Chaos. The rangers were yelling at Thomas, obviously concerned about Shelby and what this would mean for her. Thomas was trying to explain himself, while also trying to not interfere with what was going to need to happen. Roberto was clacking away at the Command Center console and also chattering with, he guessed, another Guardian. His parents were standing in front of him, saying something, but he was not tracking what was being said to him. All he knew was that Thomas had just told him that Kiros killed Kimberly. And he hadn't been able to stop it in his world.
"What's going on?" Kimberly asked as she walked out into the main part of the Command Center and the chaos froze. He was not sure what to tell her, but he was sure that telling her that they'd just met a being that could kill her was not smart. "Tommy?"
He walked over to her and wrapped her up in a fierce hug. He felt her tentatively return the hug and he heard the silence continue. He was not sure what was going on around him, but he was more than thankful that she was awake. It gave him hope that Kiros might not be as serious of a threat here as they expeted.
"Tommy…" Kim repeated as she pulled away from him and he then leaned down and gave her a kiss. He felt the shock ripple through her and he reluctantly pulled back to meet her gaze.
"I don't really know, but I'm glad you're awake," Tommy whispered as he looked back and saw the other staring at them. "Is Shelby awake?"
"Not yet, how…you're not going to tell me what happened," Kim stated and he glanced over at Thomas who shook his head. Kimberly looked between the two of them and then took a step away from him. "Roberto- how did Billy lock away my powers?"
"We don't know. I'm still working on that," Roberto said as he fidgeted at the console. Tommy closed his eyes and let out a sigh. He knew that Roberto was lying to them, he just wondered if Kimberly was going to call him out on it right away.
"I'll sit with Shelby," Cameron said as he walked away from the other rangers and Tommy snapped his head towards him. He was not sure what that was about, but when he glanced at the other rangers- they only seemed slightly surprised by him volunteering. "You need to figure out this prophetess thing before someone dies."
"Is this what it is always like?" Gayle asked and Tommy forced back a groan. He really did not want to talk with his parents about this right now. What he wanted was to get three hours to interrogate Thomas on what was really coming for his wife, but he could tell that that was not going to happen. Thomas knew enough to not interfere in their world any more than absolutely necessary and while he hated it, he could also respect it.
"Kind of," Kimberly supplied as she took Kira from her and the baby snuggled into her chest. "Yeah, I thought you'd be hungry now. I'm going to go back to the nursery- give me a yell when she wakes up?"
"Absolutely," Tommy said as he leaned down to give her another quick kiss and he smiled as he watched her go. He felt all of the stress settling in on him and he was not sure he could keep this from her. He was not sure that he should keep this from her. Kimberly would eventually start asking why he was so concerned about Kiros and he would not be able to lie to her then. "Mom- not right now, please. If you and dad can just take Jay to the other room so that we can figure out what we need to do."
"We'll have to talk about this sometime," Russell said and Tommy nodded. He was well aware there would have to be a discussion, but he wanted to talk with the rangers, Thomas, and Roberto first. They were the ones that stood a chance at changing what had happened in Thomas's world.
Tommy watched his parents go and then slowly turned around to face his rangers. He saw the concern on all of their faces and he locked eyes with Roberto. Roberto let out a sigh and then pulled up a document on a monitor.
"I suspect that this is what Billy did. Unfortunately, he would have to be the one to remove it," Roberto said as Tommy read over the ritual and let out a curse. He remembered a time when Kimberly had been violently ill for about a week and that had to have been when this happened. They had gotten concerned enough for her to take a pregnancy test and he had been relieved, but also confused because of her illness. They had never figured out what caused it back then, but he knew that this was it now. "I am not sure that he would be willing to come back to Earth to do that."
"I'm not sure that we should give him a choice," Cameron stated and Tommy jerked around to look at him. He recognized the red rimmed eyes and he nodded in acceptance. Apparently there was a ranger couple that they didn't know about, but he wasn't going to grill Cameron about why they were keeping it a secret. "Julia came to get me. She felt that I might have stronger opinions on how to handle this."
