Here's the new chapter. This one's pretty long...
Kim looked around for a bit before anybody said anything.
"Kim, don't blame yourself," Trini said gently.
"I did promise him," she replied.
"She had to find out one day," said Aisha.
"Should I go after him now or later?"
"Give him time," said Trini. "Her too. Let them talk it out for a bit. Then you could go after them."
Jason watched this exchange until he couldn't take it anymore.
"So...what exactly happened?" he asked. "We finish sparring and when we walk in here, it's like all hell breaks loose."
"So, Amy found out, huh?" said Rocky. "About time."
"Why...exactly...is Adam so adamant about Amy not finding out?" Tommy asked. "I mean, I do understand it coming from Adam and letting somebody in, but she's so close to everyone else, that..."
"I don't know," said Trini. "He just made us swear that we wouldn't tell her anything." She looked at Kim.
"He made me promise," she said. "I can't break two promises in a row to him."
"Fair enough."
"So, how'd she find out?" Rocky asked, grabbing three bottles of water from the refrigerator for him, Tommy, and Jason. He settled onto a stool, wiping his sweat with a towel.
"She asked us," Aisha said. "First, she was asking questions about the Power Rangers and then she came right out and asked us. It seemed like something she's been wanting to do for a while."
"Doesn't surprise me, though," Trini said. "She has been asking around for a while."
Kim nodded. "Especially when Adam and Kira left."
"Did you guys tell her about Kira?"
The three of them nodded.
"Why do you think she was so upset?" Zack asked. "That we were Rangers before?"
"I think she was more pissed off at the fact that we kept it from her," Aisha said. "Amy's always been real funny about trust issues. In Virginia, she had a lot of backstabbing friends and felt like she couldn't trust anyone. Now she's found out that we've been keeping this major thing from her and I think she's pissed off about that."
"Especially since Adam never told her," added Kim. "And we never told her." She sighed. "It's Christmas. He should be here. She should be here. We shouldn't be arguing."
Tommy put his arm around Kim and hugged her.
"Where do you think they've gone?" Trini asked.
"The clinic," answered Kim and Aisha.
"Give them time, you guys," Trini said.
"Amy."
Amy didn't look up from her desk as she heard Adam enter her office.
"Amy, please, just talk to me."
"You kept something like this from me?" she glared at him, accusingly. "You kept something this big from me?"
"Amy, just understand, we had to swore not to tell anyone."
She looked away from him angrily as he took a seat across from her.
"Amy, please."
She shook her head. A couple of moments of silence passed.
"Amy..."
"You? And Aisha? Kim? Trini? Jason? And Rocky? All of you guys?"
"Yes. We were teenagers then."
She rolled her eyes angrily and looked away again.
"Who made you swear to not tell anyone?"
"Zordon."
"Wh-"
"Our mentor. Him and his helper, Alpha, a robot."
"The robot that helps Jason and them out at the dojo?"
"Sort of. It's pretty confusing."
"I'm not sure I want to understand."
"Amy, just listen. Please?"
"I just want to know why you didn't think you could tell me."
"Amy, it isn't like that! I wanted to tell you, I really did."
"Then how come you didn't?"
"I couldn't. We swore not to tell."
"You swore not to tell when you were teenagers! You're not a teenager anymore, Adam!"
"I know, Amy. I just...it's one the biggest secrets ever and..."
"What? You couldn't trust me to keep your secret for you? Aisha and Kim couldn't trust me?"
"It's not like that, Amy. I made them promise to not tell you."
"YOU? YOU MADE THEM PROMISE?"
"I thought--"
"Why didn't you want me to know?"
"Amy--"
"Thought it'd be funny to keep me in the dark while you guys made your jokes about being a ranger?"
"No, Amy--"
"Even Hayley knew! And she wasn't--"
"I know, but she hel--"
"Yeah, yeah, she helped Tommy with his team. And Kira? Were you guys ever gonna let me know that one?"
"Amy, please, just--"
"WHO ELSE? WHO ELSE IS IN ON THIS COOL LITTLE SECRET LAUGHING AT ME BEHIND MY BACK?"
"Nobody's laughing at you, Amy. Please, just lis--"
"No. You didn't think you could trust me, so I don't think I'm going to listen to you."
"I wanted to tell you, Amy."
"Yeah, right."
"I just--it's hard! It's hard not knowing what's going to come next. When I was a ranger, all I ever thought about was killing the bad guys. Making sure they wouldn't destroy or take over the world."
Amy rolled her eyes.
"Amy! Please!"
