Chapter Fourteen

The Mutiny

Tommy and Jason finally agreed to disagree about whether Trini or Kimberly was hotter—or, rather, Tommy managed to distract Jason by challenging him to a race down the beach and four half-mile sprints later, he'd forgotten all about it. They'd all returned to chatting, playing sports, swimming and assisting Conner in the construction of his sand fortress, which they jokingly called Ranger Central and abandoned once it became bigger than Ethan.

When the sun began to sink behind the waves, they all finally decided it was time to leave and went through the customary processes of packing up their things, drying off, and shaking the sand out of their belongings and off their persons. At last, they headed back towards their cars.

"So what's on the agenda for tomorrow?" Ethan asked as they packed up the vehicles.

"Are we coming back here?" Conner asked hopefully, casting a wistful glance back at Ranger Central.

"I had something planned," Trini said casually. "It's a surprise, though. But there won't be much point if it rains, and I think the weather report for tomorrow was pretty iffy."

"Why don't we just meet up at the hotel tomorrow?" Jason suggested. "Around eleven?"

There was a general murmur of assent and then the chorus of goodbyes began.

"All right," Trini said, heading for Kimberly's car as the group broke up. "Later, guys!"

"Um… Trini? Aren't you forgetting something?" Jason asked expectantly.

"Sorry, honey," Trini said, smacking her forehead, giving him a quick kiss and then heading back towards Kimberly's car. "See you in the morning!"

Jason leaped in front of her; Trini quickly stopped before she could smack right into him. "Hey! Where do you think you're going?" he asked indignantly.

"Yay," Zack said, having been hoping for another entertaining married-life fight. He turned to look, as did the remaining guys, mostly because both Zack and Jason had yet to unlock their respective vehicles. Kira and Kimberly started giggling in advance.

"I'm going to spend the night with Kim," Trini said calmly. "We talked about this."

"We did not! You said you'd come back!"

"I did not! Jason, I was only gone one night!"

"It was too long! The dog keeps giving me these suspicious looks like I've murdered you or something and there's this big Trini-shaped hole in the bed and the house is all empty!"

"Billy is there, you know."

"It's not the same! In ways I don't want to think about!" Billy grimaced in disgust, as did several of the others.

"I'll come back tomorrow." Her lips quirked in a small smile. "I have to protect Kimberly from the balcony boogeyman, remember?"

"…What the hell are you talking about?"

"It's a long story. A funny one. Which I will tell you about one day. But today, I am sleeping at Kimberly's."

"Let Tommy protect her! Or Zack!"

"Come on. I can't entrust something this important to Zack. Would you?"

"Yes!"

"Jason." She gave him a stern look.

"Well… if I knew what a balcony boogeyman was, I might—oh, for crying out loud, stop trying to derail me! You just want to spend the night at Kim's. You're making that boogeyman thing up."

"She really isn't," Kira spoke up with a violent shudder. "It was the weirdest night of my life."

Tommy coughed and looked away, praying no one could see how red his face was. Zack started laughing and Billy looked from them to Trini with avid curiosity.

"Oh, does the boogeyman have something to do with you seeing Dr. O in his underwear?" Conner asked, catching the actions of Kira, Tommy, Zack and Billy but unable to understand them. Trini closed her eyes to gather her strength, realizing that this argument was going to be much harder to win now.

"How did you wind up seeing Dr. O in his underwear?" Ethan asked before Trini, Kira or Jason could come up with a good response to Conner. "Or do I not want to know?"

"You don't want to know," Kimberly piped up. "Trust me."

"You saw it too?" Conner asked, looking sympathetic.

"We all did. Zack was in his underwear too," Kimberly said with a shrug. She'd spent most of her life hanging around Zack and roughly three years hanging around Tommy; she'd seen Zack in everything from formalwear to footy pajamas and Tommy in more and less, so she didn't find the sight the least bit perturbing—in fact, she'd found it quite enjoyable, though she would never ever say it aloud… again.

"What?" Jason demanded, looking at Tommy with several murderous intentions quite clear on his face.

"There was nothing wrong at all going on there!" Tommy insisted hurriedly, stepping back another ten feet away from Jason and Trini as Zack collapsed on the sand from his laughter.

"Come on, Jason! It was nothing new. I've seen Tommy in his underwear dozens of times," Trini said soothingly, attempting to calm her nearly-enraged husband.

