Chapter Forty-six

Cars Attacks

By the time Tommy, Jason, Trini, Kimberly, Kira and Trent got back to Jason's house, Ethan and Conner were at each other's throats.

"We committed a felony!" Ethan was wailing in the living room as the others closed the front door.

"Assault isn't a felony! And it's not like we even stole anything. We left the luggage cart in the parking lot on the sidewalk."

"We stole their clothes," Ethan shot back. "And may I add—UGH! Their clothes!"

"Relax, would you? We didn't do anything to them but take their clothes. Billy's the one who dropped them."

"You dropped the bellhops?" Tommy asked in disbelief. Billy, like the rest of them, had his moments of insanity, but his usually came after the others were long gone, not before. He'd figured the tied-up bellhops to be all Conner's plan, because Billy wasn't psycho and Zack had been morphed and in the restaurant.

"I had to. I didn't hit them hard, either. Just enough to knock them out so we could tie them up and take their clothes," Billy said as though this was the most logical thing in the universe.

"Let me guess—that wasn't your plan?" Tommy asked hopefully.

"No. It was Conner's. Zack embellished. Ethan and I agreed."

"Which we were crazy for doing!" Ethan said vehemently. "What if we get caught?"

"We're not going to get caught," Zack said patiently, interrupting Conner before Conner could further their argument. "We got out of the hotel without a problem. The whole mess is straightened out. Once we ditch the uniforms, there won't even be any evidence."

"Guys, the horrors of today are over," Jason announced. "We fixed it. All we're waiting on is confirmation from T.J. Once he calls with the okay, we're gold."

"Whew," Billy breathed. "So what exactly happened?"

Jason and Tommy retold the story again, explaining about Carrie. Billy and Zack had the good sense to look abashed that they'd executed their psychotic mission (Operation Anti-Reporter, Conner called it) without checking with the others, but it was the sort of sheepishness one manufactures when trying not to giggle about how funny it all was in retrospect.

"So what now?" Trent asked.

"Now we go to Stone Canyon," Trini said. "I've been planning this little surprise for over a week now; let's get cracking."

"Fine, but can we stop and get some food first? Some of us didn't get breakfast," Conner complained.

"Yeah, only Kira and Trent got breakfast," Ethan groused.

"If you don't cheer up, she's gonna knock you unconscious, too," Conner said.

"You two are riding with Zack," Tommy announced.

"Awesome!" Conner exclaimed, performing a long secret handshake of some sort with Zack. Tommy remembered the Play-Doh, combined it with the bellhop, and fought with himself for a moment. Most unfortunately, his responsible adult side won out over his annoyed side, and he decided it was probably a good idea to minimize Conner's exposure to Zack.

"On second thought, you're riding with me," he said resignedly.

"Aw, man," Conner complained.

"Then Trent and I are riding with Zack," Kira said firmly.

"Okay, Kira, I give up. What did I do?" Conner asked, exasperated.

"You… he… Trent?" Kira looked beseechingly at her boyfriend.

"Nothing, Conner. Kira's just a little off today," Trent said, giving her a sympathetic look.

"All right, fine. Who's riding with me?" Tommy asked.

"I will," Jason said. "Someone's got to keep you from getting lost."

"I know how to find Stone Canyon."

"Yeah, that's what you said the last time we went to visit Rocky. Does the word 'Arizona' mean anything to you?"

"It's not that far away. It's only one state over."

"Stone Canyon's not in a different state. It's not even on a different interstate. It's fifteen miles away!"

"Fine. Whatever. Who else will ride with me?"

"The rest of us could fit in the Escalade," Zack pointed out.

Tommy shook his head. "Trust me. Someone has to sit between Conner and Ethan."

"Way to sweeten the deal," Kira muttered.

"Not it," Billy said suddenly.

"Not it!" Trini added quickly.

"Not it!" Kimberly practically yelled. Despite the "fun" she'd had with Tommy yesterday, she felt today was getting off to a bad start when it came to the two of them. "Zack, you're riding with Tommy! Ha!"

"It's my car," Zack pointed out. "I'm riding with me. And Kira and Trent already called my car. So you're riding with Tommy."

"That's not fair!"

