Left at the Altar

by White-Knight-1988

It was supposed to be Kimberly's perfect day, but as she learned a long time ago, perfect days are rare for Power Rangers, even former Power Rangers on the day they are to be married. Luckily, there’s someone out there who’s more than willing to help.

4. A Terrible Mistake

Title: Left at the Altar

Chapter 4 - A Terrible Mistake

Original Posting Date: March 15, 2009

--

Hunched over one of the his-and-her sinks in his bathroom, with only a white towel around his waist and shaving cream covering half his face, Tommy looked to his left where Kimberly stood in front of the other sink and smiled brightly at her. Wrapped in a matching towel, Kimberly returned the gesture and then returned to applying her makeup, completely aware that Tommy was still staring at her, apparently with no intentions of shaving the other side of his face.

It was absolutely crazy to him to think that a scenario as boring and basic as watching her put on makeup could be just as intimate as well. He had watched Katherine get ready hundreds of times over the years, but he had never paid so close of attention to the intricacies of her routine as he did with Kimberly. They had only been together for two months now and he had already memorized her whole routine; even the way she crinkled and wiggled her nose ever so cutely after powdering it made him smile like a fool.

Corny as it sounded in his head, it really did not seem like it had been two and a half months since the night he and Kimberly had slept together for the first time. For two weeks they had tried the friends-with-benefits route, only to admit that things were already far more serious between them than that, and ever since they had made their relationship official time had simply flown by so fast that it left Tommy wondering whether or not this was real or all just some incredibly detailed dream he was having.

The simple fact of the matter was that Tommy could not recall any significant length of time in his adult life prior to now where he had ever been happier: college fraternity parties with Jason; the Red Ranger mission; receiving his doctorate; the Dino Rangers; they had all been amazing experiences that he held dearly in his memories, but they also paled in comparison to these past months with Kimberly.

Just as it had been in high school, they always seemed to bring out the best in each other whenever they were together. Regardless of how they were feeling emotionally or how bad of a day they may have had, as soon as they were with each other once more it was as though everything else became blissfully unimportant, mere background noise to the main attraction that was their renewed relationship.

Unlike in his relationship with Katherine, Tommy actually found himself willing to spend a few of his weeknights doing more than grading homework to insure a good night's sleep, while weekends like this particular Friday evening were almost always spent together, usually alternating between Tommy's home in Reefside and Kimberly's in Valencia. For the first time in seven-plus years, Tommy could finally remember what it felt like to be in a real relationship, one that was built on mutual trust, equal respect, and a fair amount of give and take from both.

"Thanks again for going with me tonight," said Tommy, smiling at Kimberly as he dragged his razor across his cheek. "I know it's not the most exciting way to spend a Friday night, but it's going to be a lot more enjoyable with you around."

"What are you talking about, Tommy? This is way exciting!" said Kimberly, shadowing her eyes. "I mean, you're one of five people in the whole state nominated for Teacher of the Year for crying out loud. What could possibly be boring about that?"

Tommy stopped his shaving mid-stroke and stared at Kimberly with furrowed eyebrows. "You're joking, right?" he questioned, Kimberly shaking her head. "It's a bunch of teachers and their families listening to a bunch of lame monologues from a bunch of boring school district figureheads. I don't know about you, but I can think of a lot of things I'd rather do on a Friday night then sit in a hotel ball room with that crap."

"Yeah, like what?" said Kimberly, laughing as she put the final touches on her eyelashes.

With a few more strokes Tommy's face was perfectly smooth, and he proceeded to wash the excess shaving cream from his face before answering her question. "Making up for lost time, for starters," he replied with a wink. "Besides, I haven't gotten to see you since Monday night so my bed's been pretty lonely."

"Oh, trust me," Kimberly started, turning to face him, running her fingertips across his naked chest, "there'll be plenty of time for that later since I don't plan on going anywhere until Sunday night. I will admit though, I'm looking forward to bragging to Aisha about banging the Teacher of the Year all weekend once you win."

Tommy laughed and said, "If I win, you mean," then paused and added, "Just Aisha?"

Biting her bottom lip, Kimberly tried to fight her smile as she shrugged helplessly. "Trini got a trump card as soon as she started dating Billy. Apparently competing with a Noble Prize winner is a pretty tough business."

"Oh, so what you're saying is you'd rather have Billy than this?" said Tommy, making his pectoral muscles bounce and in turn causing Kimberly to burst out laughing.

"Trust me, I do not want Billy," Kimberly replied, shaking her head and returning to her makeup. "You know that saying about walking a mile in someone else's shoes?" she continued, Tommy nodding, "Yeah, well, I did it literally and let me just say, when wake up in the morning and look down at yourself and see that you've magically grown the penis of one of your best friends it makes certain things a bit awkward to even think about."

Kimberly cringed as she and Tommy shared yet another laugh, something that they never seemed to be short of these days. Even on the worst of days, when neither wanted anything except to stew and vent, they were almost always able to make each other laugh.

"Yeah, I can only imagine how weird it would be if I suddenly had Aisha's boobs," Tommy commented, he too cringing at the thought of switching bodies. After applying some deodorant and aftershave, he turned to Kimberly and said, "I'm gonna go get dressed, 'k?"

"Good," said Kimberly, helping him on his way by pushing him towards the door, "and don't come back in, either. I don't want you to see me in my dress until I'm all the way ready."

Standing in the doorjamb as he stared at Kimberly, Tommy opened his mouth to retort but closed it almost instantly. A joke about it not being a wedding had been on the tip of his tongue, though fortunately he had thought better of letting that one slip. She had come a long way since that day, mostly because of Tommy, but every once in a while the mention of a wedding would cause her to inexplicably burst into tears. She was not pining for Jeff or missing him in any way; it was just such a traumatizing experience all around that it was taking longer to completely get over than she had anticipated.

"You women and your clothes," said Tommy instead as Kimberly rolled her eyes and pushed him out for good. "Much better than a wedding joke," he murmured to himself, chuckling slightly as he turned to the bed where he had laid his clothes out an hour earlier.

Staring at the shirt and tie that Kimberly had picked out for him made Tommy shake his head in disbelief, amazed that he was wearing a colored shirt outside of what he had deemed his Core Four: green, white, red, and black. That the shirt and tie were both different shades of pink was even harder for him to believe; he would need ten hands to count the amount of times Katherine had asked him to wear pink, and just as many to count the amount of times he had said no. Still, even with Kimberly it had taken a few days worth of needling before he finally gave in and agreed to wear pink.

"The things I do for love," Tommy muttered, wincing as he grabbed his shirt and examined it up close. "Kim!" he shouted, "Did I miss the memo that said I had to be a walking advertisement for Pepto-Bismol?"

"Shut up and put the damn shirt on, Tommy, or I'm sticking my one of my high heels up your ass!" Kimberly yelled back.

Tommy grumbled a few choice curse words under his breath and proceeded to get dressed with a sour expression, only to find that he looked far better in pink than he ever could have imagined. It was not his favorite color by any stretch of the imagination, but it was nowhere near as bad as he had thought it would be. The tie was much darker than the shirt, almost the shade of a grapefruit, giving a nice contrast and some much needed color to his otherwise bland black suit jacket and matching pants.

"I'm never going to hear the end of this one," he muttered, knowing that Kimberly would forever seize any opportunity she was given to remind him of this night and how she had, like always, been right when it came to fashion.

