Author's Notes: Sorry about the whole Tootsee Roll thing; we totally forgot about the gender gap between PR fans. The "Tootsee Roll" was an extremely popular song that most of us in our twenties are rather ashamed to admit we loved but will dance and sing along to the moment we hear it. For the Dino Rangers, it was akin to seeing your parents dance the Macarena. With exaggerated hip motions. Or dancing disco. Or listening to 80s hair bands. Sorry again.
Chapter Thirty-six
Alarmed and Dangerous
Going to Wal-Mart theoretically should have been easy. It should not have involved a thirty-minute fight about the merits and downsides of purchasing Play-Doh. It should not have involved a panic attack about where Trent had gone only to find him sitting up front downing an Icee from the concession stand, his new sketchpad already paid for, enjoying some peace and quiet and apologizing for his cell phone somehow getting turned off. It should not have involved a twenty-minute search of the cosmetics and hygiene aisles only to find the girls (particularly Kimberly) cooing over small fluffy creatures in the pet aisle. It should not have involved forty-five minutes of cajoling and pleading with Billy to wait until they got to the mall to buy more video games than ten ex-superheroes could feasibly carry. It should not have involved a long argument about PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube between Trini and Ethan that nearly came to blows. It should not have involved Billy doing a happy dance when he actually found a pair of overalls in his size. It should not have involved Zack and Conner getting shouted at by a manager for racing remote-control cars all over the store.
But it did.
At last, they were finally finished purchasing their belongings, which had taken an extremely long time, given the fact that they all went through separately and Trini and Ethan spent a good long while explaining the process of paying with a debit card to Billy, to the amusement and exasperation of the cashier.
"Am I glad that's over," Tommy muttered, but he felt considerably cheered up. Between his talk with Jason and the antics required to get everyone to function, Tommy was back in his element. He'd even managed to convince Jason to put down the orange soda without much of a fuss.
"Hey, you!" Kimberly called playfully, nudging him. He looked down at her. Kimberly simply held up her hefty shopping bags. Shifting his own purchases to one hand, he took her stuff without comment, grinning. Strange as it was, it felt nice to be Kimberly's pack mule again. Just like old times. He was oddly flattered that she felt his status as improvisational shopping cart was still implied.
"Trini?" Jason asked, holding out his arm. She handed her stuff over. Jason moved off to the front of the group, chatting with Billy about all the other nifty things one could do with a debit card. Tommy and Zack followed, discussing the cool factor of the remote-control cars Jason hadn't let Zack buy, while Ethan tried to explain his video game argument to a confused and slightly bored Conner and an apathetic, Icee-slurping Trent. The girls brought up the rear.
Kira, clutching a couple lightweight plastic bags, shot Trini a sidelong look. "I've gotta say, I'm kind of surprised at you."
"Kira, I'm telling you, Ethan's just plain wrong about the GameCube. The only reason—"
"No, no," Kira interrupted hastily, not wanting Trini to go back into Yellowish-Blue mode. "I meant getting Jason to carry your stuff."
Trini snorted. "I only do it to make him feel more like a man. Guys like Jason need someone to depend on them a little. It's a compromise. He puts up with my independence, I let him move the furniture and carry the heavy objects. Keeps his ego intact."
"Not that he needs it," Kimberly joked.
Trini smiled. "The thing about guys, Kira—most guys, anyway—is that they feel useless if they don't have a purpose. I'm extremely physically fit, financially stable, emotionally strong and—as immodest as it sounds to say it—smarter than him. Makes him wonder what I need him for. I try not to let him wonder too much; he's way too good at bottling things up inside, and you leave a thought in Jason's head too long and before you know it…" She let the sentence hang. Kimberly nodded in agreement, well-acquainted with Jason's tendencies towards brooding, doubting and blaming himself.
Kira frowned slightly, thinking this over. She supposed it made sense.
Kira caught up to Conner, Ethan and Trent as the group headed out of the parking lot and down the sidewalk. "Hey," she said, smiling brightly at Trent.
"Hey," he said, holding the Icee out to her.
She smiled and took a sip, then held out her bags. "Carry my stuff?"