"You can't go against 'not it,'" Billy said, having been told this many times over during his childhood. "You were last."

"But… but… I don't want to sit between Conner and Ethan!"

"I'll sit in the front," Conner offered. "That's what Kira makes me do when we ride together."

"Like hell you'll sit in the front," Tommy said determinedly.

"Come on, Trini, ride with Tommy," Kimberly pleaded. "I rode with him on the way here."

"No, thanks. Besides, someone has to keep Zack from getting lost."

"But… but… you and Jason should ride together!"

"After all, that's what you're good at," Tommy cracked.

"OOH!" Zack crowed. "Three pointer at the buzzer!"

"Don't listen to him," Jason told Trini, smacking Tommy upside the head as Trini glowered. "I think spending all that time trapped in his suit made him permanently grumpy."

They all cracked up, save the Dino Rangers; Tommy socked Jason in the arm hard enough to bruise.

"Come on, guys," Kimberly joked. "Not in front of the kids."

"He started it," Jason and Tommy insisted simultaneously.

Trini rolled her eyes. "I think that just made it official—you're riding with Tommy, Kim. End of story."

Kimberly groaned, knowing that she'd never convince Trini to switch with her. She looked at Billy, only to see him exchanging meaningful glances with Trini and giving Trini a quick nod. Great. That meant it was conspiracy time again; there was no way Kimberly was going to get out of it now. Oh, well. She might as well get something out of the deal.

"Fine, but if I'm riding with Tommy, I get to choose where we eat," Kimberly said quickly.

Tommy shrugged. "Fine. Where do you want to go?"

"McDonald's. I'm craving one of their sundaes."

Tommy stared at her. "You don't eat McDonald's. It's too fattening."

"I am not fat!" Kimberly exclaimed, beyond wounded.

"I know you're not fat!" Tommy said quickly. "It's just… that's what you always said in high school…"

"Eh, one meal won't kill me," Kimberly said, still looking mildly suspicious. "I need a sundae. I had this really weird dream this morning and I just… I'm craving a sundae."

"McDonald's it is," Jason said.

"No, it isn't," Tommy argued.

"You're not going to get one of those shakes again, are you?" Ethan asked worriedly.

"I want to see if they have any more of those Hotwheels cars," Conner said.

"Guys… I can't handle McDonald's."

"You like McDonald's," Trini pointed out.

"Yeah, but…"

"And you already had pancakes," Kira added.

"I'm hungry again," Tommy argued.

"Then good thing you like McDonald's," Trini shot back.

Stupid sensible Yellows, Tommy thought irritably. He was going to be overruled, of course. Nine to one, probably. He was going to have Kimberly, Conner, Jason and Ethan in his car and he was going to McDonald's before heading off to some surprise location of Trini's. This would end well.

"Fine, but I'm not following Zack. He always pisses off the drive-thru workers. If we're going to McDonald's, I'm going first."

"You don't know where we're going after that," Trini pointed out. "Only I know where you're going."

"That had better not be a metaphor," Tommy grumbled.

She grinned. "Okay, fine. I'll give Jason a copy of the directions. They don't say where we're going, just how to get there. Give me a second to fire up the copy machine."

A few moments later, they were all heading out to Tommy and Zack's cars, most of the morning's uncomfortable problems forgotten; they were too used to having to rush off to battle and then return to their normal lives within seconds to let a little thing like a terrifying brush with the media rattle them too much.

"OW!" Jason complained as he sat down. He reached under his butt and pulled out a cord. "What the hell is this?"

"Ah, so that's where I put my car charger," Tommy said. "Good. My phone died last night; I left it on the dresser instead of on the charger."

"You've got to stop doing that," Jason said mildly.

Tommy plugged his phone in. "Yeah, well. Hayley's not here to remind me. Oh, remind me to call her about coming in for Power Rangers Day."

Jason shook his head. "That's just sad, man."

"What?" Tommy said defensively.

"Your friend Hayley's coming?" Kimberly asked nonchalantly.

"Hayley's coming?" Ethan repeated, his face lighting up.

"She was thinking of driving in tomorrow night or Friday morning, yeah," Tommy admitted. He frowned. "I think."

"Cool. I'd like to meet her," Kimberly said. Tommy winced and pulled the car out of the driveway to give him an excuse not to answer.