She looked at him for the longest and exhaled a breath she didn't know she was holding. "Five minutes."
"If I had told you when we first met, how was I to know that you wouldn't go telling someone else?"
"I--"
"And you and I grew closer. You and Aisha became best friends. You got close to Kim and Trini. You treated Rocky and Jason like they were your own brothers. You became one of us, even though you've never been a ranger. It was getting a lot harder to keep this secret from you." He exhaled. "But I knew about how you've always looked up to the rangers when you were younger. Was I suppose to kill that fantasy of yours? That the rangers are nothing more than just normal people? You and the rest of the world treated us like heroes. We don't want that fame. We were sworn to secrecy to keep our identities a secret. We saw, even in costume, how everyone admired and praised the Power Rangers. We didn't like the fame. We still don't. You see how Kim is. She's this big star and she's still trying to hide. And you knew us, Amy. You knew our good, our bad qualities. Kim's accident and everything that happened afterward. We didn't act like rangers. We just weren't rangers anymore."
He took her hand into his. "I love being a ranger. I love helping people and protecting against evil and all that good stuff. But I didn't want it to get between us. I know...it...sort of already has. But I didn't want to ruin that fantasy of yours. I still don't. That the rangers were great and heroes and always saved the day. Because we didn't. I barely had any idea of what I was doing then. None of us did. Sometimes we ran on pure instinct. We lasted on just adrenaline. And we had tons of help. There were times...we felt like we couldn't go on. We lost our powers, we decided to leave, I don't know. But I didn't want you to see what the rangers have become. I didn't want you to hold our ranger past over us. I didn't want you to compare us to the dream, to the idea, to that fantasy that you had the rangers be."
He looked deeply into her eyes. "What did you want, Amy?" he said softly. "Did you want to be the pink ranger, the smallest with the biggest heart of all? The yellow ranger? Overprotective of your friends? Did you want the black ranger to ride up on his mastodon and grab you from Biology? Did you want the blue ranger to pull you out of a bind? The red ranger to protect you from any harm that might come your way? The white ranger to snap his fingers and save the day? I didn't want your memories of the Power Rangers to be tarnished by the reality."
"I just wanted to know, Adam," Amy said softly. "I don't care that you used to be a Power Ranger. That your friends used to the Power Rangers. I just wanted to know that you felt I was trustworthy enough to carry your guys' secret. That I was in your 'inner circle.' A part of the group."
"You are."
Amy smiled. She leaned into Adam and gave him a kiss.
They were interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Safe to come in now?" Aisha asked with a shy smile. Kim stood behind her.
Amy sighed and stood up. "Yes. Sorry...for...earlier."
"No, we should be sorry," Kim said. "We should've told you before." She glared at Adam as she stepped forward to hug Amy.
"It's okay, guys," Amy replied. "It was a secret. And one of the biggest." She turned to Aisha and hugged her. "I'm...not...exactly sure that I can accept this." She shook her head. "I mean, I know I have to. It's a big part of you guys and I love you guys, but..."
"It is a lot to take in," agreed Aisha. "You may not have been a ranger, but you're a part of us now. And we probably really shouldn't have kept it from you as long as we have."
Amy smiled at her. "Thanks."
"I know it will take a lot of getting used to," Kim said. "But, hey, at least we're not active rangers anymore!" She looked quickly at Adam out of the corner of her eye. Adam shook his head with the slightest of movement. "So, we're not running off at every second Rita or Zedd are sending some sort of monster down."
Amy smiled again. "Must've been scary."
"It was...at times," said Aisha. "But we did have each other. And now we've got you." She pulled Amy toward the door. "Come on, let's head back to Kim's. Nothing like spending Christmas at an empty office, right?"
Amy laughed a bit and let Aisha lead her out.
"You didn't tell her that you got your powers back," Kim said, almost in a whisper.
Adam shook his head. "Let's just get her used to the idea that we used to be rangers, okay? I don't want be like, 'Amy, I gave up my powers, but I got them back.'"
"You know I don't like that."
Adam nodded. "I know."
"And you know I'm still mad at you for yelling at me earlier."
Adam hung his head and held out his arm. "I'm sorry. You guys did do what was best." Kim allowed Adam to hug her. "And now, there isn't anything hidden between me and Amy."
"Except the fact that you still have your powers."
"Yeah. But please, let me be the one to tell her."
"Just as long as you actually do."
"I will." Adam leaned his head against Kim's as he put his arm around her shoulders. "I promise."