"Sure," Trent said, taking it from her calmly. Kira watched him for a minute, nodded to herself, and indicated with a jerk of her head that she'd like another sip of the Icee. Trent obliged.
Kimberly and Trini, watching this exchange with the sort of smiles only girls could wear, looked at each other and chuckled. Then Kimberly frowned. "Heeyyyyyy… she wasn't surprised that I wanted Tommy to carry my stuff! What…?"
"Oh, Kim, please," Trini chided teasingly. "It doesn't take a genius to figure out Tommy's not happy unless he's helping people. Give the girl some credit; she has been fighting with him for months."
Kimberly's expression remained suspicious. "Yeah, but still. She expected it from me."
Trini smiled at her. "Kim, I gotta admit, I used to think it was cheesy, the way you and Tommy used to act. Him always anxious to carry your books, you always carrying spares of the things he forgot the most. He feels useful around you. You both took care of each other. That's not a bad thing."
Kimberly pouted. "Admit it. You think I like being a helpless girly girl."
"Well, you are Pink," Trini joked. Kimberly shot her a glare and Trini sighed. "You're not helpless, Kim. I know that better than just about anyone. You like people doting on you, is all, but you like doting on others, too, and you're good at it. And I have to admit, the symbiotic thing fun. I didn't realize how fun until I got used to letting people dote on me."
"Letting Jason dote on you, you mean," Kimberly ribbed. "When's the romance going to die down in your marriage, anyway? The whole 'my man's perfect' thing is getting kinda old."
"My man is perfect," Trini said loftily. Kimberly rolled her eyes and Trini chuckled. Trini decided that it was time to change the subject before talk of interactions with significant others led to Kimberly trying to reiterate that she didn't want Tommy back, especially since Tommy was less than ten feet away. Trini nodded at Kira. "It's cool, isn't it? She's a great example of Ranger psychology."
"Huh?" Kimberly asked blankly.
"Well, you know—she connects to both of us, did you notice that?" Kimberly nodded. "But when we met the Space Rangers, I chatted almost exclusively to Ashley and you couldn't be torn from Cassie the whole night. The connections behind the way we bond with our own colors… it's fascinating. It's especially fascinating with people like Adam, Rocky, T.J., Carlos and Tommy… the ones who've swapped colors. But anyway, Kira's not as exclusive in making friends with other Rangers. I'm not talking about how she chats to Zack and everything; we all blend with the others pretty well. But when it comes to the deeper interactions, the bonding, Kira's interesting. She's bonded with you quite a bit."
"Well, Kira's the only girl on her team. She doesn't have her own Pink to bond with, so she likes us both."
"I wonder… hmm."
"Hmm what?"
"Well… her zord was a pterodactyl."
"It was?" Kimberly hadn't kept up with the Dino Thunder team as much, tired of keeping track of all the different teams popping up all over the universe. Trini, however, had been planning to use the Yellow Gem herself, including the Pterodactyl powers; she was very familiar with the energy that had fueled Kira.
"Yeah. I wonder if that has anything to do with it. Two Yellows, two Pterodactyls."
Kimberly mulled it over, then frowned again. "You're just trying to distract me from that whole thing about me being too girly. And hey! Tommy and I weren't cheesy!" Kimberly winced. That had come out a little too loud, and now a lull in the chatter swept over the guys walking up ahead; she thought she saw several of the guys' steps falter for a second. Damn.
"I'm not just trying to distract you," Trini said calmly, ignoring the guys' reactions. She grinned. "Besides, it's working, isn't it?"
Kimberly had to admit she was curious now… and besides, she no longer wanted to continue the Tommy-Kim-cheesy conversation here. "It is interesting." She paused. "Is there anything you don't think about, Trini?" She sounded slightly exasperated.
"Nah."
At the front of the group, Tommy, Jason, Zack and Billy were now having an enlightening, thought-provoking discussion.
"Don't laugh," Tommy muttered threateningly as he struggled to ignore what he'd overheard from Kimberly. "I'm warning you, if you laugh, I'll beat you with whatever Kim's got in these damned bags, and they're heavy as hell."
"Sure thing, Cinnamon B—OW!" Zack complained.
"Kira," Conner whispered, having overheard this exchange, "did you ever find out about why they call him that?"
