Disclaimer: I have never, nor will I ever own any part of Power Rangers, though the characters of Samantha, Rebecca, and Chris Travis are my own creations. This is just for pure fun.

Summary: Kim is married to the guy in "the letter" but she is miserable. Her husband ignores her mostly and she is stuck in the monotonous life of the suburban housewife. Is she stuck in this limbo forever, or can someone change her life for the better?

Pairings: Kim/OC, with mentions of Jason/Kat, Billy/Hailey, and Connor/Kira

Time: Post DT

A/N: Forgive me for the lateness of this update. I had to fly out unexpectedly to Spokane to take care of some family business. The first half of this was written on a plane somewhere between New York and Denver.

A/N 2: As always, much thanks to my beta "Danielle". Thanks for keeping the words flowing and the mistakes few!

Chapter seven: Legalities

"Where are you keeping my wife?" Chris Travis stood less than a foot from Tommy and from the looks of it, was not going anywhere anytime soon.

Flashback:

Chris had just gotten back from the hospital after having his injuries taken
care of in a relatively short time. Reputation did have its privileges. He had
gotten seen ahead of the other unfortunate souls that were still waiting in
the emergency room and it had very little to do with the severity of his
injuries.

It was now nearly eight o'clock in the morning and he was coming home to an
empty house which really did not surprise him. He knew his wife and gave her
at least a little credit, after the beating he had given her, he did not blame
her in the least for getting as far away from him as she could and taking
Becky and Samantha with her. If he was honest with himself, he really did not
care for any of them, not even his daughters. Hell, they had lost their appeal
as soon as they got too "needy", and Kim, well Kim had lost her appeal
long before that.

That did not mean that he would not go and bring them back.

That was his number one goal, get them and bring them back. If
that bitch thought she was going to leave him, she had another thing coming.
He may not love his family, but no one was going to have them if he wasn't.

He knew where they were of course. It was so obvious that she had fled to that thug Tommy's house. Kim was a lot of things, and predictable was at the top of that list. As he was wondering where he might go to find where Tommy lived, he went to his bedroom to shower and change. He chuckled to himself as he saw the traces of Kim's blood that had fallen on the carpet.

I really got her good. I really did not mean to go that far, but oh well; at least she learned her lesson.

He took a scalding hot shower and was pulling a blue sport shirt over his head, when a scrap of paper laying on the floor near the nightstand caught his eyes. Judging by the faint bloodstains on it, Kim had recently handled it. Curious, he picked it up.

Tommy

2089 Valencia Rd.

555-5671

Chris smiled as he crumbled the paper in his right hand.

"Bingo. That whore and her thug boyfriend are mine now."

Deciding that he would make a trip to Valencia Rd, he picked up the phone and called the police.

End flashback

A host of emotions were flooding though Tommy. Standing before him was the man responsible for not only hurting who he quickly was realizing was the love of his life, but from all reports, made her life miserable for the past eleven years as well. It took every ounce of discipline learned through years of martial arts training to keep from seriously hurting the man where he stood. Taking a few moments to calm himself, he spoke.

Your family? I am surprised that you even remember you have one? Haven't you been more interested in cheating on your wife for the past few years?"

Chris, looking equally enraged, spoke through clenched teeth.

"My personal life is none of your business. Now I want Kim and my girls brought right here to me now!" he chuckled.

"It really does not matter you know. I called the police before coming over here. I know it was you that assaulted me last night and I will see that you do some hard time. So, either way, Kim will be home within the hour. How does that make you feel Tommy boy?"

Before Tommy could answer two uniformed police officers appeared behind Chris. Tommy recognized one of them and his face split into a wide grin.

"You may have to rethink the situation Chris. What's up Rocko?"

Rocky DeSantos, former red ranger and current sergeant of the Reefside police department gave his former ranger a grin.

"What the hell have you gotten yourself into this time Tommy?"

Tommy pointed at Chris. "This is Kim's husband. He is here looking for her. Yes, she is here," he said at Rocky's upraised eyebrow, "she came here last night with her two daughters after he beat her to unconsciousness."

"You can't prove that! She is telling him this crap and he is sticking up for her just so she can take my girls!"

"Maybe he can't prove it, but I can."

Until she spoke, no one had seen Kim come down the stairs and into the front
room. She still looked unsteady, but was holding onto the railing. Reaching the bottom step, she allowed herself to be steadied by Tommy who had come over to assist her. The bruises and lumps on her face were still there, and if anything, they had gotten more colorful overnight.

Rocky took one look at the former pink ranger and his heart broke, followed quickly by anger.

"Are you willing to press charges Kim?"

Kim hesitated for a few seconds, but then slowly nodded her head. That was all that Rocky needed. He reached up and put his hand on Chris' arm.

"You are going to have to come with us sir." Rocky read Chris his rights and Chris said that he understood them. Rocky's partner was about to put on the handcuffs when Chris turned back to Tommy.

"Speaking of pressing charges, I am more than willing to press charges against that man."

"I ask again Tommy, what did you do this time?" Rocky inquired sighing.

"He thinks that I beat him for what he did to Kim."

