Thank you for all the reviews! I love that "Goodbye" song from Amy and I thought it was a perfect song for Kim and Tommy. Here's the new chapter. Thanks again for reading!
Oh, Kim is not blind. Just wanted to clear that up. During her injury, she hit her head and her neck, so that's where she's injured. If it really happened, I'm sure there was probably a huge chance that she would be blind (like in the story, "Shattered"--great story, btw), but not in this one. She just covers her eyes all the time. And for everyone who's been waiting for the explanation, it's finally here! Part of it at least. I'm sure you guys probably know where I'm going with it though. ;-) But Kim is not blind. So, sorry for the confusion, but I hope you all continue to read:-)
Trini wiped her eyes. Everytime Kim performed this song, it always brought her to tears. She was always reminded of how broken Kim looked after her accident. Somebody stuck a tissue in Trini's face. She grabbed it and blew her nose. "Thanks 'Sha."
Aisha nodded, wiping her own tears away. She always thought about how she wasn't there for Kim during her accident. How Kim was lying in the hospital room, not wanting to call her friends in Angel Grove because she didn't want to be a burden. 'Thank God Trini and Jason were there for her," Aisha thought. A thought that runs through her mind all the time. She was glad that she decided to get back in touch with Kim after she moved to Africa. After the letter, Kim seemed to have cut off contact with everybody from Angel Grove.
"Seems like just yesterday
You were a part of me
I used to stand so tall
Used to be so strong"
Jason glanced at Tommy in a not-so-subtle way. They used to be the best of friends, but something happened to them. They haven't even spoken since the mission on the moon. Jason even went back to Angel Grove, to try to get Tommy to go to Florida. Instead, Jason became the Gold Ranger. He remembered all the conversations he had with Kim during this time. She hadn't wanted him to return to Florida after finding out he had the Gold Ranger powers. "Stay in Angel Grove, Jase. The world needs you. Trey needs you to do this. The team needs you. And...he needs you. Trini's here and Aisha is coming to visit soon. I'll be fine, really. Don't worry about me. I'm fine." Jason remembered how often Kim would have to reassure him with those words. To him, it sounded like Kim was always reassuring herself. After finishing out his tenure as the Gold Ranger, he returned to Florida and immediately regretted going to Angel Grove in the first place. Kim seemed to be in worst shape than when he left. When he asked Trini about it, she said it was because Jason officially confirmed that Kat and Tommy were together, even though he never said those words, Kim could tell.
"Your arms around me tight
Everything, it felt so right
Unbreakable, like nothing could go wrong"
Rocky noticed all of Jason's "subtle" looks at Tommy. He, too, glanced at Tommy, though he was lost in his own deep thoughts.
"Now, I can't breathe
No, I can't sleep
I'm barely hanging on"
Backstage, Adam watched as Kim sang her heart out. He loved watching her perform because she did it with such passion. Every single song she sings, it comes from the heart.
"Here I am, once again
I'm torn into pieces
Can't deny it, can't pretend
Just thought you were the one
Broken up, deep inside
But you won't get to see the tears I cry
Behind these hazel eyes"
Kim had promised herself that if she ever met Tommy again, she wouldn't let him see her cry. She didn't think that she deserved to cry in front of Tommy and make him feel sorry for her when it was her fault why they split up in the first place.
"I told you everything
Opened up and let you in
You made me feel alright
For once in my life
Now all that's left of me
Is what I pretend to be
So together, but so broken up inside"
Aisha felt a new wave of tears in her eyes. She remembered all too well how Kim tried to cover up her inner problems. She always told Trini, Aisha, and Jason that she was fine, but they knew she wasn't. Aisha moved back to the United States when Trini called to tell her that Kim has not been getting better. She moved to Florida to be with Kim and to try and help her through whatever she was going through. She still remembered that phone call from Trini. 'She's not getting better, 'Sha. The doctors said that if she works through this she may be healing. Her body's healing, barely, but Kim's not.' By the end of the phone call, Aisha already had her bags packed and was waiting for a cab to take her to the airport. She remembered Jason telling her the extent of Kim's injuries. He didn't want Kim to find out because she was already in bad shape. He didn't tell Trini either because he didn't want to worry her any more than she was already worried. The doctors found the retina in Kim's right eye to be shaped peculiarly after the accident, but thought that it wasn't too serious to tell Kim since she obviously retained her vision. So they told Jason. He asked them to fix whatever needed to be fixed. They said that if Kim have any symptoms, than it wasn't serious. And whenever the doctors, Jason, Trini, or Aisha asked her if anything was feeling or looking out of the ordinary, Kim always answered with a simple, 'Everything's fine.'