"WHAT?" Jason roared.

"Oh, stop it, Jason," Kimberly cut in, coming over to him and giving him her best glower. "You were there. We always crashed each others' sleepovers and sometimes when we had to rush off to battle we didn't have time to select a decent outfit and so on."

"All I meant was that Tommy doesn't exactly wear a tuxedo for sleepwear when we visit each other," Trini added. "Now stop freaking out, will you?"

"NO! No, I will not! You leave me for one night and you're hanging out with Tommy in your underwear?"

"His underwear! Not mine! And I didn't leave you, I—"

"You were wearing his underwear?"

"NO! I was wearing mine! I mean, my nightgown!"

"It's not revealing at all," Conner said, interrupting Jason in an attempt to help the situation. "It's a little low-cut, but it's not too se—"

Trent clamped his hand over Conner's mouth, but it was too late.

"CONNER SAW YOU IN YOUR NIGHTGOWN?"

"No! Well… yeah… but… Jason, there's a whole big story here and you haven't heard even half of it…"

"Aha! So he did. And let me guess, Blue and White Junior did too, eh?"

"Um…"

"Humph! Which nightgown was it? Huh? The cute little red one you got yourself for my birthday?"

"Jason!" Trini yelled, mortified. Everyone now looked torn between laughing and gagging at the implications.

"Well, was it?"

"No! Why would I take that one to stay the night at Kim's?"

"I don't know, maybe so you could look good for Professor Underwear and Hyena Boy!"

"You guys just had to come along on my vacation, didn't you?" Tommy growled at an apologetic-looking Conner, Ethan and Trent over Zack's still-laughing form. (They weren't sure what they were being sorry for, but their survival instincts had long ago informed them that it was a very good idea to act sorry whenever Tommy was upset and looking in their direction.)

Kimberly grabbed hold of Jason firmly and spun him around by the shoulders, forcing him to meet her eye. "Jason, listen to me. There's a big picture here, and it's a really funny one. And I know most of the details, so I'll explain, okay? Then you'll feel really silly that you're making a big fuss, and you'll realize that neither Tommy nor Zack, nor Billy nor Conner nor Trent nor Ethan nor Kira nor I nor whoever else you want to accuse, has any designs on your wife. And it'll give you something to rag on Tommy and Zack about by the time I'm done, okay?"

Jason swelled indignantly but managed to let out a "Fine."

Kimberly handed Trini her keys. "I'll meet you back at the hotel. Take Kira. Er… and you might want to drop Billy back at your place."

"Thanks," Trini said, putting all the emphasis into that word that a woman might give her organ donor. She ran to the Mustang.

Sensing that what could be his only shot for escape had arrived, Tommy reached into the laughing Zack's pocket, grabbed Zack's keys, and fumbled with the remote to unlock the doors. "Get in," he snarled at Trent, Conner, Zack and Ethan before diving into the driver's seat. "Bye, Jason!"

They all scrambled into the Escalade, Tommy throwing it into reverse and spitting sand like a tornado with anger management issues.

"What's the rush?" Conner asked, leaning forward into the front seat. "It was just getting interesting back there. I wanted to hear Kimberly's story."

"Conner, sit back, shut up, and live," Tommy threatened.

Ethan put a hand on Conner's shoulder and yanked him back against the seat. "I've got a better story for you," Ethan muttered to Conner and Trent. "As soon as we get back."

"What's up?" Trent whispered as Tommy put as much distance as possible between him and Jason while Zack wheezed in the front seat, struggling to stop laughing.

Ethan smiled slyly. "Not here. But I will say this—it looks like we three Rangers have one last mission."

Conner and Trent paused. "Ethan?" Conner said.

"Yeah?"

"That was really cheesy, dude."

"Yeah, even for you. And that's saying something," Trent added.

"Hey!" Ethan exclaimed indignantly.

"I hate you."

"What did I do?"

"You know perfectly well what you did."

"Hey, that fight was all on Trini, Jason and Conner. I didn't say a word."

"You were the one who convinced me to go on that balcony, you idiot!"

"Hey, I didn't put a gun to your head."

"One of these days, Zack, I swear I'm going to put a gun to yours."

Zack snorted a laugh and went to go brush his teeth. They had arrived back at the hotel, sent Ethan, Conner and Trent back to their room with a glare from Tommy and a cheerful wave from Zack, and gone about getting the remaining sand off themselves and getting ready for bed. Neither was reluctant for the end of the day.