Kira shook her head. Last night's conversation had been monopolized by Trini trying to get Kimberly to tell her what Kimberly and Tommy had been talking about, and getting Kimberly to open up about how she'd felt during the sparring match. By the time Trini had finally gone to take a shower, the day had taken its toll on Kira and she'd passed out without asking Kimberly and Trini a thing about the funny stuff brought up back in the basement. Kira had a feeling that the same thing would probably happen again tonight, what with the visit to the ruins and Kimberly and Tommy being locked in the trunk together and so on.
Kira tossed her head determinedly. Well, there was no time like the present. If it didn't work, there was still probably a lot to be learned from Tommy's reaction.
"Hey, Dr. O?" Kira called loudly. "Can I ask you something?"
"What?" Tommy asked cautiously.
"What's with the 'Cinnamon Buns' thing?"
"On second thought, no. You can't ask me something."
"But—"
"No."
"Fine then." Kira narrowed her eyes. "Hey, Kim!"
Kimberly hadn't been paying attention to the conversation between the others, too intent on discussing the odd bonds between Ranger teams with Trini. "What's up?" she asked.
Kira glared triumphantly at Tommy and cleared her throat. "Can I ask you something?"
"That's cheating!" Tommy growled.
"Sure," Kimberly replied, giving Kira her full attention.
"Could you tell us that story about Dr. O being called Cinnamon Buns?"
"NO," Tommy said loudly, shooting Kimberly a warning glance. There was a chorus of not-quite-suppressed laughter from the older Rangers.
"Oh, come on, it wasn't that bad," Billy said.
"Easy for you to say. You didn't have to spend two weeks being called Cinnamon Buns. In public." Tommy gave Kimberly a distinctly wounded look. She grinned.
"Sorry, Kira," Kimberly said apologetically, mouthing "Later" when Tommy's back was turned.
"How about that thing about the pink bows? Does it have anything to do with you saying he only lets trained professionals touch his head?" Kira asked hopefully.
"You're not hearing about that, either!" Tommy said firmly.
"Why not?" Conner asked, pouting a little.
"Because," Tommy ground out.
"Because it's not as good as the Cinnamon Buns thing," Kimberly said, sticking her tongue out at Tommy.
"That was not funny!" Tommy insisted loudly. They had now stopped on the sidewalk, the Dino Rangers unconsciously moving to the sidelines so that the older Rangers were facing each other in a loose circle, with the teens filling in the gaps.
"Come on, Tommy," Kimberly said, smiling as cutely as possible. "Someone's going to tell them eventually."
"And it's not going to be any of us," Tommy growled threateningly.
"Come on, Dr. O," Conner whined. "Please?"
"No."
"Ple—"
"No! Not 'no' as in I'll tell you if you ask me enough, not 'no' as in I don't mind if you beg my friends to tell you, not 'no' as in I'll take you to Angel Grove if you sit on my feet like toddlers for an hour and a half, NO. Not gonna happen."
There was a moment of silence. At last, Trent cleared his throat. "So—"
"I said NO!"
"I wasn't going to ask that!" Trent insisted hastily. "I was going to ask what we're doing tomorrow."
"…Oh," Tommy said, slightly sheepishly. They continued down the sidewalk.
"Should be a nice day," Trini said. "I'd like to go do that thing I was telling you guys about."
"What thing?" asked Conner.
"The surprise thing. It should be lots of fun."
Kimberly stopped and stared at her for a moment. "I don't like the way you said that."
"It was too nonchalant," Tommy agreed quickly.
"Is evil a'brewin'?" Zack asked eagerly.
"Guys, it's a surprise. Not a booby trap!" Trini said in exasperation.
Tommy was about to counter this, but a cell phone went off and all of them, save Billy, automatically reached for their phones. "It's me," Conner said. His eyes widened in panic. "It's my mom!"
"Everybody be silent," Tommy ordered automatically. When non-Rangers called during a get-together of Rangers, it was habit that the others all go quiet until the call was over, just in case. None of them argued, though Tommy immediately felt like a bit of an idiot about it; it was just Conner's mother, but considering the fact that it was now after midnight it was probably a good idea to avoid sounding as if Conner was calling from a party.
