Hayley and Kira had both been stunned when they were sent tickets to Kennewick, Washington with no explanation whatsoever. They had met in an airport in California and flew together into Kennewick nervous as to what they might find there.

"Hayley please tell me you have some idea why we're on this airplane?" Kira asked as they flew from Los Angeles to Kennewick.

"I wish I could answer that, Kira, but I know about as much as you do right now." Hayley replied. She really wished she could give Kira the answers she sought but she didn't know what was going on.

They were walking into the terminal when they both saw someone that looked a lot like Tommy waiting for them.

"No way... it can't be" Kira said in shock.

"It is... its Tommy." Hayley assured her as the man began to approach them. "I don't understand this, I thought he was dead."

"So did I… what's going on?" Kira wondered.

Tommy was shocked when he saw Hayley and Kira headed his way. Even more so Kira threw herself into his arms and began to sob. He hugged her tightly and began to speak softly to her trying to calm her down his wolf thrashing angrily; wanting to know who made its pup cry so it could have its revenge. Tommy shoved his wolf down, this was his fault and he and his wolf both knew it.

"Thomas Oliver, when were you going to tell us that you were still alive?" Hayley demanded justifiably infuriated at the situation and at him.

"Hayley, I'm sorry, I will explain everything, but not here." Tommy replied as Kira pulled out of his embrace.

"Where are we going?" Kira asked.

"My house" Tommy replied.

Hayley started to ask what it was he couldn't explain to them there but decided better of it, after his ranger bombshell she knew if he wanted to speak privately it was usually an earthshattering secret.

Hayley went to get hers and Kira's luggage; she was surprised when Tommy swooped in to take her suitcase and Kira's. They got to his jeep and were soon on their way to Tommy's house in Finley. Both women were still in shock and understandably so. They had just learned that the man they thought was dead for over a year wasn't in fact dead.

"I'm sorry… a lot has changed since the last time we were together and… at the time it happened I couldn't tell you what was going on and… and I wasn't safe to be around." Tommy explained as he drove.

"What on earth could have possibly happened to you that you couldn't tell us about, and what the hell was that crap about a dog attack? Clearly you weren't attacked by any dog!" Hayley shot back.

"I was attacked but… but it wasn't a dog or even a pack of dogs…" Tommy let out a long breath "It was a rogue werewolf." He braced himself for their reaction.

Kira gasped in shock and Hayley wanted to call him a liar, but she knew better, she knew Tommy wouldn't lie about something like that. He was practical, had someone been after him and this was the first time it was safe to see them he would have outright said it and even with his training regimen there was no explaining the difference in his appearance and energy. He looked like he had when they first met any touches of aging from the stress of years as a power ranger were gone, his skin was youth tight and perfect as it ever was.

"At the time werewolves were trying to keep a low profile and not let normal humans know they existed." Tommy explained "The rules back then were that changed wolves could tell spouses or family to protect them and that was it and only after they gained control of their wolf. Now… now is different. I regret not telling you all sooner, but I… you don't know how hard this is for me… becoming a werewolf has changed me in ways you can't even imagine and not just physically. I could have called you sooner but on some level I wasn't sure how far I could trust myself and… and it would kill me to hurt either of you"

"I've heard some about werewolves and how their minds work but… but to hear in person that someone I know has become one…" Hayley was at a loss for words. She didn't want to believe all of this was true but there was too much evidence to prove that it was true for her to say it was anything else.

"Kira, are you okay back there?" Tommy asked fearing that he had lost her, lost the trust she had put in him. He treasured her trust, treasured the fact that she had once felt she could come to him with any problem. She had been silent since he revealed his nature as a werewolf and that scared him more than had she started yelling and cursing at him, at least then he would have some sort of reaction from her.

"I don't know, Tommy… I mean I understand why you had to do it… I'm just still hurting… I felt like you abandoned me." He hazarded a glance at her while sitting at a stop sign, saw her eyes had misted over with unshed tears and his heart broke.

"I know… but Kira… I was still there for you, still watching even if you didn't know it." Tommy sighed reaching a hand for hers.

"What do you mean?" she asked as she took the offered hand.

"Think for a moment, was there ever a time when things magically improved when they were going bad?"

"You mean like bills magically getting paid or my bank account suddenly having money in it when I needed money to buy food or necessities?" she asked "Don't tell me that was you."