Flipping his suit jacket over his shoulder Tommy sighed as he headed for the kitchen. He retrieved a beer from the refrigerator and then moved to the living room. Seated in his recliner with his feet up, a beer in one hand and the remote control in the other was his position of choice—excluding a four minute gap where he got up to move his car from the garage into the driveway—and was the same position he was in when Kimberly appeared in the living room some thirty minutes later.

Her flowing, spaghetti-strapped dress was pink, of course, almost identical to Tommy's shirt, and ended a few inches above her knees, while the three-inch gold heels on her feet left her now just six inches shorter than her date instead of the usual nine. For Tommy's part, he had been in the process of taking a drink when he first saw her, and for a few silent moments he seemed to be frozen that way, his mouth open and the bottle just inches away from his lips, before he was finally able to regain some control over himself.

"Wow," he breathed, slowly rising back to his feet. "You look…amazing."

"Thanks," said Kimberly, smiling, doing a little twirl before she started towards him, "But amazing wasn't the word that I was looking for."

"Hearing it never gets old, does it?" said Tommy with a laugh, knowing exactly what word Kimberly wanted to hear. Oh, he would let her hear it alright, but not until she had really worked for it.

Still smiling as she closed the gap between them, Kimberly bit her lip and said, "Not when you're the one saying it, no."

"You know, I really need to come up with a new nickname for you," Tommy replied, suppressing the urge to grin. "Maybe I'll call you 'gorgeous,' or 'sweetheart,' or—"

"Tommy," Kimberly whined, half-seriously.

Tommy laughed as he opened his arms for her. "Come here, Beautiful," he murmured, pulling a now happily satisfied Kimberly in for a passionate kiss that left him touching his fingertips to his lips when it had ended. "Is that…strawberry-kiwi lip gloss?"

"Just like you used to love back in high school," said Kimberly, wearing a proud smile. "I had to stop at Walgreen's on my way to work this morning, and as soon as I saw it I knew I had to buy it. You still like it, right?"

"Enough to want seconds," said Tommy, kissing her again, and then again, over and over until he was absolutely certain that his lips had permanently been flavored with the delicious taste of strawberry-kiwi lip gloss. When they finally broke apart, Tommy was all smiles as he reached out and took one of Kimberly's hands. "The other teachers are going to be so jealous when they see who I've got on my arm tonight. I'm actually afraid that that seventy year-old history teacher from Sacramento might have a heart attack when he sees you."

"If you're trying to butter me up for later," said Kimberly, smirking as she paused for a few beats, "you're definitely on the right track," she continued with a wink. "Now come on, or we'll be late. I know you could care less about being on time, but I haven't eaten since lunch and I do not want to miss dinner."

Tommy rolled his eyes, then they suddenly went wide as he pointed and snapped his head towards the door. "Hey, look, it's a giant pachinko head!"

Kimberly, clearly unimpressed, folded her arms across her chest and said, "Oh, don't even try to compare me to Rocky, or I will have to hurt you."

Laughing, Tommy motioned for Kimberly to go first, and as he followed her, he replied, "You know, I wouldn't be making threats like that to a sixth-degree black belt if I was you. I could have you on your back and begging for mercy before you even knew what hit you."

"Well, it's not like it would be the first time you did that to me," Kimberly countered, looking back at Tommy over her shoulder just long enough to shoot him a sly, sultry wink that left him grinning as he shook his head.

"Sex jokes, huh? Whatever happened to the girl who wore sundresses with combat boots?" Tommy questioned, opening the front door for Kimberly before stepping out onto the porch behind her. The glare that was waiting for him after he had finished locking the door and turned around was smug to say the least. "Oh, come on," he continued with a laugh, "I wore mesh tank tops and unbuttoned dress shirts with the sleeves ripped off. I think it's pretty safe to say that we both made our fair share of fashion mistakes back in the day."

"Sundresses with combat boots is the shit," Kimberly muttered, fighting the urge to smile as Tommy pulled her in against his side, leading them down the driveway to the vehicle he only drove on the most special of occasions.

The white 2006 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 with black racing stripes was one of Tommy's most prized possessions, and though he did not often show it off, he definitely went all out on the rare occasions he did. He had taken it to the only place in Reefside he trusted to have it washed and detailed; the paint practically sparkled, there was not a single smudge on any of the windows, and the tires and rims were still as black and shiny as they had been on the day he had bought the car last year.

"Holy crap," said Kimberly, staring at the pristine vehicle with wide eyes. "Expensive much?"

"It was worth it," Tommy replied, smiling as he moved to the passenger side door. "Check this out."

Kimberly watched as Tommy pulled the door handle, expecting it to open outwards like a normal door, laughing when it went straight into the air. "Lamborghini doors, are you freaking serious Tommy?"

"That's not even the half of it," said Tommy, grinning as though the car was his newborn child. "345 Pirelli tires, twenty inch CS1 Lexani rims, seven inch speakers and twelve inch subs from Kenwood, eight inch Sony monitors in each headrest and visor…oh," he continued, gesturing her towards the car, "and you gotta check out this custom interior."

Though her interest in cars was minimal at best, Kimberly smiled and played along simply because Tommy would have done the same for her if she had just arrived from a shopping trip with ten bags full of outfits she wanted to show off. Even so, she could not help but be impressed when she peered inside the car and laid her eyes on the custom interior Tommy was so obviously in love with.

Literally everything in the car, from the gauges on the dashboard to the seats themselves, was white and black, white being the primary color between the two. Only in four very small places was there a color other than white or black, and it was in the front of each headrest; the beak of the white falcon that had been sewn into each headrest was a golden shade of yellow.

"Oh wow, that's beautiful," Kimberly murmured, running her fingers along the bird, unable to feel even the slightest bit of stitching, "and whoever sewed the falcons did a ridiculously good job. I can't even imagine how much you must have spent on a car like this."

"You don't want to know, either," said Tommy, chuckling slightly as he rubbed the back of his neck. "My mom had a conniption fit when she found out how much it cost me, and that was before I told her about all the custom things I had added on. Dad, on the other hand, just wanted to know when I was going to let him take it for a drive."

"Does it go fast?" questioned Kimberly, with an air of naïve innocence. She was laying it on as thickly as possible without giving herself away, letting Tommy have his macho man moment while she played along perfectly.

"Does it go fast? Does it go fast?" Tommy repeated incredulously, Kimberly nodding as he threw his hands up in disbelief. "Of course it goes fast! It has a five-hundred and five horsepower, seven liter, LS7, small-block, eight-cylinder engine for cripes sake! If it had wings it could out-fly the damn Falcon Zord!"

Kimberly smiled and batted her eyelashes slightly at him. "Show me," she dared in a whisper, slipping around Tommy and into the passenger seat, looking up at him and winking as she pulled the door down.

"With pleasure," Tommy muttered to himself, hurrying around to the driver's side. Less than a minute later they were backing out of the driveway, the engine purring so beautifully it had him smiling from ear-to-ear. "You know the road that leads up to my house, after it's all bumpy and stuff?" he questioned.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Ever wondered why that mile long stretch is the only part of a ten mile road that isn't full of bumps and potholes?"

"Not really," said Kimberly, shaking her head as Tommy backed onto said road, "Why?"

"Jason borrowed a steamroller from his dad's construction company and we paved that stretch of road one weekend last year," Tommy replied, recalling the weekend in question with a fond smile, stopping to shift into first gear. "Entirely illegal, of course, but man, once we were done we must have burned through six or seven sets of tires just gassing it up and down the street. Kind of like this!"