"Hello, Mom?" Conner paused, and then his face lit up. "Eric! Hey, man! What's going on? You are? Dude, why didn't you tell me? Dude, I wouldn't have gone if I'd known you were coming back! Dude, no I wouldn't've! Did you get kicked out again? Dude! Is Tally there? Awesome. Tell her I said 'Helllllooo,' kay? Thanks, dude. Mom tell you where I am? Yep, Power Rangers Day. Of course I'm not an original Ranger, you idiot, we were like six years old when they were around! Oh, dude, but guess what! Know how I told you that Dr. Oliver—"
"Conner!" Tommy snapped, looking around for eavesdroppers in a panic.
"Sorry! Dude, I'll have to tell you later. Yeah, dude, I'll definitely see you there. I've got some people I want you to meet. Dude, you are gonna freak when I tell you—"
"If he says 'dude' one more time, I might have to hit him," Kira muttered. Trent stifled a laugh.
"Yeah, I can't talk about it now though. But I'll see you on Saturday, right, dude? OW! Kira, what was that for? Jeez. Women, man, they're so violent. OW! See? Dude—OW!—I better get off here. I'm standing in the middle of a sidewalk and for some reason Kira keeps hitting me so I might need to find a place to hide soon. Dude—OW! Kira, quit it!—are Shane and Dustin and the others coming with you? You don't? Well, try to find out. I'll talk to you later, dude—OW! Bye!"
Conner hung up the phone and thrust his fist in the air. "ERIC'S COMING TO POWER RANGERS DAY!" he yelled.
"SHH!" Tommy hissed, checking the street frantically for onlookers.
"Eric who?" Trent asked blankly.
"Eric my brother," Conner said happily.
"Oh, yeah," Trent said. He, unlike Kira and Ethan, hadn't grown up going to school in Reefside and therefore had never met Eric; Eric hadn't been to visit Reefside since the days when Trent was evil, and therefore wasn't hanging out with the others.
"I haven't gotten to see him in a few months," Conner continued excitedly. "Now that he's back living in Blue Bay Harbor."
"You have a brother?" Billy asked. Conner had only mentioned Eric around Billy twice, once when Billy was distracted by Ethan's gift of overalls and again at the restaurant, when Conner and Trent were talking about the fact that Trent's dad knew he was a Ranger, so the fact that Conner had a brother hadn't really stuck in Billy's memory.
"Yep. He's my twin, actually."
There was a horrified pause from the older Rangers. "There's… two of you?" Jason said faintly.
"Yup. We're identical, completely identical, but Mom made us wear our hair different after that thing with Millie Jenson."
"The hot blond girl, freshman class president?" Ethan asked.
"Yeah. Sophomore year, Mom caught me making out with her, and Millie ran out of the house and I ran downstairs to try to stop her, and Eric was in the living room, and we managed to confuse Mom. She couldn't tell us apart, so she couldn't punish me, but she made us get haircuts and start dressing differently." Conner sighed. "Wonder whatever happened to Millie."
"She got pregnant junior year," Kira said. "Cassidy told me; she was Millie's Lamaze coach."
"Wasn't Conner's baby, was it?" Trent asked with a slightly panicky tone.
"Not that I know of."
"I'd hate to see him reproduce," Ethan said with a shudder. Kira and Trent nodded fervently and Conner rolled his eyes.
"Anyway, my brother's going to this secret ninja school," Conner said. "It's run by the former Ninja Storm Rangers; I think Dr. O knows all about it, he had a lot of info on the Ninja Storm Rangers. Eric said he's not sure if they're coming; the school's on break right now, but they only get three weeks for summer break, something about summer being a good time to bond with their elements. He didn't get a chance to talk to Dustin and Shane and the others before leaving—something about a robotic hologram, a fruitcake and a wallaby—but his friends Tally—she's really hot—and Kyle are coming." Conner paused for a moment, grinning reminiscently. "He used to brag to me that he might get picked to be a Power Ranger one day; it was pretty funny. Right up until I told him I was a Rang—"
"WHAT?" Tommy roared.
"Oops." Conner cringed. "Dr. O… I… well…"
"You have ten seconds to explain before something bad happens to you!"