The rest of the afternoon went off without a hitch. Amy left her car at the clinic and rode back to Kim's with Adam. They finished cooking dinner without giving Aisha a nervous breakdown. Kim played a few songs on the guitar, joined by Adam on the piano, with their friends lounging around, waiting for Aisha to call for dinner.
When it was finally time for dinner, Aisha called everyone into the dining room and Kim grinned at the Christmas decorations. She hadn't put it up in there, preferring to decorate only the tree and the outside. Actually, making Tommy hang up the lights while she directed him on where to put them.
"Looks good, 'Sha. Trini." Kim grinned at them and gave them each a hug. "Thank you. And Merry Christmas."
"You too, Kim." Aisha returned her hug while Trini grinned at them.
"So..." Rocky said, taking a seat. "Let's eat!"
"First," Jason said. "I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. You guys are my family, my friends. And I can't imagine it being Christmas without you guys."
A chorus of Merry Christmas's echoed around the table. Jason took his seat between Trini and Zack. He looked at Amy, sitting between Aisha and Adam.
"And I hope you like your surprise, Amy."
She raised her eyebrows and smiled. Adam pulled Amy close to him and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
Billy put a plate of mashed potatoes and gravy on the table before settling between Zack and Hayley. Rocky placed a big plate, holding the turkey in the middle of the table, taking his spot between Aisha and Trini.
"Wow, Rock," said Adam. "You're sharing that with the rest of us."
"Well, you know it is Christmas," Rocky said, cocking his head to the side. "I thought I'd give a little."
Tommy rolled his eyes as he placed some more food next to the turkey. "Thanks for thinking of us." He sat down between Hayley and Kim, glancing at Kim and smiling.
"Always," Rocky replied with a grin. He looked around. "Are we all here? Settled?" He looked around the table toward his left, at Aisha, Amy, Adam, Kim, Tommy, Hayley, Billy, Zack, Jason, and Trini. "Well, Merry Christmas everyone!" Rocky took out the knives and sharpened them against each other before diving into the the turkey. Everyone passed their plates around so that Rocky could put a slice of meat on their plate.
Kim watched with amusement. "You must be happy that we've got four extra people around the table, huh, Rock? That means four extra pieces of turkey for you."
"And that's why I love cutting the turkey," he said. "For every one I give you guys, I get one for myself." He looked at Jason, who was spooning cranberry sauce onto his plate. "Just save me some cranberry sauce!"
Jason grinned, passing the cranberry sauce around the table, opposite of Rocky's way. "If it gets finished by the time it reaches you, that is not my fault, Rocky."
Tommy looked at Kim, putting her plate of food in front of her. "Here you are, Beautiful. Merry Christmas."
She grinned up at him. "Merry Christmas." She leaned into Tommy and gave him a kiss. "Thank you for being here," she whispered to him.
"I wouldn't be anywhere else," he whispered in return. He smiled and looked back at his food, starting to pick at it. "Are you okay?" He nodded toward Adam on the other side of her.
She nodded. "We're good. A little misunderstanding, nothing more. Adam's my best friend again."
Adam turned at the sound of his name and smiled when he saw Kim and Tommy looking at him. "What?"
"Nothing, Frog Prince," Kim said, patting him on the head. Adam rolled his eyes and turned away.
"Wait, Frog Prince?" Amy said, raising an eyebrow.
"Girl, we've so got to get you caught up on our ranger stories," Aisha said.
"Your dear Adam here, is a frog," added Kim.
"A frog?"
"You know, I really do hate this story," Adam said.
"Well, we love it," Aisha replied and proceeded to tell Amy the story.
Amy laughed when Aisha finished. "You were mad, Adam? Did you want to be the falcon, too?"
Everyone laughed around the table.
"So that was after you guys left, right?"
Trini nodded. "That was what...just a couple of months, after we left, I think."
"So...what else happened when you guys were rangers?" Amy asked. "And how come you had your own team, Tommy?"
Everyone started laughing again.
"Tommy just doesn't know when to give up," Jason said.
"Yes, I do," Tommy protested. "I don't have anything now, do I?"
"Actually, yes you do, Tommy," Billy said.
Tommy looked at him in surprise. "Now I expected everyone else, but you, Billy?"
Billy smiled while everybody roared with laughter again. "Your Ninjetti spirit lives on in you. In all of us. Although it may be dormant since we don't have active powers."
Kim glanced at Adam, with a knowing look. She raised an eyebrow. Adam looked away before anyone noticed.
