Author's Notes – Yeah kind of a stuck in chapter/part. It's rather uneventful but it brings Hayley into the story and explains a good part of why Tommy is being so prudish and slightly jerky towards Zedd.
Summary – Hayley is brought into the picture due to a request from her old friend.
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Help Us Help Others
Tommy
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(2 months later, Hayley's Cyber Space)
"He did what?" Eyebrow raised in disbelief Hayley's reaction is similar to what my own was all those weeks ago.
Placing the gems back into the leather pouch and retying it around my belt I give her an easy look. "Stole them from Zordon."
"And he's still alive?" So far.
"Personally I don't think he cares all that much. If he did pretty sure he wouldn't have let Zedd leave the planet." Or let myself and the others think him dead for how long. And he always Zedd was the self-centered one. Finishing off my smoothie and pushing the glass back over to her silently requesting another I watch in amusement as she scowls ever so slightly.
"And what exactly are you going to do with them? Not that you catching me up to date on all that had happened after we parted ways over Mercer's research isn't nice, but knowing you there is an ulterior motive to this impromptu visit and slew of information. Much like the last time if I remember correctly." Smart girl.
Clearing my throat and knowing I've only truly got one shot at this, I give her slightly pleading eyes. "Well I was thinking that perhaps seeing as how you are by far the smartest person I know that you might consider helping me put these gems and the technology Zedd and I have salvaged to good use. Namely helping us stop Mercer before he becomes strong enough to start anything."
Cocking a brow her answer is smart. "Didn't I try that once before?"
"Yes."
"And did bombs not work to your liking? Because seriously if those things didn't do it I'm not sure what you think I can do to top that. With or without this salvaged technology." Suddenly frowning she shakes her head as new thought occurs. "And where did you salvage this batch of technology from anyways? I thought you and Mercer already cleaned out the remains of that old Command Center what's her name destroyed." Divatox. Have to say as much as I despise Demetria from tossing me and my team aside I am definitely glad that little event of destruction isn't on my head.
"Not all of it. I kept him out of the lower levels so Zedd grabbed what was there and then got what he could find from the remains of the sunk island. Though that wasn't much." And I'm still not sure how he dove down that far without dying. Must have something to do with him being Eltarian but still.
"I see. Does Zedd even know that you told me around the same time you told Mercer about you being a former Ranger and him and Zordon and all of that?" I knew I forgot something. Catching my guilty look and giving a knowing nod, she hands me a new drink checking her watch to see how close to opening time she is. "Thought not. Why don't you come talk to me after he learns of my existence."
"Hayley it's not like that, it's just he's already mad about me running my mouth off to Mercer. I just needed to wait for the right time to tell him I did the same to you too." Though in all fairness when I told her I was at least sober and it was for the clear purpose of trying to stop Mercer.
"Tell me where does he even think you go all day?"
Shrugging and unsure of what Zedd really thinks and knows I go with the most honest answer I can give. "Don't know. He's so busy building the house though that I don't think he really gives it much consideration." Still slightly doubtful that he will remain on Earth with me once said house is built, I force myself to avoid thinking on it too much, knowing it will just get in the way of my current goal.
Frowning and knowing something isn't quite right, she leans further onto the bar studying me closely. "Shouldn't he though? I mean isn't he your boyfriend or something of that nature?"
Giving a shrug and muttering 'something' I really wish she would just drop it as honestly I'm not certain what we really are anymore. True we both share the same bed aboard his ship, which is safely cloaked in the private woods near the build site he is placing the house on. And yes there have been over the past few weeks the occasional kiss and even fondle. But that would be about the end of it.
"What's with you? You know all you used to talk about was Zedd this and Zedd that, almost to the point that I nearly beat you over the head more then once. And now that you've actually got him back you're acting like it doesn't matter."
"Because it doesn't." Unable to stop the bitter words from coming I continue miserably. "He'll just leave again. He always leaves. Why should I let myself get attached if he's just going to abandon me again?"
"But I thought he was building you a house."
"Yeah, so?"
"So dipstick you don't just walk away from someone that you've built a house for." Says you. Sighing as I shake my head unconvinced, she cuffs me gently upside said head with a chastising scowl. "Hello he's saved your life how many times now? Dropped everything on his own home world to come back here for you. True he was gone for longer then he led you to believe he would be, but he explained why. It wasn't his fault he was cornered into helping Zordon."
"I know. And I'm glad he helped Zordon, I am. But…"
"But?"
"But how long will it be before he finds something else that needs his attention. It's always something Hales. When I was sixteen it was age, when I was seventeen situation, eighteen personal issues on his part, then came his thieving from the Council, Zordon, he can't be satisfied with just being and it's just a matter of time before something else catches his attention and sends him packing all over again. I just can't deal with that again, especially not now that I'm trying to fix my own mistakes."
"I think you're giving up on him before you even give him a chance not so much because he's afraid of commitment but because you are." Thank you Dr. Phil.
"I am not afraid of commitment. I am afraid of Mercer's new personality killing millions of people because I helped him turn himself into a dinosaur hybrid with a temper that could rival Dark Spector's. Now can we please refocus on the reason I'm here?"
"He doesn't know you slept with Mercer does he." So not the time or place Hayley.
"Why are you torturing me? Seriously what did I ever do to you?"
Shaking her head she continues in an almost chastising tone. "That's why you're stalling, looking for excuses to avoid getting too involved with him, because you're afraid to tell him because like the idiot you are you think that when he finds out that that will be reason enough for him to leave. Geez and you call him egotistical."
"Hayley there are fifty billion reasons for him to leave-"
"Yes, yes there are and yet amazingly enough here he still is." Straightening and taking my drink, she points towards the door. "Go home Tommy, go tell him how you feel if nothing else and stop being a prick in some futile attempt to push him away. Go do that and then and only then will I come help you design your morphers and lair and whatever else you have in mind."
"Yeah but-"
"Go." Voice stern and leaving no room for argument she watches intently as I slowly slide off of the barstool and slink to the door hypothetical tail between my legs. "Oh and while you're coming clean tell him about me too, because I am not showing up at your house when he has no clue who I am and what I'm there for."
"Knew there was a reason I stopped dating women."
To be continued……..
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Geez Tommy was a blabbermouth in this season. Mercer, Haley, made a freaking video journal that anyone coulda got their hands on.
Anywho, it was short, sorries.