And with that he slammed his foot down on the gas, the tires squealing momentarily before the car shot forward at breakneck speeds, going from zero to sixty miles per hour in less than four seconds as Kimberly yelled "Oh shit, oh shit!," one hand grasping the edge of her seat while the other held on firmly to the handle above the window. By the time Tommy was forced to slow down they had reached well over one-hundred and twenty miles per hour, and Kimberly's heart was now pounding against her chest.

"'Does it go fast?' What kind of bullshit question is that?" Tommy muttered, shaking his head while trying not to laugh at Kimberly's pure white face. For a woman who had flown three aerial Zords by the age of sixteen, her tolerance for land speeds was clearly much smaller.

"You've made your point," said Kimberly, relaxing her hands a bit. "Now let's keep it under eighty-five, okay?"

"Party pooper," Tommy replied, smiling as he reached out to take her hand, raising it to her lips and kissing it. "It's gonna be a good night, Kim."

"Yeah," said Kimberly, nodding and squeezing his hand simultaneously, "I think it will be."

--

Several hours later Tommy sat behind the wheel of his car in silence, having listened to Kimberly go on and on for nearly twenty minutes about how this was the coolest thing ever: cooler than being a former Power Ranger; cooler than owning the most successful gymnastics school on the west coast; even cooler than winning multiple gold medals in front of millions at the Pan Global Games. Tommy, however, did not seem to think that winning Teacher of the Year was that cool at all, or if he did he was doing a very good job of hiding it.

The truth of the matter was that Tommy hated being praised for things, much preferring to just go about his business and fly under the radar undetected. That was part of what he loved so much about being a Power Ranger. Sure the media had praised the Green Ranger and the White Ranger, the Red Ranger, and the Black Ranger too, but never Tommy Oliver; it was never him they were talking about, never his face plastered on newspapers and television screens all over the country.

Ever since they had left the hotel Kimberly had done nothing but dot over him, telling him repeatedly how proud she was of him, or commenting on how great she thought the award he had been given was. Had it held a little golden baseball player taking a swing it would have looked like a regular old trophy, but instead a life-size apple made of solid gold took the place of the sports figurine.

"Kim, it's really not that big of a deal," Tommy murmured, growing increasingly uncomfortable each time she said something about his victory. "I mean, I guess it's cool and everything, but I honestly would have rather lost. Did you see the look on that poor lady's face from the Bay Area when they announced my name? Our district superintendent said that she's been nominated seven times over the last twenty-five years and hasn't won it even once. She deserved to win more than I do."

"That's a sweet sentiment Tommy, but the person who deserved to win is the one who won," said Kimberly, smiling at the way Tommy so visibly hated being in the spotlight. Most people she knew would have been ecstatic to receive such a prestigious award, but not Tommy, who had spent the entire five minutes he had been given to make a speech trying miserably to play his victory down. "Why can't you just be happy that you won like every other person on the planet would be in your shoes?"

Tommy half-chuckled half-scoffed and said, "I am happy, Kim. Being named Teacher of the Year is a huge honor, but you know how much I hate being recognized for something as simple as doing my job. It's like, why should I get an award for doing what I'm supposed to be doing? People nowadays expect to be noticed and rewarded for every little thing they do; the award is an honor, like I said, but it's not something I want or need to validate my happiness."

Kimberly stared back at Tommy for a few beats, jokingly pondering the idea of whether or not Tommy was even a real human being. "I don't get it," she said finally, shaking her head. "I'd be calling everyone I knew to tell them that I had won if I was in your shoes, and you haven't even called your parents!"

"I thought you didn't want me telling them about us."

"What does that have to do with telling them about tonight?"

Stopping at a red light, Tommy turned to Kimberly and looked at her blankly. "You know my mom, Kim. I can't just call and tell her that I won, she'll want to play twenty questions about everything that happened. She'll want to know what I wore and if I looked presentable, what I ate for dinner, who I went with…I can deal with not telling her about us, even though you know I don't agree with your reasons for it, but if I call her she will ask who I went with, and I won't outright lie to her; not to my parents."

Sighing, Kimberly averted her eyes and focused on the street through her door's window. "Maybe it's time you tell her then," she murmured, still not looking at Tommy. "It's going to have to happen sooner or later; we might as well just get it over with now so I can start paying my penance."

"You really feel that way, don't you? After all these years you really think my mom hates you?" he asked, Kimberly nodding. Chuckling as he shook his head, Tommy reached out and took Kimberly's hand. "My mom adores you, Kim, and she always has. Sure, there was a little stint there where she thought she hated you, but that's only because I thought I felt the same way."

"Mothers don't forget the girls that broke their son's heart, Tommy," Kimberly argued, finally turning back to him with glistening eyes. "More than anything else though, I guess I'm just…embarrassed about what I did to you. To this day I still haven't forgiven myself for the way I hurt you."

Smiling, Tommy gently ran his thumb over the top of her hand. "Well, you need to," he replied, as the light changed to green and they started driving once more. "I've gotten over it, Kim; if I hadn't, we wouldn't be where we are right now, and you can rest assured my mom has gotten over it as well. It sounds like the only person left to get over it is you."

"I'm not you, Tommy, the guy who lets nothing bother him," said Kimberly, almost as though she was bitter over this fact. "I can't just forget things like that. I wish I could, but I can't. Regardless of how much time has passed since then, part of me will always hate what I did to you and that's all there is to it."

"No one expects you to forget what happened, Beautiful, but you can't let it eat you up like this either. It's one of those—" Tommy started, falling silent when his cell phone started to ring. "Hang on," he continued, reaching into his pocket and extracting his phone, looking at the caller ID with a wry grin.

"Who is it?"

"The madre," said Tommy, flipping his phone open and raising it to his ear. "Hello—"

"Hi Tommy—"

"—you've reached the voicemail of Tommy Oliver," he continued, shooting a wink to Kimberly who looked like she could not decide whether to laugh or lecture. "I can't come to the phone right now, but if you leave your name, number, and a message I'll call you back as soon as I can. BEEEEEEP!"

"Oh, you are just a regular old comedian, aren't you son?" said Janet Oliver, she and Tommy sharing a laugh.

"Don't act like the first dozen times you fell for it weren't funny, Mom," Tommy teased, looking to Kimberly with a reassuring smile because the nervousness on her face was so visibly evident. "If you're calling to find out what happened, I won," he added, pausing and rolling his eyes when his mother started squealing with delight on the other end of the phone. "Mom…Mom, seriously…it's really not that big of a deal…Aww Mom, do I really have to?"

Sighing, Tommy covered the speaker with his hand and turned to Kimberly. "Told ya she'd want to hear all about it." Swallowing hard, Kimberly braced herself for the worst and nodded to Tommy, signaling that she was ready for whatever hellfire and brimstone Mrs. Oliver planned on raining down on her. Squeezing her hand in understanding, Tommy continued, "Well, what do you want to know Mom? It was a nice little ceremony in the ballroom of the Los Angeles Hilton…I don't know, there were maybe two hundred or so people there, mostly teachers and administrators with their families.

"Yes, Mom, I had the steak…It was okay, a little overdone for me, but I wasn't expecting a Morton's steak or anything spectacular like that either…A lot of people talked, superintendents and principals and other teachers…You know me, Mom, it took everything I had not to fall asleep in the middle of the whole thing…Yeah, then they announced the winner, I gave a little speech, we had dessert and danced a little bit and that was it…Who'd I dance with? What, are you expecting to know the person or something?…I wasn't trying to be fresh, Mom…Alright, alright, it's this girl I've been seeing for a couple months now, okay?…Yeah, I already told you that Kat and I were done a long time ago…I dunno, Mom…Yeah, I guess you could say it's pretty serious."