"So that was just you guys, right?" Amy said, looking at Aisha. "You, Adam, Kim, Tommy, Rocky, and Billy." She looked around the table. Aisha nodded. "So how did you get another team?" she asked, looking at Tommy.
Tommy rolled his eyes while Kim tried to hide her laughter behind her hand. The others were not doing as good a job. "It's a long story."
"Oh, like how you became a ranger? Kim said that was a long story, too."
Tommy looked at Kim, who was still holding in her laughter. She shrugged helplessly. Seeing that he was going to lose this battle, he began his story about when he first moved to Angel Grove.
Soon after dinner was over and all the dishes were put in the dishwasher, the party moved into the living room, where the Christmas tree was. The former rangers continued to tell Amy the more amusing stories of their time as rangers and Amy, upon hearing these stories, finally began to understand the jokes that they've been saying for the past however long years.
Kim sat down on the floor next to Adam, with Tommy lying on the couch behind them. Aisha shared the loveseat with Amy and Jason and Rocky sat on the floor, closest to the gifts and began rifling through them. Billy and Zack took a seat on another couch, while Trini took a seat in a recliner and Hayley took a seat on the floor.
Rocky and Jason started throwing gifts around the room, passing it to their respective owners. Aisha and Trini looked at each other and smirked. They knew that Rocky and Jason always wanted to pass out gifts so they could grab their gifts first, so this year Aisha and Trini decided to tease the boys a bit and hide their gifts somewhere else.
Once most of the gifts were handed out, they started to open them. Except for Rocky and Jason, who were getting frustrated since they couldn't find any for them.
"Oh, look!" Kim squealed. "This one's from Ernie." She opened it and found a book of recipes inside. "It's time you learn on your own and stop reminiscing about mine. Merry Christmas! Love, Ernie." Kim laughed as she looked through it.
"This one's from Tanya," Aisha said. She read through the note quickly. "She's back in Africa! And she says hi to you guys."
"Tanya...the one who took over for you, right?" Amy asked Aisha, who nodded as she was ripping open her wrapping paper.
"Oh, I've got one from Curtis," Zack said. "I wonder what it could be." He shook it for a bit before following Aisha and ripping open the wrapping paper.
"This sucks," Rocky said. "Where are ours?"
Jason furrowed his brow. "I know!"
"You sure there's nothing in there for you guys?" asked Trini.
"We checked twice!" said Rocky.
Trini shrugged her shoulders while Jason started walking around the room. "I'm gonna grab something to drink. Anything, Rocky?"
Everyone started shouting out what they wanted, but Jason held up a hand. "Rock's the only other one who doesn't have gifts. He's the only one I'm being nice, too."
Rocky nodded in agreement and stood to join Jason. "I'll go with you. I can't stand being with these present-loving former rangers plus two."
Trini and Aisha shared a knowing look from across the room.
"Just what did you guys do?" asked Hayley, with amusement in her voice.
"We hid their gifts," whispered Aisha.
Trini nodded. "In the one place they'll never check. The bathroom linen closet. They think it's lined with girly things."
Everyone laughed.
"Why, are they gonna get attacked by a tampon or something?" Kim asked.
"Ugh," said Tommy, Adam, Zack, and Billy.
"What?" Kim said, innocently.
"Must we discuss girly things?" Zack said, disgusted.
The girls shrugged and everyone returned to opening their gifts.
"Wow, thanks, Kim," exclaimed Amy, holding up a pair of shoes and a purse. "Exactly what I've been wanting."
"You're welcome," Kim said.
"Did you guys open Kira's gift yet?" Tommy asked. Everyone shook their heads. "Well...open it!" He looked down at the note Kira had given him. 'For you, Dr. O, and everyone else. Thanks for being an inspiration to us all.' He looked at the collage of pictures Kira had put together, outlined in a falcon. He also saw a smaller outline of a brachiosaurus and a tiger. From him being in high school till when he was her science teacher. And he noticed that she included him wearing pictures of green, white, red, and black. He liked that she added a picture of the entire gang, him, Zack, Billy, Jason, Rocky, Adam, Kim, Trini, and Aisha from when they were in high school. This, she had put in the front and center.
"Where did she find this?" Aisha asked. She looked down at the frame in her hand and noticed the outline of a bear surrounding the collage. She looked at old pictures from high school and one of the entire group, before Jason, Zack, and Trini left for Switzerland. She held it down so Amy could look over it, too.
"Probably when she was helping me clean out my basement a few years back," Tommy answered. "I was stuck in my ranger suit and she offered to help me go through some old things. She must've kept the group one. She always said that thinking of the old rangers gave her the strength to continue. I don't know where she got the other pictures, though."