"You'll like Hayley," Conner said cheerfully, though Ethan looked worried. "Everyone likes Hayley," Conner continued. "She's really great. Plus, hey, useful. All the stuff she built for us… and she de-fossilized Dr. O, and she fixed him when he got trapped in morph, and then she fixed him when demorphing him turned him invisible—"

"Let's not rehash right now, Conner," Tommy interrupted. He doubted Kimberly wanted to hear about how useful Tommy's female friend had been when Kimberly hadn't even known he was a Ranger.

"Why not?"

"Because Dr. O would like some quiet time," Tommy replied threateningly. "Or else he might tell Jason what you and Zack did last night."

Conner's eyes widened. "You wouldn't dare."

"Wouldn't I? I lost clothing in the deal, Conner. Don't mess with me."

"Oh, um, that reminds me," Kimberly said, shifting uncomfortably. "About your pants, Tommy… they kind of… um… disappeared…"

"Kira brought them back," Tommy explained smugly.

"What a traitor!" Kimberly exclaimed in mock-outrage.

A confused Jason looked behind him at Ethan for answers, but Ethan just shrugged, having no idea what was going on either. "Okay, um, Tommy?" Jason said.

"Yeah?"

"Pick a new threat for Conner. Whatever happened between you guys last night, I don't want to know."

"Ha! You have no power over me now, Dr. O!" Conner yelled.

Tommy gritted his teeth. "You know what, Conner? I've had a rough morning and a rough night and half the world thinks I'm Zack and Kimberly is wearing my shirt. You really want to mess with me today?"

Conner thought about this for a second, but before he could reply, Ethan spoke up. "Why is Kim wearing your shirt?" he asked. "…Or do I not want to know?"

Conner's jaw dropped. "Whoa. You—"

"Don't even think about it," Kimberly growled, whacking him in the arm.

"OW!" Conner swallowed and edged away from her as best he could in the tight space, his fear of her (especially in matters regarding Tommy) resurfacing. Still, this didn't stop him from leaning forward, whispering "You the man!" loud enough for all of them to hear and punching Tommy in the shoulder. Tommy sighed heavily.

"You're an idiot, Conner," Ethan said, rolling his eyes.

"Hey! You—"

"Quiet time!" Tommy practically screamed.

"Okay, okay!"

Kimberly and Jason looked at each other, both of them thinking how weird it was to see Tommy not just as a leader, but as a disciplinarian. So to speak. Stifling laughter, they both turned away quickly.

They made the rest of the trip in relative silence, Jason reading over the directions, Conner making faces at the cars they passed, Kimberly reorganizing her purse, Ethan humming to himself and Tommy trying to breathe deeply to relieve some of the tension that was already threatening to overwhelm him.

McDonald's, much to his relief, went off without much of a problem. Sure, it took five minutes to gather everyone's order, and another three to relate it all correctly to the drive-thru cashier, and another two to yell at Zack for honking his horn at them, and another two for Zack to insist that it was the guy behind them who was beeping, another ten to wait for Zack (who of course had managed to antagonize the drive-thru workers somehow) to get through the line.

"Well, at least my phone's charged now," Tommy said, slipping it into his pocket as he finally pulled out on the road. "We taking the interstate?"

"Yeah. It's the exit before Rocky's. Think you can handle that?"

"Fine," Tommy said. He paused. "I turn left here, right?"

Jason sighed. "We're all gonna die, aren't we."

"Right or left, Jase?" Tommy asked wearily.

"You go straight," Kimberly called helpfully from the back. "Come on, Jason, pass out the food! I don't want my sundae to melt."

"I'm so glad they came up with these bigger Happy Meals," Conner said cheerfully, digging in his box.

"You ordered like five other things," Kimberly pointed out, popping open the lid on the sundae.

"Yeah…" Conner said, confused.

Kimberly shook her head, exasperated. "Reds," she muttered.

"Hey!" Tommy, Jason and Conner complained. Ethan laughed.

They made their way onto the interstate, munching away happily. Kimberly finished her sundae off and was just pulling her fry container towards her when Tommy hit a massive pothole. The next thing she knew, she was covered in fries.