"Stupid vacation," Tommy muttered, hanging his swimming trunks over the back of a chair. "I knew I should have stayed home. I don't have to be here. I wasn't an original, anyway."

A rhythmic tapping sounded on the door and Tommy stomped over to it with a groan. "What?" he demanded, pulling open the door to see a sheepish Kimberly standing in the hallway. "Oh… hi," he said lamely.

She was blushing at the sight of him once more in his boxers after the comment on the beach… at least, he thought she was; it was hard to tell in the dim light of the hallway. "Hey," she said.

"What's up?" he asked uncomfortably.

"I straightened out the mess with Jason." She smiled. "By the way, don't you own pajamas?"

"For the winter, yeah," Tommy replied, somewhat defensively.

"Anyway," she said hastily, seeing him about to continue, "Jason told me to give you a message."

"What's that?"

"This." She pointed at him and let out a mocking cackle of laughter.

Tommy rolled his eyes. "Good old Jason."

Kimberly grinned. "Don't worry. I downplayed how terrified you looked when we caught you."

"Gee, thanks," Tommy said dryly, but he smiled. Then a serious look came over his face. "Kim?"

"Y-yeah?" she said nervously.

"What was that about, back there on the beach?" he asked. "I mean… you know… what did that mean?"

Kimberly suddenly became very still. "Um… how 'bout them Broncos?"

"…What?"

"Damn you, Trini," she murmured. Then she drew herself up to her full height. "Well, Tommy," she said, her voice dropping an octave and her eyes boring into his, "what do you think it meant?"

With that, she practically ran down the hallway, leaving Tommy to stare after her. Shaking his head, he shrugged and decided that he no longer cared why she'd said it. All that mattered was that she had said it.

"Dude," Zack said suspiciously as he exited the bathroom, "why are you strutting around like you're oh-so-cool?"

"Because I am," Tommy replied loftily. Zack stared at him. Attempting to muster some of his previous bite, Tommy added half-heartedly, "Shut up, Zack."

"So…" Conner said, "let me get this straight… Dr. O and Kimberly had this hot and heavy relationship and then Kimberly dumped him and they never spoke again?"

Ethan nodded. "Billy told me all about it when we went swimming. Says that he, Jason, Trini and Zack are all pretty sure that Dr. O's still in love with Kimberly, and he thinks Kimberly still wants Dr. O."

"So why aren't they together?" Trent, the only guy who had a current girlfriend, found this conversation a touch disturbing, especially after all the comparisons that had been made between him and Tommy.

"Billy said Kim dumped Dr. O in a letter after she went to Florida to be some sort of professional gymnast," Ethan said. "She apparently met someone else—"

"And she just dropped Dr. O?" Conner asked, looking angry on his teacher's behalf.

"Well, funny thing is—Billy talked to Trini a while after it happened, and a few things don't match up. He was kind of vague about it, but he thinks that there might have been something else going on."

"Like what?" Trent asked.

"I don't know. Billy said it wasn't like Kimberly to lie, but it also wasn't like her to dump Dr. O in a letter. But in any case… well, she's single now," Ethan said lightly, unable to conceal the mischievous look on his face.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Conner said, looking at Ethan in surprise.

"Yeah, are you thinking what Conner's thinking?" Trent repeated, looking at Ethan in horror.

"For once," Ethan admitted. "But don't get used to it. Now, are we going to do this or not?"

"I'm in," Conner said with a shrug.

"Why not?" Trent said. "So… what do we do first?"

Silence.

"Um… well, there has to be something we can do," Ethan said, frowning thoughtfully.

Conner began to pace. Trent started to doodle on his sketchpad idly. Ethan sat on the edge of the bed, thinking hard.

"You know, this is supposed to be your area," Conner said suddenly, rounding on Trent.

"How do you figure?" Trent asked, confused.

"You're the one with a girlfriend," Conner pointed out.

"Yeah," Ethan agreed.

"Well, just because I'm with Kira—"

"Of course!" Ethan shouted. "How could we have been so stupid? We've been going about this all wrong!"

"…We haven't even started going about it," Conner reminded him.

"Exactly. We've been trying to go about it alone," Ethan said. "What we really need right now is the ultimate weapon when it comes to hooking up a couple of lovebirds."