"If you ever wanna get laid again, it's serious," Kimberly grumbled, pretending to be angry.

Tommy just smiled her way and continued on with his conversation. "Yeah, Mom, I think you actually know her in fact…Her name? Here, why don't you just talk to her yourself?"

And before Kimberly could do anything about it Tommy had thrust the phone into her hands with a Don't-Even-Try-To-Get-Out-Of-This-One look on his face, an expression that left no room for argument. Glaring at him with narrowed eyes, Kimberly gave Tommy a one finger salute and took the phone, raising it to her ear with clear trepidation.

"H-hello?" said Kimberly meekly.

"Kimberly, is that you?" said Janet.

Kimberly's eyes went wide with surprise. "How did you know it was me, Mrs. Oliver?"

Tommy laughed heartily at this, not the least bit surprised that his mother had instantly recognized Kimberly's voice. Even into her late fifties Janet had a memory like a steel trap, able to recall nearly every voice and face she had ever come in contact with, no matter how brief her encounter with them was.

Once again Tommy found himself sitting in silence, listening to Kimberly's side of the conversation with a smile that was so very happy. It only took a matter of moments before Kimberly's entire presence seemed to relax, and soon after that she and Janet were talking and laughing like old friends catching up from a long absence, even sharing a few quiet jokes about the man seated next to her. Tommy did not care if her laughter was at the expense of himself—though he knew it was more likely to be his memory they were making fun of—just as long as she was laughing, and hopefully realizing that his mother did not begrudge her for the past.

By the time Kimberly handed him the phone back some fifteen minutes later Tommy could tell that her fears had been banished. He took the phone from her and smiled brightly, overjoyed at the expression Kimberly now wore: all smiles; suddenly affectionate, leaning across the car and nuzzling her nose against Tommy's arm as he resumed his conversation with his mother.

"Hi, Mom…Yeah, I know, crazy huh?" he murmured, sharing a pleasant smile with Kimberly. "I know, Mom…Yeah, I would have told you sooner, but we wanted to make sure this was the real thing before we started announcing it to everyone," he continued, lying to his mother for the first time in years, all for Kimberly's sake. "You know how it is, Mom…I don't think either of us intended for it to happen, it just kind of did…Yeah, yeah, I'm very happy, Mom, everything is going great…Dinner next weekend? I don't think I have plans, but I'll have to check with Kim and get back to you, k?…Alright, Mom…Yeah, I love you too, and tell Dad I said hi for me as well, okay?…Okay, bye Mom."

"Alright, let's hear it," said Kimberly, once he had hung up and returned his phone to his pants pocket. "Let's hear you say 'I told you so.'"

Tommy laughed. "Well, I did, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you did," said Kimberly, smiling as she nodded her head. "I don't know why I didn't listen to you in the first place. Now that I've actually talked to your mom, I kind of just feel silly about the whole thing. Your mom has always been so nice to me—"

"That's because she knows how happy you make me," said Tommy, wrapping the arm he was not using to steer around Kimberly's shoulder, allowing her to make something of a pillow out of his arm as she nestled the side of her head against it.

"You make me happier," Kimberly murmured, certain her cheeks would hurt in the morning from all the smiling she was doing. It was worth it though, to feel this happy, happier than she could ever recall being.

"Yeah, I guess I'd be pretty happy too if I was dating me," replied Tommy, laughing.

Kimberly smacked his arm and gave him an admonishing look, but joined his laughter nonetheless. "Oh, so the man who has led four teams of Power Rangers is a narcissist? Big surprise there."

Their teasing, playful banter continued off and on like this until they pulled into Tommy's garage nearly two hours later. When they entered through the garage and into the kitchen Kimberly quickly declared that she was going to change, but as she turned to leave Tommy reached out and took hold of her wrist, pulling her into his chest.

"Don't," he whispered, one hand on the small of her back, the other trailing lazily through her long auburn locks as he kissed her forehead. "I've been staring at you in that dress all night, the least you can do is give me the pleasure of tearing it off you."

"Feeling a little frisky, are we?" Kimberly teased, running her fingers up and down Tommy's chest, tilting her head in the universal signal that said she wanted to be kissed. Tommy was more than happy to oblige, but just seconds after he had captured her lips the house phone started to ring. He groaned angrily and moved to answer the phone, but Kimberly held onto him firmly, refusing to let him go, tearing her lips away just long enough to say, "Let the machine get it."

And so he did, hoisting Kimberly onto his waist and carrying her to the bedroom, completely oblivious to the fact that that one message would ultimately lead to more trouble than he ever could have expected.

--

Sitting at the kitchen table late the following morning, Kimberly standing against the wall some fifteen feet away from him, Tommy tried as hard as he could not to replay the message from the night before in his head. It had only been ten minutes since he had played the message for the first time, thinking that Kimberly's presence in the room would not have been a problem. Now, however, as she glared at him with a fear-inspiring look, it continued to repeat itself in his head, Tommy's silently wishing that he had waited until she was not around before playing it.

"Hey Tommy, it's Andros. Long time no talk, huh? Listen man, I heard about what happened with you and Katherine. Sorry to hear about the breakup, but uh…I hope you don't mind me asking this, but are you still coming to Ashley's charity thing tonight? I understand if you don't want to since Kat's going to be there and everything, but Ashley was really hoping you would still come, and I told her I'd call you to find out for sure, so that's what I'm doing. Anyway man, call me back when you get this and let me know, alright? Talk to you later."

"I still don't understand why you have to go now that you and Kat aren't together anymore," said Kimberly, almost icily.

Setting his coffee mug down on the table, Tommy rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed audibly. "Because I don't break my promises, Kim, especially not to one of my best friends. I agreed to go as a favor to Andros—long before Jason decided to have his party the weekend after his birthday—and that's what I'm going to do. What I still don't understand is why you're so adamant about not wanting me to go. I mean, it's just some charity dinner and a silent auction, not a party at the freaking Playboy Mansion or something."

"You know why I don't want you to go, Tommy," Kimberly replied, folding her arms across her chest, staring back at him defiantly. "Andros just said that Kat is going to be there. She practically blew your phone up for a month straight after you guys broke up, from what I've heard she still hasn't gotten over you, and to be quite honest I don't really trust her."

"Do you trust me?" asked Tommy, slowly rising to his feet.

Kimberly rolled her eyes. "That's beside the point."

"No it's not," said Tommy firmly, closing the distance between them. "Just answer the question, yes or no? Do you trust me?"

The answer came to Kimberly before she could even think on it, causing her to sigh as she said, "Yes, I do trust you, Tommy, but like I just said, I don't trust Kat anymore. Who knows what she'll try to pull with me not there?"

Standing in front of her, Tommy reached out and took one of Kimberly's hands. "Then come," he replied. "It's not like Jason's going to lose sleep or anything if you're a couple hours late to his birthday party."

Allowing her eyes to flutter shut for a few moments, Kimberly shook her head as she reopened them and murmured, "I can't, Tommy. I already missed his party last year because of Jeff, and Jason still hasn't let me hear the end of it. If I'm even five minutes late…"

"I don't know what to tell you then, Beautiful," said Tommy, pulling her against his chest for a one-armed hug, rubbing his hand up and down her back. "Listen, nothing is going to happen between Kat and I, okay? We've barely even talked since the breakup, so trust me when I say that there's nothing for you to worry about; no old feelings or any of that crap, and if for some reason she does try something, I won't let it happen."