Great, Kimberly thought irritably, glaring down at the fries on her—well, Tommy's—shirt and the unseen ones that were now settling down inside her shirt. What is it with Tommy accidentally throwing edible things into my bra?

"Jeez, watch the road!" Jason complained.

"Will you stop being a backseat driver?"

"I'm not being a backseat driver. I'm a front seat driver."

"Same thing."

"No, it isn't. When you're in the front seat, you have more time to panic because you actually get to see how the actual driver is screwing up."

"It was a pothole, not a pedestrian!"

"Everyone all right back there?" Jason called.

"Fine," Kimberly grumbled. She reached to pull the fries from her shirt, then remembered Conner and Ethan were sitting next to her.

She glared at Ethan.

He obediently turned to stare out the window.

She glared at Conner.

Either he didn't get the hint, or his fear of her was being overshadowed by his eagerness to see down her shirt.

Sighing, Kimberly seized the back of his head and twisted him around to look out his own window. With her other hand, she began removing the multitude of fries from her shirt. Conner sighed dispiritedly and continued to eat as best he could with his head at an unnatural angle.

Tommy happened to glance in the rearview mirror to check that Zack was still behind him. He could see Kimberly's arm raised up, while her head was gazing down. Frowning, he subtly adjusted the mirror to see what she was doing and his jaw dropped slightly at the sight of her digging in her bra. Without a second thought, he smacked the mirror down until he could get a full view of the action.

"I think we've got about ten minutes to the exit," Jason said to Tommy, burger in one hand and directions in the other. Tommy didn't respond, gazing off towards the right of the car (technically, he was gazing at the mirror, but all Jason saw was Tommy looking off to the side). The Jeep slowly began to drift to the right, getting dangerously close to the edge line.

"Tommy?" Jason said tentatively.

Kimberly couldn't believe how many fries had found their way inside her shirt. Several could be shaken out onto her lap, but just as with the ice, a good deal of them had settled into her bra, and still more were getting caught behind the knot she'd tied halfway down her stomach. Realizing she probably needed two hands, Kimberly slowly, experimentally released Conner's head, which instantly began to turn her way. She grabbed it again and firmly spun him back towards the window. Not wanting to verbally order him to look out the window (she'd die of embarrassment if Tommy or Jason got wind of what she was doing), she tried to see if he'd figured it out yet… but no, three more tries and he still was turning his head the moment she let go, rather like a boulder that refused to stay put halfway up the hill. Sighing, she set about digging with one hand and holding Conner with the other, watching Ethan carefully. This is what I get for not eating healthy, she grumbled silently. She cursed her dream yet again, this time for giving her such a craving for hot fudge sundaes.

"Tommy?" Jason repeated as the car crossed the line and began to move onto the shoulder. "Bro? Are you pulling over? What are you doing? Answer me, man! TOMMY!"

Tommy jolted in surprise at the combined noises of Jason's shout and the tires hitting the grooves in the side of the road, placed on the sides of freeways to alert drivers to the fact that they were drifting out of their lane. Tommy cursed and jerked the steering wheel to the left, pulling the Jeep back into the lane.

"What the hell?" Jason demanded angrily, breathing heavily. "WATCH THE ROAD!"

"I am!" Tommy protested, sneaking a glance at the rearview mirror. Conner, Kimberly and Ethan had been momentarily unsettled by the swerving, but Kimberly now had one hand back on Conner's head and the other down her shirt. Struggling to keep one eye on the road and the other on the mirror, Tommy drove on.

One by one, and sometimes fraction by fraction, Kimberly yanked the fries out of her shirt, grimacing. The greasiness of the fries was probably going to stain her bra (and possibly Tommy's shirt, though none of the grease was showing through to the outside so far), and it wasn't exactly very comfortable to have little spots of it on her skin. Maybe she could wipe herself off with a napkin before they made it to wherever the hell they were going…

Tommy jumped as his phone went off, reluctantly taking his eyes off Kimberly to answer it. Tommy fumbled with the phone, making a vague mental note of the icon in the corner saying he had voicemail as he hit send. "Yeah?"

"Tommy, man, what the hell are you doing?" It was Zack, and he sounded confused and worried. "You're going like forty miles an hour!"

