, a few knickknacks, some Christmas packages - mostly things people would never miss because they got others from friends and family. There was also a shoebox full of letters and a few small parcels addressed to you. I put them in your room."

"Thanks." Kimberly's eyes drifted back to the unopened letters on the desk and her throat closed. Did they say something that the others hadn't?

"Do you still want to compete, Kim?"

She blinked and looked up surprised. "I didn't come to this academy to please our coach, Ali. I've been here because this has been my dream since I was a little girl. I want to compete. I want to do my best and be ranked among those who would compete at the level I aspire to. I want to stand in the spot light and shine just once." She smiled faintly. "I want to reach for the dream I've dreamt since I was a girl and touch it. I want to go to the competition and not because coach wanted me to go. This is what I want; this is what I've worked for. I deserve it - especially after this." She waved towards the envelopes

"You don't want to let him win."

"That's part of it." Kimberly hedged, unwilling to fill her friend in on just why she didn't want to let this opportunity pass her by.

"Then what's the rest?"

Kimberly cast a glance at the letters once more, biting her lip and chewing on the corner as she fought with her conscience. If Ali didn't know, she couldn't be labeled as an accomplice later. But the urge to tell her friend and let her know in advance that she would be leaving, not just the academy, but for good, was insistent. She wanted Ali to know so she could say goodbye properly.

"If it's coach you're worried about, he's in a coma. No one knows when or even if he'll wake up."

That settled it. Kimberly waved her friend in, nodding to the door. "You can pull the chair out, Ali. Pull it up; there's something I have to tell you."

Visibly intrigued, Ali did as instructed, settling into the chair as she placed it next to Kimberly's hospital bed.

Kimberly smoothed the blanket down over her knees and met Ali's gaze. "I'm not coming back after the competition."

"Not coming back?" Ali's brow furrowed. "You mean you're going to train with the Olympic team? They've already accepted you?"

"No, Ali." Kimberly shook her head. "I'm going home - to Angel Grove."

"What? Why?"

"It's time." Kimberly reached out to grasp one of Ali's hands. "I've lived my dream. By competing in Pan Globals I've achieved what I set out to do. Win or lose, medal or not, I'll have done what I've wanted to for as long as I can remember. But this accident just reinforces my decision to go home. I have to plan for the rest of my life and I won't always be able to do gymnastics."

"But-" Ali looked stricken. "What about Olympics? Coach said-"

"He didn't know of my decision to go home, Ali. No one did."

"Does Tommy know?"

Kimberly blushed. "Why do you ask?"

"Because he was upset when I spoke with him to let him know you were in the hospital. The news that you're moving home might cheer him up."

"He knows." She made a face. "Tommy's coming to Pan Globals."

"So that's why you don't want to miss it!" Ali's grin was teasing. "And here I thought you two weren't on speaking terms anymore."

"We weren't until recently."

Ali waved away any explanation. "I'm just glad you're not moping about him. Maybe all the mail we found will help smooth things over between you."

Kimberly didn't have the heart to tell Ali otherwise and simply nodded. "It's because of him I'm where I am today. It didn't seem fair to not invite him."

"Uh huh." Ali wasn't buying it. "I'll let you sleep and keep you posted on coach's condition. Visiting hours are just about over anyway."

"Are you coming to Pan Globals?"

Ali stopped just shy of the door, "I was never a part of the team who was chosen to go, Kim. Given what I know now and a letter I found addressed to me in coach's office, I'll have to consider everything before I make a decision as to if I stay or go."

"Do what you want, Ali. Follow whatever your dream is; don't let that prejudice sway you. Despite his faults - which can be fixed - he's a world class coach."

Ali nodded, as if to indicate she would think about it and quietly departed the room.

Kimberly settled back against the bed, tilting her head against the pillow as she stared at the ceiling. Ali was thinking about leaving which meant others would be thinking about leaving too. When coach woke up, he might not have a team left after Pan Globals. In a fashion it was the most fitting punishment for his treatment of them; he'd lose everything because he'd only wanted more.

"I thought she'd never leave."

Kimberly almost jumped off the bed in surprised shock at the familiar inflections. "Tommy! What are you doing here?"

He grinned, stepping out of the shadows as she cast an anxious glance at the door. "Don't worry about it, Kim. Zordon and Alpha are monitoring the surrounding area to ensure I have enough time to duck out." He moved to the bedside, his smile disappearing. "Are you alright?"

She couldn't meet his gaze, and it shifted away only to land on the letters on the bedside table. She swallowed hard as she realized she'd missed more, so much more, than she'd previously though. If her coach had kept so many of her correspondences, what major events was she supposed to have known about? It made her queasy. "Not really."