"Promise?" said Kimberly, looking up, staring into his deep brown eyes for the answer that would come before it had been verbalized.

Tommy smiled down at her. "I promise," he whispered, sealing it with a kiss.

Kimberly nodded, but inside she was not entirely sure that she believed him. More than anything in the world she wanted to trust Tommy, and ninety-nine percent of the time she did, but this whole situation just screamed danger to her: Tommy and Katherine in the same place; none of the other Rangers around, or at least none that Kimberly had ever met before. It made a very large part of her sad to know that Jeff was still having this much of an affect on her more than six months after their failed wedding.

She did not want it to be this way, not even a little bit, but this was simply one of those things that she had no control over. Maybe one day it would go away for good; or maybe it wouldn't, and Kimberly would be forced to live the rest of her life never being fully able to trust whatever man she was involved with. The latter of the two possible options scared her more than any words could ever say.

Tommy, however, felt even worse about the whole thing than Kimberly did. He had not really wanted to attend the event in the first place, but Katherine had badgered him about it for so long, literally broken down his defenses, that he instantly gave in and said yes the first time Andros called and asked him to come. Now, despite the fact that he did not want to go, he knew that he had to, and what was even worse than that was that Kimberly clearly did not trust him to be in the same room as Katherine without her there too.

Thinking about what had happened earlier as he drove to the event later that night, Tommy silently wondered why he had not reacted the same way to Kimberly that he had to Katherine when put in almost identical situations. Sure, Kimberly had not threatened their relationship when he told her he was going, but there was also the contending fact that he and Katherine were not even on friendly terms so the odds of anything happening between them were exponentially smaller.

So why had he not blown up in Kimberly's face? Why had he not chastised her for not trusting him, just like he had done to Katherine on the night of his birthday? Almost at once the answer came to him, causing Tommy to sigh as he shot down the freeway in his Jeep, en route to Los Angeles for the second time in as many days.

He did not get defensive or yell at Kimberly because her actions were not all her own; part of her was still very much hurting from what had happened with Jeff, perhaps the only excuse in the world that could have prevented an outburst. With Katherine he would have yelled; with Kimberly it only made him want to work even harder, just so he could prove to her how much he truly loved her with every ounce of energy in his body.

Entering the ball room of yet another hotel this weekend, Tommy immediately started to look around for Andros, and breathed a deep sigh of relief when he saw the long, blond-and-black hair of his old friend amongst a group of others whom Tommy also instantly recognized: T.J. Johnson's bald head; Cole Evans and his shaggy brown do; Eric Myers' military style crew cut; Wes Collins' dirty blond surfer hair, all of which caused a smile to creep across Tommy's face. If he was going to be spending most of the night here, at least he could share his misery with some fellow ex-Rangers, certain that they, like him, were here because of their girlfriends and wives, ex-girlfriend in Tommy's case of course.

As he approached the group, Tommy pondered for what had to be the millionth time how he had come to be friends with this bunch. Like Jason, Tommy had served with all of them on the Red Ranger mission a few years back, but once they had all gone their separate ways it was as though Jason had forgotten about all of them except Tommy, almost as if befriending them would be like mixing business with pleasure. Tommy, however, a self-admitted brooder though he was, had always found great joy in having many friends, something his hectic childhood had not allowed him before finally settling in Angel Grove.

"Hey, hey, hey, there he is!" exclaimed T.J., raising a beer bottle in salute.

"Oh my God, it's really him!" said Wes, jumping up and down, squealing like a thirteen year-old girl at a Backstreet Boys concert with one hand covering his mouth, the other one pointing at Tommy. "I can't believe it you guys, it's really him. It's Tommy Oliver!"

Tommy rolled his eyes as he entered the group, extending his hand to Andros who was nearest, making his way around their semi-circle formation. "Hilarious, Wes," he muttered lowly upon reaching the Red Time Force Ranger. "Absolutely fucking hilarious."

"Hey now, what would Kat think if she heard you talking like that?" Cole interjected, jokingly slapping Tommy's arm as five former Red Rangers stared at him in disbelief. "Uh, did I say something wrong?"

He obviously had not gotten the memo.

"We, uh, we aren't together anymore, Cole," Tommy replied, not surprised that the news had already traveled through the extended Ranger Circle, even less surprised that it had flown right over Cole's head. Seeing the embarrassed and apologetic look on Cole's face, Tommy quickly added, "Hey man, don't worry about it. Trust me, I got over it real quick."

"As evidenced by the date you clearly don't have," said Eric dryly, causing a split between the group, those who laughed and those who wore curiously confused looks, as if silently asking Tommy why he of all people had no date for the night.

Tommy was one of the ones who laughed, quickly firing back with, "She didn't want to embarrass any of your women, that's all, and believe me, being the original Pink, she would have done just that if she had come."

Wes raised a quizzical eyebrow at this. "You and Kim are back together?" he questioned, Tommy nodding. "Dude, when did that happen? I heard about you and Kat from Jen, like, the day after it happened, but I had no idea about Kim. Last I even heard about her was from you, and you said she was engaged to some douche bag."

"Didn't work out," said Tommy, quickly snatching a beer bottle from a passing waiter so he had something in his mouth to prevent himself from saying too much. "Anyway," he continued after swallowing a long drink, "I'm not surprised you didn't hear. Kat loves to gossip just like the rest of the girls, but not when it makes her look bad."

Andros shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know Tommy, the way I heard it from Ashley, Kat pretty much shouldered all of the blame for you guys breaking up. She said she didn't trust you and was jealous of some other girl when she had no reason to be. I doubt she said those things to make herself look good."

"Seriously?" said Tommy, looking around at the group, all of whom—with the exclusion of Cole, of course—nodded their heads to confirm that they had indeed heard stories similar to the one Andros had been told. "Wow," he murmured, rubbing the back of his neck. "I didn't think she had it in her."

They all laughed about that, and from there the conversation turned much less serious until a visibly pregnant Ashley Hammond decided to intervene a little while later. Eric was in the midst of a fairly raunchy joke when the Yellow Space Ranger appeared, causing the whole group to fall into a silent, respectful acknowledgement.

"Oh, please, don't let me interrupt you Eric," said Ashley, smiling at the Quantum Ranger. "What exactly does the naked priest end up doing with the bar stool and the beer bottle?"

Eric's face became a shade of red more crimson than his Ranger uniform, while everyone else in the group laughed at his expense. Everyone except Andros, that is, who merely chuckled as he approached Ashley.

"Everything going okay, sweetie?" asked Andros, rubbing the sides of his wife's arms. "Do you need me to do anything?"

Ashley smiled and gave Andros' red tie a tug, followed by a quick kiss. "Everything is going great; well, almost everything, anyway. That's kind of why I'm here," she replied, looking around at the other men, her eyes gleaming when they settled on Tommy. "Just the man I was looking for." Tommy suddenly felt the urge to run, everyone else looking at him in confusion as Ashley approached him and murmured, "Can I borrow you for just a minute?"

Though he sensed danger in ways that only five years as a Power Ranger could detect, he swallowed hard and nodded, looking back at the guys and shrugging before he turned to follow Ashley around a corner.

"What's up?" said Tommy, after she had stopped and turned to face him.