Rocky silently congratulated whoever it was that did beat Chris and wished it was himself.

"You can lie all you want Tom, but I know it was you!"

Again, before Tommy could reply, Jason appeared with his arms outstretched.

"Wrong again asshole, it was me that beat the piss out of you, and I am glad that I did it. Take me Rocko."

Rocky shook his head and started to cuff Jason while reading his rights. He did not want to do this, but his job dictated the he do what was tearing him up inside. As he finished clicking the cuffs on, he leaned over and whispered in Jason's ear.

"Don't worry about anything Jason. I'll make sure that you are well taken care of until the others can get you out." Jason just nodded and allowed Rocky to lead him away. Rocky turned to have a word with Tommy.

"I obviously cannot get too involved with this, seeing as what my job is,
but trust me, I will do the best I can to help, in whatever way I can. But I would
advise you to get a lawyer as soon as possible." "Already done man, Skull should be on his way shortly."

Rocky nodded and turned to go back to his police cruiser. When everyone had left, Tommy turned his attention back to Kim who had gone quite, though she was still clinging to him. He hugged her tightly to him and told her without saying a word that he was there for her, and he was not going anywhere. When the moment had passed, he picked her up and carried her back to his bedroom.

An hour later, Kim was resting back on Tommy's bed with Tommy sitting next to her holding her hand. Hayley was also there, sitting on a chair in the corner. Samantha and Rebecca were being looked after by Aisha who had been called in a few moments before.

Also in the room and looking very unlike his high school self, was one Eugene "Skull" Skullovich. He had arrived about fifteen minutes after the arrests and had gotten immediately to work. He had gotten over his crush on Kimberly, but seeing her in the state she was currently in not only broke his heart, but made him resolve to see that she was protected legally as much as he was able.

He stopped his pacing in front of the bed and kneeled in front of Kim and Tommy.

"I have got to be honest with you two. From what you have both told me, though this is a clear cut case of domestic assault, Chris most likely will not stay in jail for long."

"What?!" Chorused the other three in the room.

Skull shook his head "it sucks I know, but I happen to know his lawyer. Damien Maxwell may be the only lawyer in this city better than me. The most I can see him getting is community service."

While Jason gets time for doing the same thing," Grumbled Tommy. "yeah; sounds fair to me."

Skull waived him off. "Don't worry about Jason. I called Kat and she is on her way to bail him out. For some reason, she already had the money and was heading down there anyway."

Kim smiled for the first time in a very long time. Tommy had called a few former rangers and all were willing to donate money to the "bail Jason out of jail fund" especially when they were told why he needed to be bailed out. Kat had been more than willing to go get her boyfriend out.

"Anyway," continued Skull, "I can and will take care of Jason. I am fully confident that I can get him community service, time served, and maybe mandatory anger management classes. It may not be as good as what Chris will get, but it's better than prison."

Tommy could not argue with that logic. "Thank you so much Skull."

"Hey, don't mention it. Don't worry about a thing you two. I will take care of this. Kim, you will have your girls. I promise you that. He beat you, meaning that he poses a danger to you and them. I will make sure that you get sole custody."

Kim, tears in her eyes, silently nodded her thanks.

"If I may suggest one thing though…"

"What's that?"

"This whole process may take awhile. I don't think it's a good idea for the three of you to stay here. While I see no problem with it, it may make things easier when it comes time for the trial."

"I can't go back there with him!" Kim wailed. "I'm sorry Tommy I just can't!"

She buried her face in Tommy's chest again while he looked over at Skull, imploring for help.

"I didn't say that you had to go home Kim. In fact, I think it would be wise to stay away from him and your home for awhile. I will file for a restraining order today so that until trial time, he has to stay away from you, and only have supervised visits with the girls."

Kim nodded. "But where can I go? Chris has control of the money and…"

"You will stay with me and Billy." Hayley had spoken up for the first time.

"Hayley no! You two are about to get married. The last thing you need is a
mess like this invading your privacy."

But Hayley would hear nothing of it. "Trust me girl, you of all people
should know that being friends with Tommy, there is very little time where
there is no drama around." She paused to smirk at the man in question who
gave her one right back..

"Anyway, we don't mind in the least. In fact, it works out fine because I really do need someone other than my mother to wedding plan with, and who better to shop for the dresses with me than the infamous shopaholic herself Kim Hart?"

"I don't know what to say Hayley, this means so much to me.
Thank you.""

"You are welcome. I am more than willing to help any way I can, and I am pretty sure I can speak for Billy on this too.'

Kim though about her surrogate brother and smiled. More than likely he would have been upset if Hayley had NOT extended the invitation.

"OK, we accept I guess. I just hope you know what you are getting into with my girls," Kim said with a smile.

"I was one myself at one time. Besides, I need to get to know my flower girls."

"Oh Hayley! Now you are being too generous!"

"I was going to ask them anyway. Do you think that they would do it?"

"No doubt they would. Sam might hesitate a bit, but she will do it, and Becky loves any excuse to get dressed up."

Skull stood up and gathered his paperwork into his
briefcase. "Well, now that this is all settled for now, I need to get going.
I want to file that restraining order before the court closes for the day.
Tommy, Kim, I will stay in touch."

