Chapter Nine of Zordon Says
"Mommy, Mommy," Kim sleepily raised her head with a groan, Inya had been extremely fussy and was not sleeping well and now Jaslee was waking her up.
"What is it Jaslee," she murmured, not wanting to wake Inya up from where she was sleeping next to her in the bed.
"My tummy hurts," Jaslee announced.
"How much candy did you eat?" Kim asked how many times had she and her friends had gotten stomach aches from eating too much candy on Halloween night? Of course, that was usually Zack who had done that.
Jaslee crossed her arms, "One piece, Tommy told me I had to save the rest for later."
Kim groaned as she got out of bed, pulling her robe on as she did, the Foster's had warned her that a flu bug was working its way through the preschool and apparently her girls were the next in line.
She took Jaslee's hand and headed back to the other bedroom, only to pick up the speed when she realized that Ellie was crying. Ellie was sitting up in bed, having just thrown up all over her bedding. Kim suddenly was glad that she had insisted that Tommy add a laundry area to the apartment so she didn't have to deal with taking the girls to a laundry mat once a week.
She quickly stripped Ellie's bed and removed her pajamas and put on a clean nightgown. As she put the bedding in the washing machine in the bathroom, Jaslee came running in. Kim let out a sigh of relief, at least Jaslee had made it to the bathroom.
…
The next morning Tommy entered the gym with a plan on how to convince Kim into going on a date with him. However, his smile turned into a frown when he realized that Kim wasn't there and there were no girls running to greet him. He quickly went back outside and climbed the stairs to the second-floor apartments.
The moment he let himself in with his spare key, he knew something was wrong, Ellie was crying in the doorway as Jaslee was calling for Kim and the baby was screaming her head off. Tommy frowned, scooping up Ellie, who he noticed was running a fever.
"What's wrong Jaslee?" he asked, as he checked her forehead, she was burning up also.
"My head hurts," Jaslee whined, burying her head in the couch.
"Tommy, what are you doing here?" Kim's voice came from the hallway.
Tommy turned around and knew from just one look that Kim hadn't gotten much sleep last night. She was still in her night clothes and her hair was a mess, "I was just coming to see what you were up to."
"I'm dealing with sick children," Kim stated, "It's one of the things being a parent entails."
"I see," Tommy stated, "How can I help?"
Kim snorted, "You actually want to help?"
Tommy nodded, "You look like you could use some sleep before you get sick."
Kim couldn't believe that Tommy was willing to help. Luke never helped with the children, no matter how sick they were. She was exhausted, the baby kept fussing and she kept getting up with Jaslee and Ellie. A nap sounded wonderful, but first things first there were things she needed from the store, "I need to get some stuff from the store."
"Tell me what to get and I'll go get it," Tommy offered.
…
Tommy glanced at the list that Kim had sent him with. He had the sprite and crackers and was standing in the pharmacy aisle trying to figure out which children's fever reducer was the one Kim wanted, and what flavor. If he had known that shopping for Kim would have been this difficult, he would have volunteered to stay and watch the children.
"Let me guess, your wife sent you to get some stuff while she stayed home with the sick kid," a voice stated, causing him to turn around. It was one of his former student's mother, who sounded a little out of breath.
"Yeah, only she just told me to get Children's medicine, does she want chewable or liquid, grape or cherry? Acetaminophen or Iborporphen?"
The older woman smiled, "How old is the kid?"
"Four, three, and seven months," Tommy replied.
"I'll tell you what I do at that age," with that she grabbed a bottle of Acetaminophen and a bottle of Iborporphen, "I alternate between the two, that way the medicine doesn't wear off."
"Thanks," Tommy stated, "I thought that this would be a quick trip."
…
Kim had fallen asleep with the girls on the couch when the door opened. Kim just cracked open an eye enough to see who it was, before closing her eyes again.
Tommy simply laughed as he picked up Inya and started to bounce her in his arms. At the moment he could tell that now was not the best time to deal with relationships, but maybe if she realizes that he was willing to help when she needed it, she'll realize that she still had feelings for him.
He gently nudged her awake, getting a death glare that a ranger usually reserved for monsters, "Do you need anything?"
Kim slowly sat up, blinking away the sleep in her eyes, "I probably should get something to eat, I'm starting to feel low, and I need to take my medicine."
"where is it?" Tommy asked, standing back up.
"In the bathroom mirror," Kim replied suddenly glad that she had told him about the truth last night, there was no way she could keep it from him once he got the pill bottle.
Tommy grabbed the pill bottle and looked at it, suddenly glad that he knew that Kim suffered from depression, if not the pill bottle would have raised some very awkward questions.
…
Tommy had settled Jaslee and Ellie on the couch and sent Kim back to bed when his cell phone started to ring. He checked the caller id, it was Jason, he smirked as he answered, "You thought of something you forgot to tell me last night?"
"Ha ha ha, so how's operation get Kim back working?"
"I've been thrown up on twice and had to clean it up four times," Tommy replied as he quickly handed Ellie a large bowl.