"It's not as simple as just calling Billy, Cameron. He's on a different planet and he…we…I'm not sure that Kimberly wouldn't just try to kill him. I'm not sure I wouldn't join her," Tommy said as they all looked at him. There was so much of their past that they had never told them and this was a significant event. Billy had not helped them stay alive and it was something that rubbed them both the wrong way. "She still talks about how she could have saved the others if she had known what was going to happen. If we're right about what prophets do- the annihilation of every ranger on this planet would probably have been seen. I'm not sure Billy is safe anywhere near her right now."
"So we don't try to save them?" Cameron ground out and Tommy shook his head. "You just said…"
"That it isn't safe for Billy to be here. I didn't say that I would give him much of a choice about coming," Tommy stated as Cameron barely nodded. He realized he must not have been paying proper attention to the rangers for Cameron to feel this strongly. "She knows how you feel, right?"
"We didn't know. We suspected…" Brandon trailed off as he walked over to Cameron and Cameron turned away from him. He was not in a mood to be interrogated about his dating life at the moment. "We're here to help, both of you. Both of them."
"So how do we do that?" Cameron asked Tommy and he glanced over at Thomas who had been strangely quiet. He knew what was coming and he could tell that Thomas was terrified.
"Give us a minute?" Thomas said as he gave each of the rangers a pointed look and they all nodded, except for Cameron. "Cam."
"I need to know too. They may not have known about us and I may not have told her exactly how I feel yet, but we've been together for a while now and…" Cameron trailed off and Tommy nodded that he could stay. He was not sure he wanted to scare Cameron, but he recognized the determination enough to know he would just wait outside the door and listen in.
"Billy is one answer. The Command Center is another," Thomas said and Tommy closed his eyes. He was sure that he did not want to hear the Command Center option- those always seemed to be painful. "You know how to commune with it."
"Jay and Kira are barely six weeks old. No. I will not ask Kimberly to do that again," Tommy stated as Thomas gave him an odd look. Tommy ground his teeth together as he glanced around the Command Center. "If you tell me that communing with the Command Center on your planet doesn't involve a sex marathon, the two of you being soulmates, and getting your soulmate pregnant- I'd love to hear other options."
"You just morph and meditate. The soulmate thing is still important, but other than that it's not complicated," Thomas said and Tommy waited for some sign from the Command Center. When a cold wind swept across him, he let out a groan. That would have been great to know a few years back, but then again if they had known it- they wouldn't have given each other another chance. "If you didn't have active powers- then yes, the other option is all you had."
"The other option is still all I have. I have residual powers from all the teams I've been on, but that's not what you're talking about," Tommy said as he looked over at Cameron and he let out a sigh. Shelby must not be his soulmate, otherwise Thomas would be offering him some sort of option. "Do we get different kinds of information with the different ways?"
"Yes, but let's not focus on that at the moment. The Command Center, should, be able to reverse anything done by a Guardian- short of death. On my planet there are times that the Guardians will do something temporary, just to get us out of a situation and the Command Center immediately reverses it. Considering how long this has been…" Thomas trailed off and Tommy just shook his head. "What?"
"What will it do to her?" Tommy asked as the Command Center blew warm air past him and he let out a sigh. At least it wouldn't, intentionally, harm her. "So, Cam has to commune with the Command Center and ask it to heal Kimberly."
"Not exactly...Cam can't," Thomas said as the three of them stared at him. "So that means Kimberly would have to ask."
"And she can't commune with the Command Center without me," Tommy said as they came back to the beginning and he groaned. "Oh for fuck's sake."
"It sounds like it is easier to just bring Billy back," Cameron supplied and Tommy put his head in his hands. "So how do we do that?"
"I'll see what I can do," Roberto said as he pulled out his cell phone and they looked at him. Shouldn't he be using the console to contact Aquitar? "We've kept tabs on Billy. He's not as far away as you think."
AN: Last chapter will be up tomorrow! I'd love to hear your guesses for where the next story will go and some things that you'd love to see in it!