"Well… remember when Shane, Dustin, Tori, Hunter, Cam and Blake came to Reefside? Of course you do. Well, since Eric had gotten kicked out of the Academy, and I figured the Ninja gang kinda owed us one, I asked them to let my brother back in and they said okay. But then they told Eric that he was on probation and they were only letting him back in because I asked them to and Eric—well, actually, Eric's bud Kyle who's really smart—he asked them why me asking them to do it should affect anything and Dustin said 'Well, it was kind of a Ranger-to-Ranger favor, especially since we tried to kill him, or rather Shane tried to kill him' and Eric said 'What? Dude, Shane tried to kill my brother?' and they said, 'Yeah, you know, didn't you hear? Lothor turned us evil and he teamed up with Mesogog back in Reefside to kill the Dino Thunder Rangers' and Eric said 'That's nice, so why'd Shane try to kill my brother?' cuz Eric's not all that bright and then Kyle said 'Wait, his brother's a Power Ranger?' and Eric said 'Of course not' and Dustin said 'Yeah he is, we got to see him morph, he's the leader too' and Eric said 'What? No way! Dude, I gotta call him' and he did and of course by that point I couldn't really lie my way out of it so technically I didn't tell him, Dustin told him, and Kyle explained it to him, so it's not my fault at all!"
"Why didn't you tell me?" Tommy demanded.
"…Slipped my mind?" Conner lied hopefully.
"Conner, if word gets out about us because your brother—"
"He won't talk, Dr. O. He's really great at keeping secrets," Conner said quickly. "And the boy can lie. I mean, he's not as smart as me, but he's a way better liar. He goes to a secret ninja school, for crying out loud. He hasn't talked. He won't talk. He's covered for me more times than I can count. And the Wind Ninja Academy really preaches the secrecy thing. You get automatically dismissed if you tell anyone about it, and Eric's never even come close to breaking that rule. The only reason I know is because Sensei Kanoi came to my house to talk to my parents because Eric was still sixteen and had to have his parents' permission to join the school. Boy, that was a weird day, we totally—um, never mind, point is, otherwise Eric wouldn't have even told us. And I'm only telling you because you're Rangers and have probably heard of it. But anyway, it's been months since he found out. If he was going to do it, he'd have done it by now."
"Gee, that's a huge comfort, Conner. A really big—"
"There's nothing you can do, Tommy," Jason said, cutting Tommy off. "If the kid squeals, the kid squeals. But Conner's got a point. If he hasn't yet, he probably won't."
"The initial contact is the one you have to worry about," Trini agreed. "When they're all hyper that they know a Ranger."
"We've slipped up before," Kimberly added; they were all instinctively in Tommy-calming mode. "Ernie, for example. And during time-traveling, that worked out okay…"
"My dad," Billy added.
"Carson Brady," Trent added. "I mean, yeah, Elsa's fault, but he might not have made the connection if it wasn't for me…"
"And Hayley," Zack pointed out. "Not to mention Curtis."
"You're right," Tommy said, exhaling slowly. "We've all messed up. Hayley's a perfect example of—wait. Curtis?"
Zack laughed nervously. "Oops?"
"You told Curtis?" Jason demanded. "Curtis is a whack job!"
"He is not!" Zack said indignantly. "That's my favorite cousin you're knocking!"
"Case in point!" Jason was good friends with Curtis, but it had never crossed Jason's mind to share their secret with him. "He'd have to be a whack job to earn the mantel of favorite cousin; your whole family's weird!"
"Hey! And anyway it was Adam's fault Curtis found out, not mine. It's not easy to explain why your butt's on fire, especially when you're too busy calling all your friends to try and figure out what's going on to bother with coming up with an excuse for spontaneous butt combustion!"
"Some guy named Adam set your butt on fire?" Conner asked curiously.
"Yeah, pretty much."
"Adam, as in, the guy who became the Black Ranger when you left?" Ethan prodded.
