DISCLAIMER: Not mine.
SUMMARY: Tommy and Jason are trying to protect the girls. Tara ran off when Tommy got angry. Jason and Kim found her and brought her back to Tommy's house.
A/N: Sorry it's taken so long to update. I was missing the internet for the past two months. It's back now and maybe I can get some things updated.
Jason pulled up in front of Tommy's house. Tara climbed out of the back seat and started for the porch where Tommy was standing, waiting for them. She slowly walked up to the steps with her head down and tears filling her eyes.
Tommy wrapped his arms around Tara and pulled her close. "Are you okay?"
"I-I-I'm sorry. I sh-sh-shouldn't have run off like that."
"Don't worry. You're safe now and I'll keep you that way." He looked up at Jason who was standing at the foot of the stairs with Kimberly in his arms. "I promise."
Everyone was heading back to Tommy's house. They'd all gotten the call that Tara was safely back with Tommy and that the stalker had been to Kim's house. What no one had told them was that the stalker had been to Tara's apartment as well. The whole place had been trashed.
His focus seemed to be leaving Kimberly as if he was loosing interest. But Tommy and Jason were worried that he might be turning his attention: to someone even more vulnerable.
When they returned to the house, the first thing most of them noticed was that Tommy was sitting on the couch with Tara wrapped securely in his arms. She yawned as Kira and Connor walked into the house.
Kira sat down on the coffee table in front of them. "Are you okay, Tara?"
Tara nodded sleepily. "I'm fine. Just worn out."
"She was unconscious when we found her at our house," Jason spoke up. Tommy himself seemed rather tired. "Bro, why don't you take her upstairs and both of you get some rest? I'll take care of things down here," Jason asked, bending over the back of the couch.
Tommy nodded and stood up before turning to help Tara to her feet. He tucked her into his side and the two of them headed up the stairs.
Tommy lay Tara down on his bed and stepped away just long enough to go into the bathroom and change into a pair of sweat pants. The moment he lay down on the bed next to her, Tara curled up to him with her head on his chest.
"I've got you, Tara. You're safe here. Safe with me." Tommy managed to whisper the words before dozing off with his arms wrapped tightly around her.
"Jason, what didn't you tell us on the phone?" Hayley asked.
"Kim and I went to Tara's place before we went to ours. It's a good thing she wasn't there. The whole apartment had been completely trashed. And ---" The next thing wasn't something that he wanted to think about. The sick freak had masturbated all over Tara's bed.
"What did he do?" Kira asked. She couldn't help but feel it had to be pretty bad if Jason wouldn't say it.
Kim's voice was shaky as she relayed what they had found in Tara's bedroom when they had stopped in there. Jason wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her in tight so that he could comfort her.
Hayley buried her face in Billy's shoulder as Kira turned to Connor. They were both disturbed that this guy seemed to be focusing in on Tara now instead of Kim.
"Why is he starting to focus on Tara?" asked Kira.
"Maybe because he feels that I betrayed him somehow. He sees her as someone who hasn't turned on him but I have because I'm with Jason." She bowed her head. "This is all my fault."
"No, Kim. Not your fault. He's a sick freak who somehow thinks that he has a right to you and her. He needs to be locked up so that he can get help." Jason pulled her in close and rubbed her shoulder.
"It is. It's all my fault. My fault that he found her and that he wants her now."
Her face was buried in Jason's shoulder as she shook with sobs.
As the sun started going down, Tommy woke up with the smell of barbecue in his nose. He nudged Tara lightly. "Tara. Tara, wake up. Time to wake up for dinner."
She stirred but only enough to curl further into Tommy's arms. "Tara, come on. Your brother will be coming up soon to wake us up for dinner."
Her eyes opened slightly. "I don't want to get up. I'm comfortable."
"So am I, sweetheart. But we have to get up and eat. It smells like Jason fired up the grill." Tara smiled and sat up on the bed.
"I still don't want to get up, but Jase does do a mean barbeque." She smiled at Tommy. "Can we go back to bed afterward?"
Tommy nodded and smiled as he slipped into the bathroom to change. He could get really used to this sort of thing.
Jason smiled at the couple as they made their way into Tommy's backyard. He was happy that his little sister felt so comfortable with Tommy. And he was thrilled that Tommy was so obviously over Kim, finally.
As he thought these things, Kimberly came up beside him and wrapped an arm around his waist before handing him an ice tea. "This was a good idea, Rex. I think this is just what everyone needs."
"You might be right, Firebird. And look at Billy and Hayley over there." He gestured to where the two resident geniuses had their heads together and seemed to be discussing something in earnest. Kim giggled as she squeezed Jason just a bit before leaving him to tend the steaks that he had put on the grill.
Hayley and Billy were huddled at the edge of the porch, talking about the different computer technology that they had used with the Rangers. Most of the technobabble they used would have done nothing more than confuse most other people. But these two were accustomed to the way each other talked.
Ethan had left the conversation a little while after it began. He was totally confused.
Tara smiled at the couple sitting at the edge of the porch. "You can join them if you want to. They don't bite." Tommy was teasing her.
"I – I – I don't know. I don't know them that well."
"How about if we both go over there together and I'll sit with you for a while?"
"You won't understand any of what they're saying, will you?"
"Nope. But it's okay. I want you to be comfortable with my friends and if it takes me being a bit confused for a while then so be it."
"I'd rather just sit over here with you while we wait for the food to be ready." She pulled Tommy toward a chaise lounge that was set up in one corner of the porch. He sat down and she stretched out, laying between his legs with her head on his chest.
She closed her eyes, content in the knowledge that Tommy wasn't going to let her go.
He closed his, content in knowing that Tara didn't want him to let go.