"I have a huge favor to ask you," said Ashley, the hope evident in her voice even before she had told him what that favor actually was, which also happened to be Tommy's next question. "Part of the silent auction is a kiss-auction. They're huge with the rich, middle aged women that come to these things. I got some of my friends to do it, but two of them backed out at the last minute and I haven't been able to find a replacement. Since your single and everything, I was wondering if you'd be willing to help out."

Tommy laughed and shook his head. "I'd love to, Ashley, bu—"

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" exclaimed Ashley, simultaneously jumping up and down before throwing her arms around Tommy. "You have no idea how much this means to me. You literally just saved the day. Thank you so much!"

And then she was gone, running off as fast as she could in high heels and a dress. For quite some time Tommy just stared at the spot where she had been standing, wondering whether or not that had really just happened. All sorts of thoughts began to flood his head when the realization set in that it had not simply been the fiction of his mind, but that Ashley genuinely believed he was going to do it.

Was he going to do it? No, he told himself with a laugh, shaking his head at the thought. He couldn't auction himself off when he had a girlfriend that he loved, even if it was just a kiss for charity, in the form of a hospital that Tommy very much respected, one that gave care to sick and injured children even when their parents could not afford it. Plus, Ashley had said these things were a hit with rich, middle aged women. Certainly Kimberly would not be mad at him for kissing a woman in her late forties if it earned a respectable sum for an even more respectable charity. Hell, if Kimberly was there right now, Tommy was almost positive that she would encourage him to do it.

With no intention of doing so, Tommy had just bludgeoned his mind into agreeing with Ashley's request, but even though he had decided to do it, it would not happen without first laying down some ground rules. Retrieving another beer from the same passing waiter, Tommy marched off to where Ashley was standing at the other end of the spacious ballroom. He said nothing as he approached her from behind, simply taking her by the elbow and raising a finger to the people she was talking to as he pulled her away, letting them know that he would return her back to them when he was done with her.

"Alright, here's the deal," said Tommy firmly, once he had her relatively alone. "If I'm going to do this there are a few conditions. If you can't agree to them, then I'm sorry, but you'll have to find yourself another kisser."

Ashley raised an eyebrow and said, "What are your conditions?"

"First, no tongue," Tommy answered, raising his pointer finger as Ashley laughed and nodded her agreement. "Second," he continued, adding his middle finger, "three seconds, tops."

"Five."

"Four."

"Fine," said Ashley, nodding. "What else?"

Tommy stood a little bit straighter now, folding his arms across his chest, silently telling Ashley that this condition was one that was absolutely non-negotiable. "No Kat," he told her firmly.

A curious expression came onto Ashley's face at that. "Are you serious?" she asked, Tommy nodding just once. "That's fine, I'll make sure to let her know not to bid, but just so you know, I don't think she would have anyway."

"Oh yeah? Why is that?" said Tommy.

Ashley smiled. "She's got a boyfriend, Tommy," she replied, patting Tommy on the shoulder as she started to move passed him.

"What?" said Tommy, turning around. "Who?"

Ashley looked back, but did not stop walking. "I don't know," she answered, shrugging. "He's never around when she's with us, and no matter how hard we try to beat it out of her, she won't tell any of us who it is. It's getting a bit annoying, really."

She then waved goodbye and was gone once more, disappearing back into the crowd of people. Two hours and a four-second kiss with a fifty-year old woman that had gone for twenty-five hundred dollars later, Tommy sat alone at the bar, sipping on a beer and trying to decide whether he had been there long enough to leave. His hope of company with his fellow Red Rangers had disappeared when their girlfriends and wives had all come calling, leaving Tommy to fend for himself amongst a sea comprised mostly of strangers.

He was just about to get up and leave when a hand fell on his back, a touch he instantly recognized even before the soft, accented voice said, "Can I buy you a drink before you go?"

Tommy squeezed his eyes shut momentarily, prayed it was all a dream, and then turned around on his bar stool to find that it was really Katherine standing behind him, dressed to the nines in a sultry black cocktail dress, just as gorgeous as he remembered her being. This was exactly the situation he had promised Kimberly he would not put himself in, yet here he was right in the middle of it. Then again, Ashley had also said that Katherine had found a new boyfriend, so maybe it would not be as bad as he feared.

"Well I guess that depends on what you're here for," Tommy replied coolly, eyeing his ex-girlfriend carefully.

"I'm not here to try and win you back, if that's what you're worried about. I know you're happy with Kimberly, and I would never try to break you guys apart," said Katherine, slowly turning to look at the empty seat next to Tommy's. "Can I sit?"

Thinking about it for just a moment, Tommy sighed and nodded, but reminded himself to keep his guard up just in case Katherine's intentions were not as honest as she had proclaimed them to be. "I heard you've got a new boyfriend," he commented as Katherine sat and then nodded. "You gonna tell me who it is?"

Katherine smiled. "Only if you promise not to freak out, and also promise that you won't tell him I told you."

"Oh, so I know the guy?" asked Tommy, Katherine nodding once more. "Alright," he continued with a chuckle, "I promise. Who's the guy?"

"Jason," said Katherine, smiling so brightly it was astounding.

In the seven years they had been together and the few months they had not, Tommy was hard pressed to recall a time where he had ever seen Katherine's light up as they had when naming his best friend. For a few silent moments Tommy stared at her in shock, this time not questioning the reality of what he had just heard, but his very sanity as a whole. Jason and Katherine? Like, seriously? Had he somehow been unknowingly sucked into some sort of Bizarro world where everything was topsy-turvy? Was this Oz, or perhaps Wonderland?

"Are you going to say anything, Tommy?" asked Katherine, after a few silent moments had turned into well over a minute and a half.

Tommy blinked rapidly and shook his head clear. "Sorry," he muttered, trying to play it off as casually as he could.

"It's okay," said Katherine, smiling. "I expected you to be surprised. Hell, I was pretty surprised myself when it happened. I mean, I always thought Jason was rather cute and everything, but I had never felt anything even remotely close to romantic until very recently."

Again, Tommy did not immediately reply, though he did remind himself not to drift off for a second time. He did not want to say anything without first figuring out how he actually felt. This was big news, and his shared history with both parties involved required his responses to be genuine, despite the way things had ended between himself and Katherine.

"Are you happy?" asked Tommy, determining that her response would decide how he felt.

Smiling, Katherine nodded and said, "Very. It's so great, Tommy. I just…I feel more alive then I've felt in years."

"Ah, well, I'm sorry I made you feel like a corpse for so long," Tommy replied dryly, a small part of him stinging from her response.

"Oh, Tommy, I didn't mean it like that," said Katherine apologetically. "I obviously wasn't thinking when I said it, either. It seems like things have a way of coming out badly when I talk to you, doesn't it?"

Tommy nodded, but said nothing, forcing Katherine to try and dig herself out of this hole she had so gallantly gotten herself into.

"Look, Tommy, can you honestly say you were happier with me then you are with Kimberly?" asked Katherine, Tommy looking slightly embarrassed with himself as he shook his head. "That's all I was trying to say, I just worded it badly. I think we both know in our hearts, no matter how hard we tried to make it work, it just wasn't meant to be."

"I never sought out to be more than friends with Kim, you know," said Tommy, taking a drink from his beer bottle, as if that response somehow validated the genuineness of his happiness over Katherine's.