"I am not!" Tommy insisted, cursing silently as he realized he wasn't paying much attention to the pedals.

"Yes you are! What happened to Mr. NASCAR? And why are you swerving?"

"Oh, shut up, Zack, I'm fine!" Tommy snapped, shutting the phone off and revving the engine. In seconds, they were back up to sixty-five; Tommy pushed in the buttons to activate his cruise control before glancing back at the mirror. She was still digging in her shirt. Tommy returned to watching happily, his desire for discretion slowly being outweighed by his desire to enjoy the view.

The phone went off again. Growling, Tommy flipped it back open. "What?"

"Tommy, from what I remember from driver's ed, you're supposed to stay in one lane. You're blocking both." Zack's tone now held a bit of a smirk.

"Shut up, Zack!" Tommy said, his face reddening as he realized he was indeed in the middle of the highway. Gently, so as not to alert Jason (who was double-checking the directions and hadn't noticed yet), he steered back into the right lane and hung up on Zack. Unsurprisingly, the phone went off again three seconds later; Tommy rolled his eyes and tossed the phone unceremoniously over his shoulder.

"OW!"

"Oh! Sorry, Conner!" Tommy exclaimed, wincing. Talk about being off-form.

"What was that f…?" Conner trailed off. In trying to glance at Dr. O, he'd discovered that he could see down Kimberly's shirt via the rearview mirror by looking out of the corner of his eye. Conner cheerfully lapsed into silence.

Don't be stupid, Tommy told himself sternly. She'll figure it out eventually if I keep driving like a blind man. Tommy focused on his driving. Besides, it's nothing I haven't seen before. His gaze darted back to the mirror for just a second. And she'll kill me if she finds out. Hmm. Had he missed the exit, or was it coming up? Not that she ever used to mind. She used to catch me all the time at the beach and just smirked at me or teased me about it. No, surely he hadn't missed the exit. Okay, one more little peek. That's all. How many fries were in those containers, anyway? Peek. Not to be confused with peak. If he kept his head tilted just so, he could see the lines and Kimberly at the same time. La, la, la, la… Stupid Zack.

"SEMI TRUCK!" Jason roared.

"AHH!"

Tommy crammed the brakes just in time; all of them were thrown bodily forward, then back. Kimberly, the only one who didn't have a shoulder harness as well as a lap belt, was practically bent in half—so when the force of the motion tossed her practically onto the console, she came face-to-face with the cockeyed mirror.

She stared at it in shock even as she leaned back against her seat once more. So that was why he was distracted.

Well. Humph.

Surely he didn't think she'd let him get away with that, did he?

After all, she never had before. In the old days, there'd been many times when he'd lost concentration during sparring matches, sports games in the park, and classes. It had actually taken her a while to figure it out, as he wasn't the most focused person in the world to begin with, but once she'd realized it, she'd gotten a certain satisfaction out of watching a football hit him upside the head, a teacher scold him, or his sparring partner of the moment knock him on his back. It was flattering to know she was attractive, of course, but the fact still remained that he knew better, and she wasn't above smirking when he got a karmic return for his actions. She also liked to tease him about it; he could blush and stammer better than anyone she knew, excepting perhaps Billy, but it was somehow cuter when Tommy did it. It wasn't that she really minded the fact that Tommy was checking her out… it was just the principle of the thing.

She grinned. After the rough morning they'd just had, she could use a little fun, and there currently weren't any footballs or teachers to teach him a lesson for her. So she'd just have to do it herself. Besides, the fun, teasing side of their tentative friendship had faded today for the moment, and if she didn't bring it back things might go downhill fast… and after all, the teasing was fun. Especially since she usually won.

After a long screaming match with Jason, and a long conversation between Conner and Zack over Tommy's cell phone, Tommy passed the truck and focused entirely on the mostly-empty stretch of interstate. However, Kimberly watched him carefully through her lashes as she continued to pluck out the fries, plotting quickly. Sure enough, Tommy's head tilted slightly to the right in a matter of seconds.

Kimberly grabbed one of the last few fries in her shirt, took careful aim, and flung it at the mirror. It hit dead-center. Tommy yelped and swerved. (If he hadn't jerked the wheel, Kimberly might have wondered why Conner jumped, but she put it down to Tommy's driving and went back about her business, instead of attributing the action to the sudden attack on the mirror.)