"Yeah, him. See, he still had his morpher, only it was really damaged so all the power was in my Coin. But I was on this double date with Curtis and these two totally hot girls at this French restaurant—never ends well when I double-date at a French restaurant, just ask Tommy and Kim—and Adam tried to morph into the Black Ranger, despite the fact that he had a perfectly good Zeonizer that could turn him into Zeo Ranger Three. So anyway the power tried to transfer back to him and the next thing I know the morpher in my back pocket went all light show on me. Black and orange light and I'm screaming and it HURT and everyone thinks my ass is on fire. Had to drive home with my butt soaking wet from the waiter trying to put me out while Curtis laughed his ass off." Zack grimaced. "I need to kick Adam's ass for that. I really do."
"So you told him you were a Ranger?" Tommy demanded.
"What was I supposed to say? The magic artifact in my back pocket malfunctioned, man, there are only so many ways to explain that! You want to yell at someone, yell at Adam for experimenting with a broken morpher in the middle of my date!"
"I think you've both suffered enough for that," Kimberly deadpanned, struggling not to giggle.
Tommy shook his head. "Anyone else tell anyone? Huh? Ethan, did you tell your computer buddies? How about Derrick or Angela? Kira, you telling everyone you meet? Huh? How about your biker pals, Jase?"
"Calm down, Tommy," Trini said reasonably. "We've made it this far. And we've got friends in high places."
"We do?" Zack asked.
"Yes. T.J. and the other Space Rangers, they can discount any rumors about us. The Lightspeed guys, they're on our side. Look what they did for the Dragonzord."
"And Carrie Jeffries would probably help us out if I asked her to," Jason added thoughtfully.
Trini's face clouded momentarily. "Well, I don't know how much good one reporter would do, but that's an option. So there's no point in worrying. What's going to happen is going to happen, guys; when something goes wrong, all we can do is fix it, and that's something we're good at."
"Come on," Kimberly said. "Let's get back to the hotel. I could use a shower and a nap."
"Should have a big day tomorrow." Trini grinned, looking straight at Tommy with a decidedly mischievous gleam in her eye. Tommy blanched, now horrified. Trini wandered past him with Kimberly, the Dino Rangers behind them as they once more continued towards the hotel, and he couldn't help but wonder if Trini had freaked him out to distract him from the secret identity thing, or if she was really planning some big, evil, probably embarrassing trap tomorrow. Tommy followed, watching them mistrustfully and trying to reassure himself that Kimberly was on his side… though come to think of it, he wasn't sure what that side was.
"You staying with us, or going back to your place tonight?" Zack asked Billy and Jason as they followed Tommy.
"Billy was saying we shouldn't party tonight," Jason said reluctantly. "Said we should get to work on those speeches for Power Rangers Day."
"We could work on those together," Zack pointed out.
"Zack, I told myself that I'd think of what to say to my father while hanging out with you guys last night, and come morning I still had no idea of what I was going to say," Billy replied dryly.
Tommy tuned out of their conversation, trying to catch snippets of Trini and Kimberly's conversation and picking up the Dino Rangers instead.
"Did you ever meet Eric?" Ethan was asking Kira.
"Think I had a class or two with him back in junior year, but I didn't know him or Conner very well and I tended to get them confused. Did you know him?"
"Yeah. Tutored him in math all through sophomore year." Ethan paused. "Conner's definitely the smarter twin."
"Hard to believe," Kira joked.
"Conner's smarter than you give him credit for, Kira," Tommy said absently, still straining his ears to eavesdrop on Trini and Kimberly as discreetly as he could. "I graded his work, after all. If he put more effort into school, he could have been an A student, easy."
"You think?" Conner said, looking startled.
"We've always known Conner wasn't a complete idiot," Ethan said with a shrug.
"Thanks," Conner said, pleased. "Wait. …I think."
"Compliments definitely aren't our strong suit," Kira commented.
"Just because Conner doesn't study much doesn't make him dumb," Tommy added. As an easily distracted person, he knew there was a fine line between "dumb" and "not doing the work." "After all, he made a good leader."
"True," Ethan said, shrugging again. Kira and Trent nodded, while Conner looked amazed.