"I never sought out to be more than friends with Jason, either," Katherine replied, shaking her head. "But isn't that how almost all relationships start out in the first place? You and I just didn't jump right into it, and from what you told me, you and Kimberly didn't either the first time around. The truth of the matter is that we tried our hearts out, failed miserably, and have now found happiness elsewhere. It's as simple as that."

Setting his drink down on the bar, Tommy furrowed his brow and asked, "What's your point?"

"My point is that it's silly for us to behave like children around each other," said Katherine firmly. "We started out as friends, Tommy, and regardless of what happened after that, I want you to know that you will always have my friendship if you want it."

Tommy did not have to think on it for very long. With his mind made up, he grinned and said, "Can I ask you something?"

Katherine smiled. "Sure," she replied, nodding. "Ask away."

"Didn't you realize after the first time that pretending to forget your boyfriend's birthday leads to bad things?" asked Tommy, laughing heartily.

Katherine stared back at him, caught off guard for just the briefest of moments, and then she was laughing right along with him. In a matter of just minutes it had become painfully obvious between them that things were so much easier without the blanket of a dying relationship hanging over their heads.

"He knows I'm going to be a bit late for the party," said Katherine, once the laughter had ceased. "Speaking of the party," she continued, turning to the clock behind the bar and then back to Tommy, "I should probably get going soon. Are you going as well?"

Tommy nodded. "Yeah, I am. As a matter of fact, I was actually just about to leave when you showed up. I think this is the first time in seven years that I'm going to be late for something because of you."

Katherine laughed and rolled her eyes. "What are you talking about? The party started over two hours ago, you're already late."

Smirking, Tommy shook his head. "Ah, but therein lies the loophole. Jason knows I'm going to be late, Kim told him between two and three hours. Now, as I was about to leave fifteen minutes ago, it's been two hours and fifteen minutes since Jason's party started, and it takes an hour to get to his house, I'm going to be at least fifteen minutes late on account of you, even longer if we keep standing here talking."

"Now I see why you have a PhD," said Katherine, feigning awe. "You bullshitted your way right through the doctorate program."

"Oh, is that what you think?" said Tommy, raising his eyebrows as Katherine laughed and nodded. "Don't even make me get into the biological, physiological, and morphological physics required to build a power source that is not only strong enough to continuously provided fully-charged morphs, but also able to do so without killing the user of said source in the process. Ladies and gentleman, I present to you my lovely creation, the Dino Gems."

Rolling her eyes as Tommy bowed on his seat, Katherine stood up and shook her head at him. "Yeah, yeah, I've already told you a thousand times how impressive that was. What else have you got, though?"

"Doesn't matter, I don't need anything else when I've got that," Tommy answered, standing and grinning victoriously. "You know, it sucks we were broken up at the time, 'cause I looked damn good in black spandex."

Again, Katherine rolled her eyes, this time pushing Tommy towards the exit. "In the words of our former Yellow Ranger, 'Whatever you say, flyboy,'" she replied, sharing another laugh with Tommy. "So tell me something," she continued. "Are you okay with me and Jason? I know it may seem silly, but considering that I'm your ex-girlfriend and Jason is your best friend, we both kind of want your approval on this one."

Tommy smiled and threw his arm around Katherine's shoulder, giving her a playful one-armed hug against his side. "If you guys are happy together, then I'm happy for you, and more than okay with whatever you guys decide to do."

"Really?" said Katherine, looking up at a nodding Tommy. "Thank you," she murmured, smiling happily as they stepped out of the hotel lobby and into the cool of night. "That really means a lot to me."

"Well I'm glad, but the fact of the matter is that it's your life, Kat. Even if I didn't approve, I couldn't stop you guys from being together," Tommy replied, releasing his hug and bringing their walk to a stop on the sidewalk as he looked around from side to side, then back to Katherine. "Where are you parked?"

"I couldn't get a spot in the parking lot so I had to use the garage across the street," said Katherine. "Why?"

"Come on, I'll walk you to your car," said Tommy, starting them along once more.

"That's nice of you, Tommy, but you really don't have to," said Katherine. "I'm a big girl, you know."

Tommy smiled and nodded. "I know, Kat, but that doesn't change the fact that it's ten o'clock at night and you're an attractive woman in the middle of downtown Los Angeles. Just humor me and let me make sure you get to your car safe, okay?"

Katherine laughed, and as they stepped into the crosswalk, murmured, "And they say chivalry is dead."

"Not on my watch," said Tommy, winking. They chatted casually for a few more minutes, but then they had reached Katherine's car and were saying their goodbyes, in the form of a friendly hug and a kiss to Tommy's cheek from Katherine. "Are you heading straight to Jason's?" he asked, closing the door to her car once she had settled into her seat, waiting for her to roll down the window.

"No, I have to make a pit stop at the supermarket on the way, why?"

"Just wondering," Tommy lied, not wanting her to know that his concern for her went beyond just getting her to her car in one piece. When it came to the three most important women in his life: his mom, Kimberly, and Katherine, he took no prisoners in regards to their safety. If he had not verified her detour, he would have presumed her late for no reason and started to worry. It was not necessarily a trait he was proud of, being so overprotective, but all the years he had spent leading the Power Rangers had forever engrained in him a need to look out for the people closest to him.

Katherine rolled her eyes and waved goodbye, bringing her window back up as she backed out of her parking spot. Fifteen minutes later Tommy was back in his Jeep and speeding along the highway, even sharing a laughing middle finger exchange with Katherine when he passed her Mustang on the way to Jason's house.

It was just after eleven o'clock when he pulled up to Jason's own secluded house, his on the outskirts of Angel Grove. Tommy eyed the scene outside curiously, caught somewhat off guard as he parked in front of a nearly deserted house. Only the cars of Jason, Zack, Billy, Rocky, Adam, and Kim were present, an oddly small crowd for a birthday party that Zack had been charged with planning.

He approached the front door carefully, that sixth sense he had developed as a Ranger kicking in in full force. Something was not right, he was certain of that. What it was, however…

The front door creaked as he pushed it open, Tommy stepping into the eerie silence of the foyer. "Hello?" he called out, looking around as he started to make his way towards the kitchen. "Lucy, I'm home!"

"We're in here, Tommy!" Tanya replied from the living room, simultaneously diverting Tommy in that direction.

"What's going on?" asked Tommy, looking around at a rather depressed scene. Kimberly and Jason were nowhere in sight, and neither were Aisha or Trini. Those who remained: Adam, Billy, Rocky, Tanya, and Zack, were all sullen-faced and spread out across the various pieces of living room furniture.

"We're not sure," said Billy, shaking his head. "According to someone else who is no longer presently in attendance, Kimberly went for a walk with a bottle of tequila, and was rather belligerent when she returned. She started screaming incoherently about how she knew she was right and how it was happening all over again. Jason, Aisha, and Trini managed to get her upstairs, while we were all charged with removing any non-Ranger from the house. That was over thirty minutes ago and we haven't been told anything else since."

"Yeah," Rocky interjected, "Just some muffled voices every now and then, probably when things get really loud."

Tommy narrowed his eyes, looking around at each of them before settling on Adam, usually the most calm and rational amongst them. "They've been up there for half an hour and no one has come down?"

Adam shook his head. "No, man, we don't have a clue what's happening. Rocky, Zack, and I tried to sneak up there a few minutes after they disappeared, but Trini saw us, threatened to cut our balls off, and then force feed them to us, and that pretty much ended us playing Spy Kids."