"Cuz I can't breathe
No, I can't sleep
I'm barely hanging on"
Rocky thought back to Kim many years ago. Her eyes were so hollow, her laugh was so fake, and her smile didn't quite reach her eyes. He remembered when Aisha had called him, almost frantic, saying that Kim was still not well. 'From everything going on in her life,' he recalled her saying. He had asked her what happened, but she wouldn't say. She didn't want him to leave Angel Grove because he was still a Zeo Ranger. Rocky remembered how Kim and Jason tried to surprise everyone by visiting Angel Grove. He learned later that it was Jason who dragged her out of Florida to California so she could talk to Tommy. He was glad that he didn't see her evil. He had heard that she and Jason tried to destroy the rangers and Adam said that he believed whatever happened to them in the lava pit made all of their resentments come out. Kim was going after Kat and Tommy and Jason was going after Tommy. Kim had visited him in the hospital once they got out of Murianthias, and that's when he noticed how different she was. Rocky remembered Aisha's phone call and tried to persuade Kim to talk to him. Instead, she ran out of the room, two minutes after she arrived, after making sure that Rocky swore to not let anyone know that there was anything wrong with her. 'Cuz there isn't,' she had said. He remembered the hurt in her eyes when she witnessed Tommy and Kat hugging each other tightly after the karate tournament. So after he left the rangers, leaving the blue ranger powers for Justin, he visited Kim.
"Swallow me then spit me out
For hating you, I blame myself
Seeing you, it kills me now
No, I don't cry on the outside anymore"
Adam remembered hearing about Kim's accident. It was two days after he had passed his turbo powers to Carlos Vallertes. He called Rocky, intending to meet up with him and when he got in touch, Rocky told Adam that he was in Florida. Adam gladly flew down to meet him. He was happy to see Rocky, Aisha, Jason, and Trini again, but the most surprising was Kim. She had always known her as the fun-loving, bubbly, talkative girl, but she's changed. She was different.
Kim finished the song. The crowd cheered for her loudly. Kira glanced at all of the former rangers around her. She knew the reasoning behind most of Kim's songs.
'A high school boyfriend that I never really got over,' Kim had said. 'And my friends. They've really helped me out a lot; they're my family. I don't really have any blood relatives around. My parents are divorced, I haven't talked to my dad in forever. My mother moved to Paris and since she was always trying to force me to move there, it's gotten a bit chilly between us, too cuz I never wanted to move.'
Kira looked back at the rangers. She noticed them deep in thought. 'Kim probably went out with one of these guys,' she thought. Kira turned to Trent. "I can't believe I didn't recognize them," she said softly to him.
Trent shrugged. "We never met them before. You shouldn't feel like you were supposed to remember them."
"I know, but now I just feel so stupid. I saw the video of all the former rangers. And I helped Dr. O sort some stuff out in the basement. I saw a picture of the original team. And even made fun of his hair."
Trent smiled at her. "You always said that you recognized them from somewhere. You're busy becoming a singing superstar. Of course you don't have time to remember little details from so long ago." He looked at Tommy. "How was his hair again? A mullet, right?" Trent laughed out loud. Kira nodded and laughed. His expression grew serious again. "You should tell Kim about being a ranger, too." Kira looked at him skeptically. "You guys are like sisters. This is just another thing for you two to bond over."
"Alright, you guys," Kim said as she smiled at the crowd. "I'm through depressing you. How about we do something fun? And how about we do something to make you guys get out of your seats and dance?" She laughed as the crowd cheered. "And don't forget to sing along!"
The music started and the crowd went crazy. One of Kim's most popular songs began. It was different from the other songs Kim had just sung.
