My goodness I was not expecting such a response! Several reviews and many more story and author alerts - thank you so much. I am not sure exactly how it's going to get there, but I know where I want this story to go.

If you like Star Gate Atlantis please check out my other story 'I am Leila,' I know it's my story but I really love my OC Leila and hope everyone else does too, I don't normally like or read OC stories, but to me Leila is as real as any of the canon characters.

So, just to confirm, this is a Tommy/Kim story, featuring the original rangers, plus Rocky, Adam and Aisha, and Kat is referenced but probably won't appear.

Update April 6: Fixed some errors, am looking for a beta reader if anyone is interested.

Tommy couldn't breathe, couldn't think over the roaring sound in his ears. The rain hammered mercilessly on the window and the wind screamed through a crack in the window.

He barely heard her quiet, hoarse greeting.

"Hi, Tommy."

Tommy became aware that the ragged noise filling his ears was coming from him; he was... hyperventilating? Tommy balled his hands into fists and attempted to calm himself down.

Focus.

Kimberly didn't move to comfort him. She was sitting on the floor, her body propped up against the side of the bed. Her eyes watched him with a dull curiosity.

Dull? Tommy knew why he didn't recognise her eyes immediately, they were missing something. They were missing that brightness and vivacity that Kimberly Hart embodied. They seemed darker too, and larger, somehow.

Tommy un-balled his hands and forced himself to look past her eyes. It wasn't just her eyes that had changed; her skin was a pasty shade of white and was stretched tightly across her face. No wonder her eyes seemed larger, sitting atop her hollow cheekbones. Two high spots of colour blossomed conspicuously on each side of her face, contrasting sharply with her ghostly skin.

"Kim?" he finally asked.

"Yes."

Tommy bit back a growl; couldn't she manage more than that? After all they'd been through, how she left him, was all she could give him a 'Hi Tommy' and a 'Yes'?

It occurred to Tommy that he was missing something, but the fog clouding his brain hindered his thoughts. He felt numb.

"Are you okay?" he asked lamely.

"Fine, thank you."

Fine, thank you? Clearly she was not 'fine'. She was pale and sick and hitchhiking from god-knows-where to Angel Grove.

Angel Grove! Of all places!

Something resembling anger roared in Tommy's head as he found himself crossing the space between them and grabbing her shoulders.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" he yelled, giving her a shake.

The drenched coat she wore fell back and Tommy recoiled, reeling back from the girl he once thought was his future, but his large hands remained curled tightly around her shoulders.

Something was very wrong.

Kimberly looked at him, but Tommy had a sickening feeling that she wasn't seeing him at all.

"I came to see Tiani and Kiros," she said politely, her voice rasping.

"You came for the funeral?"

"No. I came to see them." The former Ranger seemed to gloss over Tommy's reference to their deaths.

Tommy couldn't handle this. He couldn't be here, with her. He couldn't leave her, every part of him knew something was wrong… if he wasn't so shaken he might even be able to clear his head and figure it out.

"Kim..." Her eyes seemed to focus on him; that was good, wasn't it? That she was looking at him, instead of through him? Don't look at me with those eyes.

"Kim... Aisha's parents, they... Tiani and Kiros... died in a car crash two weeks ago. The funeral was today."

She saw him now, her eyes widened and Tommy could almost see reality crashing in on her as a strangled cry escaped her blue lips.

Blue lips.

Tommy's mind cleared instantly, and he mentally slapped himself. She was sick - the pale skin and flushed cheeks, the blue lips - she was very sick. She'd been walking in the rain. Instantly his hands released the girl's shoulders as he rose to his feet and found his cell.

Kimberly's frozen form suddenly jolted, as if she had been struck, and suddenly she was alive. Alive. "You're lying!" she half screamed, scrambling to her feet and clawing at his chest. "You're lying just like he did; he lied!"

She fell to the ground at his feet and her voice hitched up an octave, "They're not dead they're not dead they're not dead," she chanted. A terrible sob shook her and terrible tremors wracked her body.

Tommy instinctively reached down and lifted her shaking body onto the bed. It didn't matter what had happened between them, this was a person who needed help. He wasn't in a fit state to render assistance, but he knew who was.

"Trini, I need you to get Billy and come here straight away."

-888-

"Tommy? Tommy!"

Was that someone calling his name?

"It's okay. We're here. Breathe, Tommy; it's okay."

Tommy lifted his head and Billy's face swam into his vision. "Billy?"

"Tommy, you're having a panic attack. You need to calm down."

Tommy nodded and began to centre himself. It took some time before Tommy could clearly remember where he was and why.

And how much time had passed.

"Kimberly?" he finally managed to ask.

"Trini's taking care of her, Tommy; when you're better you can see for yourself."

A panic attack? Because he had happened across his ex-girlfriend? Pathetic. Centering oneself and keeping one's head were the first lessons he had learned in his martial arts training.

Tommy tried to clearly assess his thoughts leading up to this situation.

Kim was meant to be living in Florida, happily married, possibly with 2.2 children and a dog. It was only natural that he would be surprised to discover her hitchhiking, sick and widowed.

But it wasn't just that - there was something else wrong with Kim. Something very wrong, and even now his entire being shied away from the thought of her being unhappy, unhealthy, unsafe.

"Billy, I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting... I reacted badly."

Billy raised a hand. "Tommy, you called us. You recognised you couldn't deal with this on your own and you called for help. That's a good thing. It was the right thing to do."

It made sense; Billy could always see the logical side of things. "How bad is she?"

Billy's eyes darkened with barely suppressed pain and he bowed his head. "I think you should see for yourself, if you're ready."

Billy placed his hands on his friend's shoulders and guided him to the bathroom.