"Shit," Tommy muttered, rubbing the back of his neck, somehow instinctively knowing that Kimberly's current state had something to do with him. "I gotta get up there," he continued, seeing their faces sink even more when they realized that someone else was getting to go up. "I'll come back down and let you guys know what's going on as soon as I can, alright?"

They all nodded as Tommy turned to leave, but no one said anything, nor did they believe that Tommy would return with news anytime soon. They had heard that over half an hour ago from Aisha, the good cop to Trini's bad cop after the first Yellow Ranger had threatened the reproductive parts of every remaining male sans Billy, who had merely avoided her wrath by being smart enough not to tag along.

Taking the stairs two and three at a time, Tommy could hear the voices growing louder and more distinct as he shortened the distance between himself and the closed bathroom door from behind which the voices were coming from. He did not announce himself, only demanded entry by pounding on the door with all his might as soon as he had reached it.

"I have a nail file and I will use—" Trini started, falling silent upon yanking the door open and seeing Tommy standing there. "Oh, it's you," she muttered coldly.

Tommy raised a curious eyebrow and prepared to reply, but was cut off as Jason came bounding towards him, pushing his way passed Trini and into the hallway, closing the door behind him. "Tell me you didn't kiss Katherine," Jason demanded, wearing a menacing look on his face.

"What? No!" Tommy practically sputtered, shaking his head.

"Don't bullshit me, Tommy," Jason replied, his fists balled at his sides. "Put it on thirteen years of friendship that you didn't kiss Kat at Ashley's charity thing."

Raising up his hands, Tommy waved them defensively. "Jason," he spoke, very calmly, "I swear to you on thirteen years of friendship that I did not kiss Kat. We had a drink and talked, that's it, man."

"Then what's this crap I hear about you walking arm-in-arm with Kat and kissing her in a parking garage?" said Jason, looking like he was chomping at the bit for a chance to physically demolish the closest thing to a brother he had ever had.

"It's what you just said it is, Jason, it's crap," Tommy answered, chuckling in disbelief. "You want to know what happened, here's what happened. I'm going to give you a very detailed rundown just so you know I'm not fucking around with you. Kat approached me at the bar and asked to talk. I reluctantly agreed, but we talked and both decided we still could be friends. She also told me about you guys, which I'm not supposed to tell you, but am doing anyway since you're making your relationship painfully fucking obvious! After that she asked for my approval, which I gave, just so you know! Then we left and I walked her to her car, and when we were walking I gave her a kinda-sorta hug thing. Then we hugged at the car, she kissed me on the cheek, we said goodbye and that was it!"

"Swear to me," said Jason, through gritted teeth.

"Fuck off, Jason," Tommy replied, shaking his head. "I already swore once, and explained myself completely. If you still don't believe me after that then our friendship isn't worth a tenth of what I thought it was."

Jason was practically shaking as he stared at Tommy, so visibly conflicted in what to believe. Right when it seemed like he had reached his breaking point, however, his face relaxed and he let out a deep sigh. "I'm sorry, bro," he muttered, looking down, no longer able to meet Tommy's eyes. "Kim was yelling about you kissing Kat, and at first I didn't want to believe it, but the longer I thought about it the more it started to eat at me."

"It's fine," Tommy muttered, slightly angered at the situation, but focusing his attention elsewhere. "What's going on with Kim?"

"I don't know, man," Jason answered, slowly raising his eyes. "She's way drunk, and her story keeps getting more and more dramatic each time she finishes puking. The only consistent part is that you kissed two girls, one of which was Kat, and that she knew she couldn't trust you. Did you really kiss another girl, bro?"

Tommy closed his eyes and nodded slowly. "Yeah, I did, but it's not what it sounds like. It was a fifty year-old lady and it was for charity. Granted, she was definitely a cougar, but still…Ashley was in a bind and talked me into helping out. It lasted four seconds, no tongue, and it didn't mean a damn thing."

"Hey, man, you don't have to explain yourself to me," said Jason, waving his hands in front of his face. "It's Kimberly who's been calling you every curse word under the sun for the last forty minutes. Tell her for yourself."

Nodding, Tommy started for the door, but something in the back of his head made him stop. In less than thirty minutes from the time he had left, regardless of the twisted version she had received, Kimberly had somehow been given news of his night at the event. How was that even possible? Unless…

"She had me followed, Jase," Tommy muttered, methodically turning to look at his oldest and closest friend with tears brimming in his eyes. "I knew she didn't want me alone with Kat, but to actually have me followed?"

Jason started to speak, hoping to warn Tommy not to make the same mistake he had in thinking only with his emotions, but before he could string together three words Tommy was barging into the bathroom.

"Get out!" he barked at Aisha and Trini, pointing towards the hallway. Trini made to argue, but Tommy's head snapped so quickly in her direction that it actually caused her to jump back in fright. "I'm sorry," he muttered, instantly regretting his outburst as the two women walked past him with darkened glares. Once they had left, however, his anger returned at full strength. "Tell me you didn't have me followed," he demanded, staring at Kimberly with venom in his eyes.

"Go to hell," Kimberly grumbled, from her weakened position hunched over the toilet.

"Don't fuck with me, Kim!" said Tommy, his voice raising with every word. "Did you or did you not have me followed tonight?"

"Yeah, I did, Tommy," Kimberly replied, rising to her feet with newfound strength. "And you know what, I'm glad I did, because you did exactly what I knew you were going to do! You fucking kissed Kat and there's nothing you can say to argue because I have a witness who saw the whole fucking thing!"

"Yeah, well your witness is fucking retarded! Who the fuck did you hire, Kim, Bulk and fucking Skull?" Tommy roared, his blood boiling hotter by the second. "Jesus fucking Christ, Kimberly, the least you could have done was get someone who could provide you with a halfway reasonable account of what happened!"

"Then tell me what happened!"

Tommy opened his mouth, preparing to do just what she had asked, but closed it just as quickly. He had explained himself to Jason to save their friendship, but Jason had not spied on him, either. Such an extreme breach of trust as the one Kimberly had committed left him seriously doubting whether or not this relationship was even worth fighting for.

"You know what, I'm not even going to explain myself to you," Tommy muttered, shaking his head. "I broke up with Kat because she didn't trust me to have you as a friend, but when you told me you didn't want me to go somewhere just because Kat would be there, I didn't get mad. You know why?" he continued, clenching his fists in an attempt to calm himself down. "Because I understood that you were still hurting after what Jeff did to you. But this goes beyond just reasonable doubt, Kim. For you to have me followed, to have my privacy violated and invaded like that, it's unacceptable."

"Nice speech, Tommy. What's your point?" Kimberly replied, as though it was the most boring thing she had ever heard.

She was obviously intoxicated, but Tommy could not see excuses, only actions. "My point is that I don't think I can be with someone who trusts me so little that they feel they have to have me followed, then hurl accusations at me before they even ask for my side of the story."

"So what are you saying?" said Kimberly, folding her arms across her chest. "That you want to break up?"

Tommy started to speak, but stopped himself short once more. "Yes," he murmured several seconds later, one word causing more pain to his heart than should have been possible for one human being to feel.

Kimberly's eyes went wide in disbelief, but Tommy did not wait to see her full reaction, mostly because he knew he could not bear to watch it. She stared at him as he disappeared into the hallway, her mind telling her to move while her legs refused to cooperate. Tears filled her eyes as her hands flew to her mouth, and with two staggered steps backwards she hit the wall, slumping to the floor in the fetal position.

"Oh my God," she muttered, to the ground upon which her tears now splattered rapidly. "What have I done?"