"Who's sick?"
"Jaslee and Ellie at the moment, but Kim didn't look so good when I sent her back to bed."
Jason grinned like an idiot, "You're doing great, I didn't think about helping with sick kids when she's feeling ill herself. I'm sure that would help a lot."
"So was there a reason you called besides to check on how I was doing?"
"Just to let you know that they have confirmed that Luke is in California, he was pulled over yesterday in San Angeles."
"We really need to get a team in there," Tommy stated, "There have been some odd activities there recently."
"Keep an eye on Kim and the girls, San Angeles is close to Reefside."
…
After Jason had hung up the phone Adam called him out to the main floor. Someone he never met before was asking to speak with him. That was a concerning thing, Angel Grove was a small, close-knitted community, everybody pretty much knew everybody else. To have a stranger ask to speak to someone was an alarming thing. Especially when it was no secret that someone was after that person's younger sister.
Jason double checked to make sure his morpher, fully recharged after he had teamed up with every red there was at the time to fight the machine empire on the moon, was operational and concealed. He was not taking any chances.
As he stepped out of the office he stiffened, his one hand going for his morpher, while the other one balled into a fist. Kim had shown him a picture of Luke and there was no denying that this was Luke.
"Coming here was a bad idea, Luke!" He said loud enough so that Adam would hear him and slip into the office and call for back up, rather from police or follow rangers would be up to him.
"What did Little Princess Kimmy tell you that I was the Big Bad Wolf?" Luke said in a taunting baby voice.
"You are not only wanted in Florida, New York, and California, but you are wanted by the FBI and the Power Rangers as well, and I know for a fact that Power Rangers don't take interest in mere humans unless they really are a threat to the universe."
Luke laughed, "You think you can scare me, Red Ranger, You haven't held power since 1994."
"Actually I was the Gold Ranger in 1996 and returned as a Red Ranger in 2002," Jason countered, "What you don't understand is once a ranger always a ranger."
Luke laughed, "What about Kim, she's a pathetic ranger if you ask me, it wasn't hard to break her at all."
All Jason remembered after that was that his vision went red like it did when he was possessed during the whole Divatox thing. He growled as he leaped at Luke trying to tear his throat out with his bare hands.
Adam, who had heard Jason growl and say some things that made him glad that there weren't any children in the building with them. Trini would never have allowed Jason to use that kind of language if children were around.
Adam groaned, he better pull Jason off Luke before the police arrive, he didn't want to have to explain to Trini that her husband got arrested for trying to murder his sister's ex-husband with his bare hands. Though Trini might just be disappointed that he hadn't succeeded. Trini loved Kim dearly, then again everyone did, even Tanya who only met her once.
…
Kim woke up slowly and sluggishly, she really needed that nap and Tommy had really been helpful, but he was just doing it because he felt obliged to that was all. He would have done the same for Kat, or Trini or any of the other female rangers that came after them.
As she left the bedroom she saw Tommy pacing the living room with his phone against his ear, "Do I need to bail him out?"
"Bail who out? What happened?" Kim demanded to know.
Tommy whirled around to look at her with his eyes round with shock, "Jason gave your husband a rather nice shiner."
"Luke's here?" Kim said in a pain filled whispered.
"He was in Angel Grove, but only a handful of people know that you were there and even less know that you moved here. Even if he finds out that I live here in Reefside, why would he think to look for you here."
"Are you sure? What if he does come here?"
Tommy grabbed Kim's hands and gave them a reassuring squeeze, "If he shows up here in Reefside, I'll move you and the girls down into the Dino Thunder Base of Operation."
"Three of your former students broke into there without any trouble and didn't the bad guy trash the place?"
"I added some better security measures to prevent that from happening again."
Kim still looked a little doubtful, so Tommy decided to change the topic, at the moment Luke was locked up in a cell three hours away, they could deal with his threat once he got there,
"I noticed that Ellie's birthday is coming up."
Kim nodded her head, "Next week."
Tommy smiled, "I was thinking maybe we can take the girls to the zoo or the museum or something and then take Ellie out for a special dinner."
Kim frowned, shaking her head, "What do we do with Jaslee and Inya, we can't just leave them with any teenager, not with Luke so close."
"You forget that Reefside has its own team of rangers and allies," Tommy stated, "I'm sure that I can get someone to watch the girls while we go on a date."
"Did you just say date?" Kim demanded, causing Tommy to groan.
"I meant while we take Ellie on a date," Tommy back peddled.
Kim didn't know what to think, she was well aware that Tommy was trying to ask her out in a way that would help her not feel awkward and frighten her. The suggestion to take one of the girls, which she could use as an excuse if things got too uncomfortable for her was also a good idea.
"Okay, I guess I can try dating someone I know already. As long as we take it slow."
Tommy smiled, "Kim, we will go at your speed, let me know if you need to slow things down or even speed things up."
…
A/N: So Jason confronted Luke for the first time, trust me this isn't the last time we hear from him and Tommy asked Kim on a date and Kim said yes. Yeah tell me what you think, leave a review.