"Hey," He settled onto the edge of the bed, gently reaching out to touch her face with his finger tips. He caught her chin and shifted it so he could look at her, and she couldn't help but bring her gaze up, knowing he'd see the misery in them; the regrets she didn't want to hide. A smile tilted his lips. "It's not that bad. Zordon was telling me he monitored you through everything and the Doctor's didn't appear concerned."

"It's not that, Tommy." She tugged her face gently away and reached for the envelopes. "Ali and the girls told me that they found your name below my mother's for emergency contacts."

"Oh." His smile faded and he shifted in his seat. "I didn't think you'd mind."

"Depends on when you did it."

"The second week you were here." He looked uncertain. "I didn't want them to forget to call me if something happened."

"You broke into my coach's office, Tommy."

"Not really." Humor sparkled in his eyes despite his reluctant revelation. "I kind of made it Ranger business."

"Tommy Oliver, how could you?"

"Easily?" He shrugged. "It's not a huge deal, Kim. I wasn't caught and obviously you didn't know about it until now."

"True." She decided to let it go and offered the envelopes to him. "Recognize these?"

He turned them over in his hands, his eyes narrowing. "They're unopened."

"Ali found them in my file when she went to find my contact numbers. She said there's another show box full waiting for me when I get out in the morning."

"I'm going to kill that son of a-"

"Tommy!" She glanced at the door, lowing her voice. "My coach is in a coma, one they don't know if he'll ever wake from."

"Serves him right."

She stared at him, wondering where this uncaring stranger had come from. "Tommy..."

"Don't look so shocked, Kim." His eyes were hard and uncompromising. "He's harassed and bullied you, used underhanded tactics to interfere with your life and deceived you into believing your friends didn't care. Worst of all, he cut you off from me when you needed me most and forced you to find another base of support. He may be a great gymnastics coach, but as a human being he's one lousy specimen."

"He just wanted-"

"He wanted to turn you into a gymnastics machine, one with no friends or family, just the life of a rubber band and one where he could bask in your glories. I won't apologize for feeling unremorseful about his condition."

She didn't know which was worse; that he was right and she couldn't blame him - or that a large part of her agreed with him.

Her lack of communication with Angel Grove, and Tommy especially, had led to her seeking consolation elsewhere when she'd had a rough day. Her coach, however indirectly, had influenced her decision to break up with Tommy - and hadn't been disappointed when the news had been made public. Looking back, he'd almost been pleased. Smug even. She found herself wishing she could go back and claw the look off his face and brought herself up short.

That same man had taken her natural talent and honed her skills into something capable of competing at a level she'd only dreamed of. Despite his faults, she couldn't blame him now - not with the possibility he might not recover.

"You're too forgiving, Kim."

She looked up surprised. "And what are you, Tommy? What good does it do anyone to hold a grudge? He doesn't get what he wants in the end - I've already refused to go to Olympics even if he doesn't know it yet. I'm leaving after the competition; most of the girls are considering other academies now that his duplicity's been revealed. What more do you want him to lose?"

"I don't know." He stood abruptly, dropping the envelopes on the bed and pacing to the window. Staring out and bracing his hands on the frame, he didn't seem to see what was beyond. "All I know is that he's a major reason you and I split. Forget the method; he was the motivation and all because he cut you off from me. I can't forgive that, Kim. Not when I think of the pain we could have avoided if he'd only left well enough alone..."

His shoulders slumped and his fingers turned white where he gripped the window frame.

Kimberly removed her covers, ignoring the twinge in her side, and drew her feet over the edge of the bed. She dropped to the floor, feeling the stretch in the slit on her thigh as her legs too her weight. She was absently thankful she wasn't hooked up to any fluids or systems. She was steady and balanced, thankfully so, and she crossed with quick steps to Tommy. Without thinking she wrapped her arms around his waist from behind. She felt him stiffen for a moment in surprise as she pressed her forehead between his shoulder blades.

"What's done is done, Tommy. We can't get back what we lost, but we can move forward with the lessons we learned."

One of his hands slid over hers, squeezing her fingers. "I can't help it Kim."

"I know." Her words were whispered into the soft fabric of his shirt. "But dwelling on the past is only going to make things worse in the future. He didn't win, Tommy. He tried to drive us apart and he failed. He tried to steal my life and make it his and he failed." She squeezed as tightly as she could, knowing he was solid enough to absorb the pressure and then some.

He shifted, turning in her grasp and his arms came around her shoulders even as his lips gently brushed the top of her head. She closed her eyes, reveling in the feeling even as she drew comfort from him and offered it in return. The injustice of the whole situation smarted, but she refused to let that rule her. She wasn't going to lose the now because of a might have been. Her coach had tried tearing her and Tommy apart. She wasn't going to let him succeed after the fact when his tricks were known.