"Zack was the same way," Tommy added. "He came off as goofy and shallow, but he did a lot of deep thinking. He came up with a lot of strategy during our days as Rangers, especially during the times when the rest of us were snapping, letting anger or fear or panic cloud our judgment. Like this one time, I was walking Kimberly home and this monster called the Samurai Fan Man attacked us, trapping Kimberly in a jar and knocking me out. Jason, Trini, Zack and Billy went after him, and Trini was all gung ho about just smashing the jar, but Zack was the one that pointed out Kim could be hurt if she did. Zack might be a lunatic, but he's not stupid. You give Zack a goal, and he'll accomplish it, just like Conner."
The four teens lapsed into silence, reflecting on this, and Tommy eagerly quickened his steps, still trying to hear the girls… but now all he was getting was Billy, Zack and Jason.
"So Dad said he'd come to Power Rangers Day," Billy was saying.
"Awesome! I think my parents might go, but I'm not sure," Jason said.
"Curtis said he couldn't make it," Zack said with a sigh. "I haven't talked to most of my other family members about it yet, need to make some calls…"
"Oh!" Tommy said, smacking his forehead. He'd forgotten about Hayley already. "Hayley was thinking of coming. She'd need a place to stay, though, and I doubt the hotels are open…"
"She can take the couch," Jason offered immediately.
"Or room with us," Zack said eagerly. Tommy shot him an older-brother glare over his shoulder before returning to watching Trini and Kimberly. "Or maybe she could stay with the girls," Zack amended hastily.
"Hayley's never met Kim. Might get weird," Jason pointed out. "She can stay at our place. Might be a good way to get Trini to come home…"
"Oh, by the way," Tommy said, struggling to bring everything up before it slipped his mind again. "Hayley wanted to know if Rocky, Adam and Tanya were coming."
"Are they?" Billy asked Jason eagerly.
"No idea," Jason said, checking his watch. "We'd better wait until tomorrow to call them though. It's coming up on one a.m."
"Remind me to call Hayley tomorrow," Tommy said faintly, still trying to hear without much success. Conner was now telling the others exactly what had happened involving Cyber Cam, a fruitcake and a wallaby to get Eric kicked out of the Wind Ninja Academy, and the laughter was making Tommy's mission even harder. If they didn't quiet down soon, he'd just have to jog past them and hope the girls didn't notice.
Kimberly and Trini were now rather far ahead, joking about the debacle that was Ashley's first wedding—at least, the wedding she'd tried to have, where she'd been engaged to some guy and Andros, who'd been off on mission after mission over the years with Zhane and hadn't been able to keep in touch with Ashley, crashed the wedding and ran off with Ashley. Trini was explaining that Tommy had been there as well, and Kimberly must not have seen him in all the blaster smoke and general chaos. They were so intent on their discussion that they didn't notice the guy creeping up on them until Kimberly felt a sharp yank on her big pink handbag.
Kimberly seized the strap instinctively, letting out an indignant, surprised shout as the kid tried to make off with her purse. Kimberly's eyes narrowed and she prepared to make sure that he not only didn't get the purse but wouldn't be able to reproduce, but Tommy got there first—or, more accurately, Tommy's fist did.
Kimberly watched in amazement as Tommy's knuckles flew out of nowhere and collided with the thief's temple, her ears barely registering the sound of Tommy's ragged, growling battle cry. The would-be purse snatcher collapsed like a broken folding chair, unconscious before he hit the sidewalk.
Tommy turned to look at Kimberly, and she caught a glimpse of the look on his face, fury and protectiveness and determination—the glare of a fighter. She hadn't known she'd been holding her breath until she noticed that it was harder to inhale now.
The look faded quickly, replaced by a sheepish, somewhat embarrassed half-smile, like a little kid who'd been trying to help but had made quite a large mess in the process and wasn't sure if the good would outweigh the bad. Kimberly felt decidedly self-conscious, abruptly aware of the others watching them. She hoisted the rescued purse a little higher on her shoulder and tentatively returned his smile. "Thanks," she said quietly.
The grin on Tommy's face slowly expanded. She realized, from the hunching of his shoulders and the slight blush on his cheeks, that he was fighting the urge to straighten up and throw out his chest and strut, maybe even swagger. Kimberly knew he had to feel very Tarzan-y right now; he had saved the damsel in distress, and to Tommy there wasn't very much that brought bigger glory.