"Well it was… with a little help from some new friends." Tommy replied.

"I would have rather had you there in person…" she trailed off "but I'm grateful for what you did for me."

"I… I'm sorry Kira, Hayley… I'll do whatever I have to in order to make this right." He said his eyes focused on the road as Kira let go of his hand so he could return it to the steering wheel. "I know that money wasn't enough Kira but at the time it was all I could do. Had I seen things really go south, something that wouldn't have helped I would have dropped EVERYTHING and gone to you, don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise. You know you've been like a daughter to me, and I'd never let you get hurt without going to take care of you, I promise you that."

Kira could hear the sincerity in Tommy's words, he would have been there in a heartbeat had it come to the point where she was in danger and needed him there.

They rode in silence for a few minutes before Hayley let out a huff of breath.

"Tommy we don't need you to do anything, we… we're just glad you're alive" she admitted, Kira nodded in agreement. A gesture Tommy only saw because he chanced a glance behind him as he sat at a stop sign.

"You realize we want to know what you've been doing over the past year; right." Kira asked leaning forward in her seat as far as her seatbelt would allow.

"Yeah, I know." Tommy replied.

They got to his house, went inside and put their suitcases in the guest room then gathered in the living room to talk.

Tommy went through everything he had done and seen over the past year and both women were stunned.

"I wish I could have called you sooner, wish I could have let you know what was going on." He admitted. "That first day… I had to turn my phone off and hand it over to the pack alpha for fear that I couldn't hold out… that I'd blow everything too soon and put you all in danger from me."

He looked away, he wasn't sure they got the gravity of the fact that he wouldn't make eye contact with them, the shame, the pain that showed.

Hayley watched as Tommy stood and turned away from them and her heart broke. She had to admit that even though he had lied to them she understood why, understood that his hand was forced and couldn't deny that she was still in love with him.

"Tommy…" she stood and walked over to him.

"I'm sorry"

"Thomas James, damn it all, will you quit apologizing already, we understand… you didn't have a choice… you weren't the one who chose this path, it was chosen for you!" Hayley cut in "You're alive, we're together now, and that is all that matters!"

Kira stood, "You've said that you were sorry and we accept that… we just need to know this won't happen again."

"It won't, I promise, never again… I've hurt too many people too badly. You two mean more to me than you'll ever know." Tommy replied. "Kira what I told you back in Reefside stands, that guest room will always be open to be yours if you need it or want it, that will be true no matter where I live, you will always have a place in my home."

He then turned to Hayley.

"Hayley there is so much I've never said to you."

Hayley was shocked when she found herself in his arms.

"I love you… I have for longer than you realize."

Hayley was speechless "I… I love you too." She replied hugging him back.

Kira approached them and they pulled her into their embrace forming their small, unorthodox family.

After a few minutes Kira slipped out and went to what would be her room to unpack and get comfortable with the layout of the new house.

"Hayley, you have to realize that a lot about me has changed since I became a werewolf… some of it I still don't fully understand" Tommy whispered to Hayley. She could tell by the way he held her that something was different about him.

"Tommy, I don't expect you to be exactly the same… it has been a year and you've been through a big change."

"That's true, Hayley you have to understand that my loving you means more than it did before. I… I don't know how to explain it, I'm a dominant werewolf and being dominant means I want to protect those I care about… that means you and Kira. To hear that you wouldn't think it was so bad, but just ask Mercedes… the pack alpha's wife, she can tell you that a protective werewolf can be overbearing and controlling… and… and you know that wasn't me before."

Hayley listened to what Tommy had to say, and when he stopped speaking she stood there in his arms, allowing him to hold her and noticing that he was taking deep breaths through his nose. She figured he was committing her scent to memory, obeying the instincts that would have him use that sense to make sure she was okay.

Tommy had half convinced himself that Hayley and Kira would never forgive him, but having both of them in his arms proved beyond any doubt that they still believed in him. His wolf had pacified in ways he had never experienced before and some part of him felt that if he could hold Hayley like this forever he would be the happiest man on Earth no matter where he lived or what pack position he held. This confused him as he had no idea what that meant, he shoved it to the side for now with the promise to himself that he would ask Adam about that later. In that moment all he wanted to do was stand there with her in his arms and let the past year melt away as her scent filled his nose.

To Be Continued…