Tommy again thanked Skull, and shook his hand before he hugged Kim and left. Hayley also excused herself, saying that she wanted to arrange things for Kim's arrival with Billy. Tommy sat next to Kim and drew her close. Kim lay her head on his shoulder.

"Tommy, what's going to become of us?"

"What do you mean Beautiful?"

The sound of his name for her still made her heart flutter.

Finally, I am someone's beautiful again.

"What I mean Tommy is that soon Skull is going to file for divorce for me and there will be a long trial and custody battle. I will be damned if I am going to let him near those girls again. But I need to know, where are you in all of this?"

Tommy answered without hesitation. "Where am I in all of this Kim? You should know the answer to that already. I am and always will be right next to you through the whole thing. Whatever you or your girls need, you just come to me, and I will be there. When all of this is over, you and I can start a life together."

Kim's heart skipped a beat. "Are you asking me to marry you Tommy? Because that is way, way too fast for me."

"No Beautiful that is not what I meant. What I mean is that you and I have second change together, and I want to take it. I want to get to know you more, I want to get to know Sam and Becky too. We can take this slow Kim and see where it goes. When the divorce is final, we will see where we are, and take it from there. But I do know one thing for sure."

"What's that?"

"I love you Kimberly, with all of my heart, and I want the chance to love your girls too in a way that their father has been lacking for most of their lives."

Kim's heart was butter.

"Tommy…….you have no idea what it means for me to hear that from you. I agree that we should take this slow, mainly for the sake of the case, but I want you to know that if it were not for that, I would be all over you now."

They both laughed, releasing tensions that had been building all day. Kim then got more serious.

"But know that I love you too Tommy, and I am sure that the girls will too as soon as they get to know you more."

With that, Kim fell asleep again, and Tommy held her close until he was sure she was soundly asleep before leaving the room.

He came downstairs to find the house mainly empty. Aisha was playing dolls with Becky, but Sam was nowhere to be found. Tommy looked around and found her sitting alone on the living room couch. He crossed over to her and sat down next to her.

"Mind if I join you?" he asked the girl.

Sam said nothing but gave an indifferent shrug. Tommy could tell that there was something eating at the girl.

And why shouldn't something be? This girl has been through hell in the past few hours.

"Is something wrong Sweetie? Do you want to talk about it?"

Then she spoke, and the question that she asked broke Tommy's heart.

"Why did my dad hurt my mom so badly?"

Tommy let out a long breath. Somehow, he had known this was coming, but it still did not prepare him for it.

"I really don't know hon. There is no excuse for what he did, and what he did was so wrong, you know that right?"

"Yeah."

"Good, because it is never alright to hurt anyone, especially ones that you love.'

"Does my dad love my mom?"

"Maybe at one time he did, but he did not show it last night did he?" He put his arms around the girl and gave her a tight hug.

"The only thing that you need to know now is that your mom, you, and your sister are all safe. You are going to go stay with Uncle Billy and Aunt Hayley for awhile while we go and fix things. Your mom will recover, and as long as I am around, all three of you will be safe."

Tommy's words and his hug went a long way to easing Sam's mind. She was still worried about her mom and her family, but she was starting to feel as though everything was going to be alright. She still loved her father, but from what she saw of her mother last night, it would be a long time before she was not scared of him.

"Tommy?"

"Yes Sweetie?"

"Can I call you Uncle Tommy?"

Tommy was touched by this question, though he silently hoped that he would be more than just an uncle figure to this girl and her sister.

"Of course you can, and so can Becky. Now, what do you say we all go out for some ice cream? My treat."

Sam nodded enthusiastically and ran to get her sister. Tommy went to get his wallet while Aisha got the girls ready.

I will protect them.

Skull was true to his word and moved fast. By the end of the day Kat had
bailed Jason out in short order and after a quick, but effective trial. Jason
was sentenced to forty hours of community service and ordered to attend a six
week anger management class. Jason grumbled, but decided that it was well
worth it. Skull also filed the restraining order which said that Chris could
not come within three hundred yards of Kimberly, but he could still see his
girls, providing that a court appointed representative was present at all
times. A few days later Kim moved herself and her girls into Billy and
Hayley's home and they were actually enjoying themselves quite a bit helping
her get ready for the wedding. She was still visiting Tommy, but trying to
keep the visits few and far between, not wanting anything to possibly
interfere with the upcoming divorce and custody cases.

A few weeks later...

The divorce had been relatively easy. Kim asked for nothing from the marriage
but her girls, and while Chris did try to fight it, Skull pulled some strings
and the divorce motion was passed. Kim was now a free woman, which made Tommy
endlessly happy, though Kim still wanted to hold off starting something with
him until after the custody case.

Finally, the day arrived. The hearing to determine the custody of Samantha and Rebecca Travis had come.

And there we go. The next chapter, to no one's surprise will cover the case. What will happen there and will Tommy and Kim finally come completely together? You may have to wait a bit to find out as I am leaving this weekend to go back to school. I will try to keep the wait short though. As always, please rate and review. They keep me sane at times.