"This is nice of her," Trini said, smiling. She looked down at her frame, outlined by a sabertooth tiger. She smiled as she traced the outline and grinned at the pictures.
"I know she asked me for pictures from high school, but I never thought she'd do something like this," Kim said. She grinned at the sight of her Crane in the outline of the frame and a smaller pteradactyl. She read through Kira's note again. 'I love you, Kim! Merry Christmas and here we are, Ptera sisters at heart!'
"Yeah," agreed Adam, looking at his own, with a frog outline. "And it was a while ago, too. Back in August, or something like that."
Kim glanced at a picture on Adam's frame from his turbo days. She pointed and laughed. "HAH! Look at that hair!"
"Shut up!" he said. "I hated that hair."
"Let me see!" Amy nearly yelled. She jumped over Aisha, to look at Adam's frame and cracked up laughing.
"Long hair does not suit you, Adam," Kim said.
"Kira's a smart girl," Zack said, touching his mastodon outline. "I miss these days."
"Yeah," Billy said, looking at his triceratops and wolf frame. "I do, sometimes, too." He leaned over to show it to Hayley.
They were interrupted by a loud whooping. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at each other, wondering what was going on.
Rocky ran in the room and looked at Trini and Aisha. "And you guys thought we wouldn't find them!" He ran back out and emerged no less than a minute later, helping Jason carry in a couple of bags, full of their gifts.
"That's wrong," he said. Rocky nodded and wagged his finger in Trini and Aisha's direction.
"How would you know it's us?" Aisha argued. "Maybe Santa Claus wanted you guys to work a little more for your gifts."
"Because," Jason started, in a matter-of-fact voice, "Rocky and I already went through the gifts and saw which ones and how many we had."
"Then we had dinner," added Rocky. "And they were gone."
"And where were Aisha and Trini during this time?" Jason said.
"They said they were decorating the living room," Rocky said.
"Which we were," interjected Trini, gesturing around her.
"While the two of you were hiding our gifts!" exclaimed Jason.
"In the girly place, too!" Rocky said.
Everyone burst out laughing.
"Oh my god," Hayley said, wiping her eyes. "You guys are like children!"
Rocky and Jason shrugged. "Gotta relive our childhood somehow," Jason said.
"Open Kira's gift, Jase," Kim said. "Look what she got me!" Kim pushed her frame into his face from her sitting position.
Jason looked through his gifts and found Kira's, opening it carefully. A frame outlined with a red tyrannosaurus, with pictures of him and his friends from high school stared back at him. "Where did she find this picture?" he asked, running his fingers over the old picture of the nine of them. "It's probably one of the only ones that we took before we left."
"Yeah," Rocky said, looking at his ape-outlined frame. "I can't believe there are still pictures of us from then."
"Are these from your ranger days?" Amy asked, still holding Adam's in her hand.
"Yup," Adam nodded. He pointed to the main one in the middle. "That was a little after we moved to Angel Grove. It was probably a few days before Zack, Trini, and Jason went to Switzerland. And that one," Adam said, pointing again, "is a little before we became Ninjetti. I could tell because we're still in our skydiving suits. And that is from when we got our Zeo powers. And that's from Turbo."
"How do you remember?"
"From what we were wearing," answered Kim. "I think it works best with former rangers like Tommy, Adam, and Rocko. Oh, and Jason. They change what colors they're wearing whenever they get new colors."
"Hey, I might get confused with which zord I've gotta call," Tommy said. "I've called so many, worn so many that it's hard to keep track."
Everyone was silent for a bit after hearing this comment. Hayley was the first to speak.
"Wow, Tommy. You made a joke about your colors."
Tommy shrugged and rolled his eyes. "Sometimes, you just have to learn to accept it, I guess."
Everyone started cracking up and making fun of Tommy again, who kept shaking his head.
"So you guys went skydiving?" Amy asked.
Kim nodded. "Before Ivan Ooze came to town. That was one nasty--"
"Tub of mucus?" said Billy before laughing.
"Yeah. A tub of mucus," she said. "Anyway, he was gross. He broke into our Command Center and made us lose our powers."
"And Zordon," said Aisha, wistfully. Rocky smiled and rubbed Aisha's shoulder. She smiled, too. "But we can't think about the past, right, guys? Let's look toward the future."
And with that, they continued to open their gifts, lasting long into the next morning.
And here's another one. Hope you guys enjoyed it! I know it was pretty long, but...again, hope you liked it! Please review!