Trini was kneeling in front of Kim, who was perched on a stool by the bath and wrapped in a large dry towel.

Was it inappropriate to see your ex wearing nothing but a towel? Maybe it was in this case, when the ex in question barely resembled the Kimberly Hart he used to know.

Her shoulders were bony, and she was thin to the point of emaciation; from the neck down her body was battered and bruised. A deep purple scar pierced the skin from her left shoulder down to the area just above her left elbow and several smaller scars marred her back and legs. There was no visible damage to her face, but she looked gaunt, and a fine sheen of sweat lined her brow and upper lip.

Trini wiped at her brow with a cool cloth and looked to Tommy. "Can you find a dry robe or coat? Her body is freezing but her face is burning up."

Snap out of it, Tommy.

Tommy nodded and brushed off Billy's hands with a, "Thank you, I'm okay now."

Billy nodded and let him go. Tommy searched the room for some form of hotel-supplied bathrobe, but had to settle for a blanket. He grabbed the heavy quilt off the bed and returned to the girls, carefully draping it over Kimberly's thin shoulders.

He stepped back to give her some room. To give himself some room.

Kim also seemed to have calmed down.

She turned to Tommy, her body was shaking, but her eyes locked on his. "Is it true? About Aisha's parents?" she whispered.

Tommy held her gaze. "They died in a car accident two weeks ago, I'm sorry."

Why are you apologising? She left them… and you.

Tommy squashed his anger; this wasn't the right time.

Her lips turned up at the corners. It wasn't a nice smile. "I thought it was another of his lies. I came here to prove him wrong." Her bottom lip trembled, "What have I done?"

"Whose lies, Kimmy?" Trini asked urgently, taking the girl's face in her hands, "The same person who did this to you?"

Kim looked at her in surprise, "Did what?"

Trini's brow furrowed and she squeezed her eyes shut momentarily; she had loved Kimberly, too. "This, Kimberly." Trini gestured to the girl's body, "The person who beat you, cut you, starved you. You did not do this to yourself."

"It may have been my fault though." The girl tilted her head, her voice eerily conversational as she added, "I'm not very graceful."

Tommy looked at her incredulously; Trini and Billy shot her similar looks.

Tommy opened his mouth to speak but Trini waved him off, dark eyes filled with warning. "We need to take you to hospital, Kim. You're very sick."

The dark spots of colour on Kim's cheeks faded as her face paled further, she leapt from the chair with a start.

"No!" she cried, her wide, dark eyes shining with panic. "No hospitals! They'll find me!"

Trini shot Tommy a frustrated glance and waved him away as he started forward; she placed her hands firmly on either side of Kimberly's face and looked her square in the eye.

Trini had always been forward, and Tommy realised that even though she was here, and helping, it must be difficult for her to be so close to the friend who had abandoned them all. Trini had been angry and hurt, too… They all had.

"Kimberly," Trini commanded, "Who will find you?"

The ex-Ranger glowered back, "No hospitals." She apparently still had some fight left in her.

"Are you worried that the people who did this to you will find you?"

No longer wearing the deer-caught-in-headlights expression, Kim's shoulders slumped and she bowed her head in defeat. "Not people, person. One person. No hospitals."

Trini nodded and rose slowly to her feet, coming to convene quietly with the two men. "Tommy, your Chevy is the closest. Give me the keys." Her voice had a quiet, commanding air that Tommy didn't question. He wasn't sure he could trust his own judgment right now, which was why he had called her in the first place.

He handed over his keys.

"What are we going to do?" Billy asked quietly.

Trini placed her hand on Tommy's shoulder. "I hate to ask you this, Tommy, but she needs to see a doctor. I'm going to go and start the car. I need you two to subdue her and bring her down. Discretely, if possible."

Billy glanced at the tiny, battered figure who was again sitting on the bar stool, picking absently at her fingernails. Kimberly never chewed her fingernails. "Can't Tommy start the car? Look at her. It won't take two men to subdue her; you have your kung fu."

Trini's gaze didn't leave Tommy. "Exactly, Billy. Look at her. She's desperate, and that makes her powerful. She's going to fight tooth and nail and one wrong move could break her; she's frail – exhausted, ill and malnourished. I think the best thing is use brute strength to hold her still, and you are both physically stronger than I am." Trini's eyes twinkled momentarily, "You know the two of you together couldn't land a blow on me."

Tommy looked from his friends to his ex; if they believed he could do this then he could. He would trust their judgment. "Let's do it," he murmured.

Trini moved silently from the room as Billy and Tommy squared their shoulders and approached Kimberly.

She looked up, her eyes automatically finding Tommy's. "Can I see Tiani and Kiros now?" she asked hoarsely.

Tommy looked at Billy, startled.

Kimberly... What happened to you?

"Yes," he lied; "We'll take you to them."

Doubt filled her eyes and she frowned slightly. "Why are you looking at me like that?" she whispered, glancing between the two men. She shook her head, causing her limp hair to flap aimlessly at her shoulders; she pressed her fingers to her temples. "I can't think..."

Realisation seemed to dawn on her and she started to her feet just as Billy caught her arms from behind, "I won't go! You can't make me go, they'll find me they'll lock me away!"

Kimberly struggled and thrashed in Billy's arms, and Tommy copped a blow to the side of his face as he secured her legs. "Sorry, Kim," he murmured sincerely.

That's going to bruise.

She screamed and thrashed as they carried her from the room, and Tommy was worried that someone in the run-down hotel would come to investigate, but as they approached the car her cries fell silent and her head fell back.

Unconscious.

Was her skin grey before?

Trini was waiting with the car door open, "We need to hurry, get in."