Several long minutes passed before her grip on him eased and he reluctantly did the same. She smiled at him, trying to break the tension that had eased into their embrace. "So... are you coming to Pan Globals still?"

"You're not competing."

"Excuse me?"

"You've been seriously injured and lost a lot of blood, Kim. Competing in such a high class competition can't be good for you."

Kimberly tore herself away, glaring at him. "What makes you think I came all this way just to give up on my dream now?"

"I never said you had to give up on it, but there will be other years."

"No, Tommy, there won't be." She backed away another step. "I'm giving this up, remember? Moving back because the Rangers need me? Because I want to explore something other than gymnastics? Ring any bells?"

"Very funny Kim. You can't expect me to believe that the doctor's giving you a clean bill of health to compete."

"Good, 'cause he's not." She crossed her arms over her chest defensively. "If he were, I'd question his credentials."

"But you said-" He stopped, obviously confused. "Are you trying to injure yourself worse?"

"No. But I have to do this, Tommy. I can't let Rita and Zed and Archerina win. I can't let them steal this from me." Her throat closed and tears threatened as she struggled to make him understand. This conversation was going all wrong and she didn't know how to correct it. "I thought you of all people would understand."

He was silent, watching her with an unreadable expression.

She stared at him, wondering if she'd misjudged him, too caught up in what she'd known of the old Tommy to realize the changes that had occurred were far more radical than she'd first thought. Searching his expression for some sign of understanding, some shred of the Tommy who would have understood her decision - and supported it.

His posture finally eased and he smiled, somewhat sadly. "I do understand, Kim."

"But you don't approve."

"What does it matter if I don't? You've made up your mind and if one thing's changed, it's that you're more stubborn than before."

She arched her eyebrows, fighting against the surge of relief. She hadn't expected him to approve her decision, but she'd been hoping he could understand it. That was all she'd wanted. "So you won't even try to change my mind?"

"Is there anything I could say or do that would?"

"Maybe." Cocking her head at him she considered the question. "But probably not."

"Then arguing about it does neither of us any good."

"Good point." Kimberly placed both of her palms on the bed and levered herself back up. She stretched out, feeling suddenly weary. Fighting or arguing with Tommy in any capacity was enough to make her want to sleep for a week. Not only was it mentally exhausting but it was almost physically taxing as well. Every fiber of her being seemed to be screaming at her to prevent it and that only made matters worse. Fighting with Tommy just felt wrong.

Tommy surprised her as he stepped back to her side and gently covered her with the blankets, smoothing the fabric down over her legs. "Kim, can I ask you something?"

"Anything," her smile was faint. "You just might not like the answer."

"I can live with that." He collected the envelopes from where they'd been left in the folds of the blanket and held them up. "Were you planning on reading these?"

"I don't know. A part of me wants to, but the bigger part of me is afraid of just making matters worse."

"Worse how?"

"We're all moving forward. I'd be reading letters from people who are different than they are now and it wouldn't be fair to blame anyone for words written months ago."

He smiled faintly. "You don't have to worry about that for anything I wrote."

"No, but what you wrote me about has passed. Adam and Rocky are both bound to have letters in that box, some of which might not be very nice and I don't want to bring up the past."

"Don't you think you owe it to yourself and to them to read those letters?" His gaze searched hers. "If for no other reason than to understand where they came from when you first came back? I can't see you holding a grudge for something that's been resolved, Kim. Not something like this."

"What's in there that you want me to see, Tommy?"

"Nothing special," he shrugged. "At least, I don't think there is, but then, I don't really know which letters you've got and which ones you don't."

Her smile turned teasing. "Would you like to find out? I kept them."

"Really?"

She nodded. "Really. Though, they're in the moving truck right now so you'll have to wait until I'm back in Angel Grove."

"Fair enough." He placed the letters on the bedside table. "Promise me something."

She arched her eyebrows. "If it's nothing unreasonable."

"Never," he grinned. "Just promise me you won't throw those letters away before you read them. I think you should - if for no other reason than the effort that went into writing them." He made to get up and she caught his hand, drawing their gazes back together. Understanding flashed between them in moments and, with the barest of tugs, he'd enveloped her in a light hug. "I should be going. The longer I stay, the better the chance I'll be discovered."

She laughed softly as she let him go, turning a statement into a query. "I'll see you tomorrow at the tournament?"

"Wouldn't miss it. Someone has to keep you out of trouble."

"Or rescue me from it."

He dropped an unexpected kiss on her cheek. "As long as I'm able, Kim, I'll always be there for you."

She stared at him speechless as he teleported away and groaned softly, falling back into the pillows as she pressed her hands to her eyes. "Damn you, Tommy Oliver," she whispered softly to the room. "Damn you for making me want things I can't have."