DISCLAIMER: Nope still not mine.
SUMMARY: Kimberly was knocked out during a battle with some Lava Lizards. Can the past be what brings Kimberly back together with Tommy?
Billy lay his friend on the bed in the guest room Andrew had shown him to. He brushed the hair back from her face. "Kimberly? Kimberly, wake up." He checked her vitals one more time before stepping back and sighing.
"Is she going to be okay?" Andrew asked, worried that his niece hadn't woken up yet.
"From what I can tell, she should wake up anytime now. Other than the fact that she's still out cold, I don't know what's wrong with her."
"Maybe I can help there, my young friend." The familiar voice came from behind Billy, making him spin around.
"Dulcea! What do you mean?"
"Hello, Billy. I see you've rather grown up since the last time we met."
"That I have. I no longer hide behind big words either. What's wrong with Kimberly?"
"Her grip on the Power is not as strong as it should be. She's been training with it but her heart just isn't in it. She is lonely without the Falcon beside her. She will be weak until he returns to her." Dulcea appeared to step to Kimberly's side and lean over the young woman. "Wake, little Crane. Your Falcon approaches."
Tommy walked into the room as Dulcea disappeared. "Was that Dulcea?"
"It was." Billy's simple answer left more questions in Tommy's mind than it answered.
"How did she appear here? I thought she couldn't leave her plateau."
"I don't know how she did it. But she was here."
At that point, everyone's attention was drawn to Kimberly as she stirred on the bed. She stirred a second time and drew in a deep breath. Sitting bolt upright on the bed, her eyes flew open and she looked around with fear in her gaze, as if she'd been expecting to see something else.
Jason immediately went to the side of the bed and sat down. "Kimberly. Kim, it's okay." He wrapped his arms around her form as she collapsed into him with tears streaming down her face. He rocked her gently for a few minutes giving her the chance to collect herself.
When she pushed back from his shoulder, he looked down into her eyes. "You saw the crash again, didn't you?"
"I could hear their screams, Jase. I could hear the screams of the children. I could feel the heat from the fire. Jason, I couldn't save them. I couldn't even help the kids. I was so close and yet I couldn't save them."
"Kim, I've told you. It wasn't your fault. You couldn't have saved them because you were injured."
Kim looked around and noticed Billy, Tommy and her uncle standing close by. "I don't want to talk about it. Not right now."
"Kim, Tommy knows a little about the accident."
"Jase, what do you want me to do? Tell them about what happened? Tell them how badly I failed?" She shook her head. "It's not enough that I have to deal with the nightmares. You just had to tell Tommy how badly I screwed up."
"Kim, you didn't screw up. The firemen told me about what happened. They told me that you kept fighting to get to the kids right up until the car exploded. They had a hard time keeping you from crawling right up to the car and dying with them." Jason turned to the others. "She kept trying to reach the family even after the car blew. It took two firemen just to hold her back from the car."
"I screwed up." Kim refused to look up from where she was focused on the hands she had folded in her lap.
Dulcea reappeared behind Jason where he sat. "Poor Kimberly, you have such a gentle soul. You've been so lonely without your Falcon. Just as he has been without you. The accident has sorely tested you and brought you here to be reunited with your love."
"He doesn't love me anymore, Dulcea. He made his choice and it was a life without me."
"Kimberly, he has been lonely without you. He needs you beside him again. Even if he is too stubborn to admit it even to himself." Dulcea's voice was gentle as she reprimanded the young man who had the decency to blush.
Kimberly's next words were soft and sad. "Then why didn't he fight for me?"
It was a question Tommy had asked himself many times over the long and lonely years.