"I'm not waiting around for a man to save me
Don't depend on a guy to validate me
I don't need to be anyone's baby
No, I don't need another half to make me whole"
Tommy recognized this song. It was one of the most popular songs a year and a half ago.
"Make your move if you want
Doesn't mean I will or won't
I'm free to make my mind up
You either got it or you don't"
His students would come into class, singing this song all the time. And they didn't sound anything like Kim. He remembered going home after a long day of school with a pounding headache.
"This is my current single status
My declaration of independence
There's no way I'm trading places
Right now a star's in the re-ascendant"
Even though the popularity of the song has subsided within the past few months, there were still those students that would drive Tommy crazy singing this. But at the moment, he doesn't mind it so much.
"I'm single
That's how I wanna be
I'm single
That's how I wanna be"
Even Hayley used to walk around singing the song at the cafe, before she and Billy got together last year.
The song shook the rest of the former rangers out of their thoughts as well. Aisha giggled to herself, remembering when Kim wrote the song. As 'Annie H' became a big-time singer, Kim was constantly bombarded with questions about her love life. 'Do you have a boyfriend? Are you dating so-and-so? When are you planning on getting married? Do you see any children in your future?' Kim hated when things got too personal between her 'Annie H' life and her normal life. She wanted to keep the two strictly separate, not even letting her own parents know that she's become a big singing superstar. She didn't want them to get involved and she didn't want to be recognized as the girl who had so much potential to being a great gymnast, but because of her own mistakes, she isn't. So with the pink hat pulled over her eye and her bangs covering her other eye, she has pretty much been able to conceal herself since she didn't like pictures of herself on her album covers. Whenever there had to be photographs, she usually made sure that it was taken only of one part of her body, usually the side of her head so that half of her face is seen and the other is either engulfed in shadows or by her hair. She usually made sure that silhouette shots were taken of her for her album covers and anything else. She was known as 'the shy singer'. Magazines and TV shows usually complied. She wasn't as popular as Britney Spears, so people pretty much respected her privacy. When she was on TV performing, she would perform in shadows so that nobody could really see her. Kim liked it this way so that she could still go out and have fun with her friends without the constant presence of papparazzi and fans.
"Don't need to be on somebody's arm to look good
I'm not saying I don't wanna fall in love, cuz I would
I'm not gonna get hooked up just cuz you say I should
I'm gonna wait so I'm sorry if you misunderstood"
Trini looked at Tommy over her shoulder. Kim never had a boyfriend after him, not allowing anyone new to get too close to her. She had put up walls around herself and her heart. But Trini figured Kim was just waiting for the right man to come along.
"Alright, you guys need to sing along to this song too!" Kim yelled as the band began to play her next song. "I know you know it! I wanna hear it!"
"You can dress me up in diamonds
You can dress me up in dirt
You can throw me like a line-man
I like it better when it hurts"
When Kim started singing, Kira jumped up out of her seat and started screaming. Her friends sitting next all looked at her curiously. "What?" she asked. "I like this song."
"Oh, I have waited here for you
I have waited"
Kim paused as the audience began to scream again.
"You make me wanna la la
In the kitchen, on the floor
I'll be your French maid
Where I'll meet you at the door
I'm like an alleycat
Drink the milk up, I want more
You make me wanna..."
Kim pointed to the crowd as they all yelled "SCREAM" and proceeded to do so. Tommy put his fingers over his ears and left him their for a couple of seconds. "Geez, I thought your ptera screams were bad, Kira," he said. She glared at him as she continued to sing along.
"You can meet on the aero-plane
Or in the back of a bus
You can throw me like a boomerang
I'll come back and beat you up"
This was another of Kim's most popular songs. Tommy recognized it as one of her newer releases. It hasn't driven him insane yet, but he had a feeling it would get up there. Some of the teenage girls in his class would come into his class just repeating the line "you make me wanna la la" and then mumbling the rest of the song because they didn't know the words. He probably wouldn't mind it so much, but they tended to sing (and mumble) it at the top of their lungs, so he was a tad annoyed and foresaw many headaches in his future when he returned to class.
Songs are: "Behind These Hazel Eyes" by Kelly Clarkson; "Single" by Natasha Bedingfield; and "La La" by Ashlee Simpson.
Again, any more questions, feel free to ask. Thanks for reading!
