DISCLAIMER: Nope still not mine.
SUMMARY: Kim's mother has shown up at the hospital. Will Kimberly let her mother make decisions for her or will she stand up to her mother?
"Kimberly, come here. Let me take a look at you." Caroline Dumas approached her daughter; a distinct look of disapproval on her face. "Look at your hair. Soaking wet."
"Mother, we were at the hospital pool, working on my upper body strength. It's part of my physical therapy."
"No need to worry about that, dear. I'm taking you back to Paris with me."
"I'm not going to Paris, Mother."
"Of course you are. You'll come back to Paris where you'll be properly taken care of. You'll want for nothing."
Kimberly sighed. "Mother, I'm not going to Paris. I'm staying here. I don't want to be waited on hand and foot. I want to build up my arms so that I can do some things for myself."
"Kimberly, I've already made the arrangements for a 24-hour nurse as well as maids to take care of your every need." Kim was getting desperate to make her mother listen.
"You want my every need taken care of but you don't want to do it yourself. Why should I go to Paris then?" She paused for effect. "After what you pulled, sending that letter to Tommy, you should be grateful that I'm even talking to you!"
"What do you mean? What letter?"
"Mother, Tommy received a letter that he swore was in my handwriting. It went to the Youth Center. Tommy knows that I would never have broken up with him in a letter. Who do you know here that would have sent it on to him?"
But Caroline saw the look that crossed Tommy's face. "He might know it now, but he believed the letter for a while. Didn't you, Tommy?" she asked with a gloating sneer.
"It doesn't matter now. He's here when he didn't have to be. He didn't have to come to help me."
"He wouldn't have come if he hadn't known." She glared at Rocky.
"I didn't tell him!" Rocky protested.
Kevin and Ana slipped out of the room. Trini, Jason, Billy, Zack, Rocky and Aisha decided it would be wise to follow their example, leaving Kim and Tommy to face Mrs. Dumas alone.
"I knew about Kim's accident before Rocky said anything. I was watching in my living room alone." He looked down at the love of his life. "I felt it when you hit."
"Impossible!" Caroline scoffed. Tommy lifted the back of his shirt and turned around so that Mrs. Dumas could see the massive bruise on his back.
"The doctor told me that Kim hit her back in the exact same spot as that bruise. I couldn't move for almost an hour after the accident. When I saw you slip, my mind screamed for you."
"I heard it, Tommy." Kim's eyes gleamed as tears glistened in her eyes and started streaking her cheeks.
"Kimberly, you're coming home to Paris. I'm still your mother and I still have custody of you until you turn eighteen."
"Mom, you don't want to push this. I turn eighteen in just three months."
"Do you mean to tell me you plan to tie this up for the next three months?"
"If you push the issue, yes. Tommy, Jason and the others are trying to keep me from being a total invalid for the rest of my life. It would be nice to have your support in this. But I'm going to do it regardless."
"Do you really think he's going to stick around? He's going to leave you eventually when he gets tired of taking care of you."
"Mom, he's not going to leave me. He wants to take care of me."
"He's going to do the same thing to you that your father did to me!"
"He's not Dad!" Kim yelled. "Dad abandoned me too. Or did you forget that?" She took a deep breath. "Tommy's not Dad. He same to help even after the letter you sent. He loves me."
"You'd better believe it, beautiful. I plan on seeing you on your feet. And I plan on being right by your side the whole time."
Caroline threw up her hands in defeat. "Then you do this on your own. I'm going back to Paris and if you don't go with me, you will receive no further support from me."
"You're cutting me off?" Kimberly clutched the arms of her wheelchair.
"You made yourself clear. Now let me do the same. If you choose this hoodlum over me, you won't receive not one single penny of support from me. Nor will you hear from me until you come to your senses and leave him." Caroline swept her jacket around her.
"Mommy!" Kim cried, pushing off the arms of the wheelchair. Before Tommy could stop her, Kim landed face first on the floor.
Her mother swept out of the room as Tommy knelt beside the brunette and gently rolled her sobbing form into his arms.