"What's that?" Trent and Conner asked.

"A girl."

"Who is it?" Kimberly called cautiously as frantic knocking sounded at the door. Please don't be Tommy, please don't be Tommy, she chanted silently, edging closer to Trini just in case.

"Conner."

"And Ethan."

"And Trent."

Kira opened the door. "Guys, what—ack!"

Conner had seized her arm and dragged her into the hallway. "Let go!" she shouted, moving to hit him. Ethan grabbed her other arm.

"We need to talk," Conner said cheerfully. "Don't worry; it'll only take a second."

"We'll be right back," Trent added, yanking the door shut in Kimberly's face.

"Um… oh-kay," Kimberly said, shrugging. She wanted to talk to Trini alone about the use of the "options," anyway.

"Guys, let me go!" Kira shouted as they pulled her down the hall. She was getting quite sick of being hauled around like a rag doll.

"No can do, Kira. It's secret mission time!" Conner told her firmly.

The three boys literally dragged Kira back to their room and shut the door. "What is going on?" Kira demanded in exasperation, flopping down on Conner's bed.

"It's like this," Ethan began. "Dr. O is still in love with Kimberly."

"See, we figure we should try and hook the two of them back up. Especially since they obviously still have the hots for each other," Conner said.

"How do you figure?" Kira asked, frowning.

"I said Kim was hot at the picnic and he glared at me. I swear his eyes did that thing Hayley told us about where they glow green when he's really pissed off. Like 'in five seconds you're going to be a pile of ashes' pissed off." Conner shuddered violently.

"They do seem a bit too awkward around each other to be… you know… comfortable as friends," Trent added.

Kira stared at him incredulously. "You're in this too? You traitor."

Trent shrugged guiltily. "Well… I owe Dr. O a lot."

Kira sighed and started to refute Trent's claim about Tommy and Kimberly, then thought back to her inability to speak the first time Trent had approached her, right before Ethan had mocked her "Isn't he just wow?" comment and gotten socked in the arm. Now that she thought about it, that was a fair point. They weren't comfortable with each other. She'd chocked it up to bad blood, but they didn't seem angry, just… uncertain.

"And since the guy's way too old to be dating, we figure he has no idea how to get a girl. Cuz if he did, he'd have one already," Conner continued.

"So we're going to try and hook him back up with Kimberly, but… uh… our plans kind of need a feminine touch," Ethan admitted sheepishly.

"And since you're the closest thing we have to an actual girl, we thought we'd ask you," Conner finished cheerfully.

"He didn't mean that!" Trent said quickly as Kira glared at Conner.

"Of course not. You're totally girly," Ethan added. Kira turned her glare on him. "Well, not totally. But…"

"But obviously, none of you have any idea about romance," Kira said dryly.

"Hey!"

"Except you," she said with a nod of acknowledgement at Trent. "Guys… look. Leave it alone."

"What? Why?" Conner demanded.

"Because it's not nice to mess with people. If they want to get back together, they'll get back together. If they aren't meant to be, then that's that." Well, that wasn't exactly Kira's philosophy… but she doubted that getting the guys involved was going to be a smart move. In fact, it would probably be a move that lead to a series of explosions.

"Yeah? Billy said Trini and Zack have been plotting to get them back together for ages," Ethan retorted. "They're his best friends. It seems to me that they would know if this was a bad idea or not. And why would Billy even tell me if he thought it was a bad idea?"

"I don't know! Maybe he just… felt like talking." Kira stood up. "Guys, it's a nice thought. But leave it to Trini, Zack, Jason and Billy, okay? This isn't a game."

"Come on, Kira! You're staying in Kimberly's room. You'd be the perfect person to convince her to ask Dr. O out," Trent pleaded.

Kira threw up her hands. "It's not that simple! This isn't easily fixed. There are a lot of problems between them, and it'll take time to fix them all. Begging Kim to ask Dr. O out isn't going to cut it. I admit, I want them together too—Kim is really cool, and it seems like they care about each other. Right now, we're still trying to convince them to spend a few minutes alone, for crying out loud! Their first date is probably going to be when someone loses it and locks them in a closet together. Get it? Time is what we need, not goofy pranks." With that Kira stormed from the room.

"Great plan, Ethan," Conner said sourly.

"Well, that was a bust," Trent said with a sigh.

Ethan grinned. "Well… maybe not completely…"