"Will you quit that?" Jason demanded. "If you swerve one more time, I'm driving!"

"That one was my fault, Jason," Kimberly said calmly, throwing the last fry into the bag and tugging her shirt up. "I spilled my fries."

Jason turned to look at her in confusion. "What does that have to do with Tommy's driving?"

"Please let her say 'absolutely nothing,'" Ethan muttered in a horrified sort of tone. Conner let out a snort of suppressed laughter.

"Couple of them flew up there, didn't you see?" Kimberly said innocently. "One of them hit the mirror."

"There's some grease on it now," Tommy said in a strangled, mortified voice, smacking the mirror wildly upwards.

Jason frowned, looking from the red-faced Tommy to the disgusted Ethan to the semi-smug Kimberly to the now-disappointed Conner. "Okay. What am I missing?" he asked slowly.

Normally, Kimberly would have responded with a conspicuous "Nothing" and an innocent look, but she caught herself in time and switched to a confused expression. "What do you mean?"

Jason looked at her suspiciously for a moment, then turned back around and looked at Tommy, who was ignoring him with a passion. "Tommy?"

"Could you hand me my fries?" Tommy asked, in the loud, panicky manner used by people who are struggling to change the subject.

Kimberly grinned wickedly and leaned forward, propping her elbows on the center console and putting her chin in her hands. Tommy could just see her out of the corner of his eye, but he refused to meet her gaze. "You like fries, do you?" she asked in a relatively suggestive, playful tone, meant to sound conversational enough that Jason wouldn't get too suspicious.

Tommy swallowed audibly. "On second thought," he said, as Jason held his fries out, "could I have my burger instead?"

As Jason retracted the fries and began to lift the burger from the paper bag, Kimberly decided not to bother keeping her new plan secret from Jason; it would be far easier to stop caring what the other guys in the car figured out. She dropped her voice to a lower pitch and asked, "Good at driving one-handed, are you?"

A loud plop sounded as the burger slipped from Jason's fingers and landed back in the bag. Tommy's face took on a new, more potent shade of red as Ethan gagged slightly in the back.

Did she just say that? Jason wondered in shock, certain it must have been a hallucination brought on by extensive separation from Trini. It wasn't until Conner spoke that he was sure he hadn't been imagining things.

"I'm good at driving one-handed, too," Conner said. Then he paused and smirked. "Oh. I get it now."

"Shut up, Conner," Ethan half-whimpered, looking out the window as if seriously considering leaping from the car and into traffic.

Tommy fought to come up with a response. "Matter of fact, I am," he said, struggling to play it off. He ignored Conner's barely-suppressed chuckle and Ethan's shudder. "Where's that burger, Jase?"

Jason stared at him for a moment, then shrugged to himself and began to reach back into the bag, trying not to laugh.

"So, Tommy," Kimberly said, still in that same, god-awful, nearly seductive tone, "can I have your fries?"

Never vacationing again, Tommy reminded himself vehemently. "Sure," he said, his joking tone lost somewhere behind his gritted teeth.

"Thanks," Kimberly said, grabbing at the fry container and holding it with one hand, still leaning forward. Tommy resolved to install some sort of shoulder harness for the middle seatbelt as soon as possible, just in case. "Yours are harder than mine," she remarked casually. "Mine were kind of squishy."

Hate you, hate you, hate you, Tommy thought with a grimace. There are kids in the car. Doesn't that mean anything to her?

"Where's a semi truck when you need one?" Ethan muttered, his hand on the door handle.

"Mine are really salty," Conner commented, cheerfully eating his food now that he had full control of his head and thoroughly enjoying himself. After all, first he got to stare down Kimberly's shirt, and now he got to watch her torment Dr. O; in Conner's opinion, the day was going pretty well.

"Tommy's are too," Kimberly said.

"Semi truck. Dump truck. Minivan, minimum," Ethan whined.

Jason let out a strangled noise as he tried not to laugh. Tommy glared at him.

"You know," Kimberly said, biting into a fry with a relish that made Tommy wince, "you should get yourself a bigger car. This backseat's kinda small. I mean, there's not enough room to stretch your legs or lie down…"

"I know what you mean," Conner said. "My car has a much bigger backseat."