"Welcome," he muttered in a helpless sort of way, feeling rather like a dork who'd just been complimented by the most popular girl in school.
Kimberly stared at him, a rush of delight filling every bone in her body. She suddenly knew without question that Tommy, her Tommy, was still there, hiding somewhere inside this rather sarcastic, short-haired twenty-five-year-old man, fighting to get back out. That cheesy smile was suddenly the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen.
"TOMMY!" Jason yelled, breaking the mood as abruptly and completely as a crazy uncle puking in the middle of a wedding. On the cake. "You IDIOT!"
Tommy turned to look at him, startled and puzzled. "What?"
"Did it not occur to you that now is not the time to beat up a mugger?" Jason demanded angrily.
Tommy blinked. "What do you mean? I couldn't just let him run off with Kim's purse!"
"Tommy, you're in town for Power Rangers Day!" Jason hissed.
"So?" Tommy said blankly.
"Tommy," said Trini, stepping forward, wearing her patented "Time to Explain Things to My Dear, Sweet, Not-So-Smart Friends" expression, "it might look a little odd to the cops, and the reporters, and everyone in general, that you lived in Angel Grove during the days of the original Power Rangers and you now live in Reefside, where the most recent team was, and you've come back for Power Rangers Day, and you just beat up a criminal."
Tommy's eyes widened and he looked down at the mugger worriedly. Kimberly winced, the sweet moment shattered and replaced by a fear she knew all-to-well—the fear of compromising her identity, much stronger now than it had been when discussing Eric and their other confidants. This was not the same as telling a few trustworthy souls; this was an accident that could lead to the world finding out.
"We could just leave him," Ethan suggested, though without any real enthusiasm.
"We can't just leave him!" Kimberly exclaimed. "He could hurt someone!"
"Well, we can't exactly call the cops and explain that we're not former Power Rangers, just ten people who know martial arts honest, when six of us are from Angel Grove and five of us live in Reefside," Jason pointed out, though he didn't look very pleased with the idea of leaving the mugger either. None of them did; it seemed counterproductive to devote a good chunk of their lives to fighting evil only to set criminals free. He looked down at his red shirt. "We really should stop color-coordinating our wardrobes so much."
"Well, what do you suggest?" Tommy asked. "That we tie him to a phone pole and write 'mugger' on his forehead?"
"Great idea, Dr. O!" Conner said. Everyone turned to look at him. "Oh. Sarcasm. Right. I gotcha."
"Conner's the smart one?" Trent asked Kira and Ethan incredulously. They sighed in unison.
"We're gonna have to leave him," Jason said heavily, his regret obvious.
"Wait," Zack said suddenly. Everyone turned to look at him. "The mugger didn't see Tommy, did he?"
"I don't think there was time," Kimberly said. "Tommy came out of nowhere. He just saw me. And maybe Tommy's fist."
"Then… then I'm having a plan," Zack said, biting his lip and looking slightly surprised at himself. Then he grinned. "Go me!"
"Are you going to tell us or not?" Jason asked. "He's not gonna stay unconscious forever."
Zack grinned and reached for his back pocket. "Don't worry, Jase. It's brilliant."
EndNotes: I've written an S.P.D. one-shot that's begging me to turn it into a full story; it's called "The Full Impact" and I'd appreciate feedback on it.
Extremely minor edits have been made to chapters three and twenty-five.
Can't remember if I mentioned this before or not, but all hints WILL be used eventually. They might undergo a few minor changes, but they'll show up at some point, I promise.
Coming soon, on "Of Love and Bunnies…"
1) "Maybe we should run away now," Billy said thoughtfully.
2) "HE IS SO DEAD!" Kimberly roared, marching from the room.
3) "I'm just peachy, Kira," Tommy growled. "I'm happy as can be. Ask me that one more time, and I'm going to ask you why Kimberly asked me about some ritual bath you took involving Conner."
4) "Kim, please," Kira yelled desperately as she chased Kimberly through the lobby. "Please don't go!"
5) "We could always kill them afterwards," Conner said thoughtfully.
6) "Jason burst into song, Tommy burst into tears, and Zack burst out the front door in his underwear and a cowboy hat with his socks on his hands," Trini replied with a heavy sigh.