"Like you ever use it," Ethan grumbled, rolling his eyes.

"Hey! I do so use it!"

Kimberly giggled. "I mean, the front seat of your old truck had more room."

"I am eating my burger now," Tommy replied with a forced smile, holding out his hand for the burger Jason had yet to pass him. "Nice, juicy, burger that for some reason was packaged upside down with far too much mayonnaise and lettuce. I am eating burger. Dead cow. Yes."

"Yeah, I like red meat too."

Jason covered his eyes with his hand and leaned against the window, shaking with the effort to hold back his mirth.

"I know you do," Tommy retorted, too annoyed and distracted to reply with any flirtatious skill.

"White meat's kinda good too, though," Kimberly said thoughtfully.

Jason let out a chuckle that choked off with a noise like a broken wood chipper.

"Jason, hand me my burger," Tommy growled.

"H-h-here, bro," Jason stammered, thrusting the hamburger at Tommy without looking at him.

"Don't bite too hard," Kimberly deadpanned.

"Thanks for the advice," Tommy ground out, "but I don't think I need it."

"Yeah, I don't think you do, either."

Tommy shoved half the Big Mac into his mouth in one bite. Kimberly was evil. Kimberly was EVIL!

"Careful now," Kimberly said in a singsong voice. "You should pace yourself."

Jason leaned up, folded his arms against the dashboard, and put his head on them in the hopes of muffling the laughter. Tommy flung a stray onion at his head, feeling a small twinge of satisfaction when it stuck in Jason's hair.

"I think I can handle it, thanks," Tommy replied dryly after swallowing and nearly choking on the overlarge bite of food.

"Whatever. You know, I like Big Macs too," Kimberly teased, loving this like nothing else.

"Please, Lord, send me a cement truck," Ethan begged. "At least a garbage truck. Hell, I'll settle for a nice full-sized pickup."

"I remember," Tommy responded. He was not going to let her beat him up like this. No, sir.

"I'm sure you do."

"Mwaha—ow!" Jason said. Tommy had managed to pinch him without touching Kimberly; given her close proximity, this was quite a feat.

Kimberly ate a few more fries, slowly formulating her next attack. She decided against using another pun… instead, she licked the salt off of her fingers as loudly as possible.

Going to bite her, Tommy thought. And not in a good way. Although… no, seriously. Not in a good way. I am calm. I am in control. I am in a warm safe place… with happy little trees… birds are singing…

"MOTORCYCLE!" Conner screamed.

"ARGH!" Tommy yelled, yanking the car back to the side.

Suddenly, Tommy's cell phone rang yet again. He just had time to groan before he heard Conner say, "Hello? Hi, who's this?"

"Conner! Tell Zack that…"

"It's not Zack. It's some guy named Adam."

"Adam who?"

"Adam who?" Conner asked the caller. "Adam Park. Hey, that name sounds kinda familiar. What up, yo? Oh, this is Conner. I'm a… well, I know Dr. O. What do you mean, who's Dr. O? Dr. O's Dr. O."

"Someone steal the phone from him," Tommy sighed.

"Busy," Ethan said vaguely, looking hopefully at an approaching semi. Just a few more feet… ah, damn, who put that off ramp there? "Come back!" Ethan wailed as the truck left the interstate. "You're my only hope! Come back!"

"Kim, get the phone from him," Tommy said resignedly.

"I'm eating," Kimberly replied calmly, rolling a French fry onto her tongue.

"Dr. O, you know, Dr. Oliver? Yeah, Tommy Oliver, that's him," Conner was saying. "Yeah, he's here. He's driving. He kinda sucks at driving."

"He has other talents," Kimberly couldn't resist throwing in.

Jason lifted his head, face red and screwed up from laughter. "Conner, man, pass me the phone," he gasped out, taking pity on his best friend.

"Hang on, Jason wants to talk to you. You do know who Jason is, right? Oh, okay. Good talking to you, man."

Conner stretched out the phone towards Jason, but before Jason could take it, Kimberly suddenly snatched it out of the air. "Adam, hi!" she said in a breathy giggle.

"Kim?" Now that the phone was in the front seat, Tommy and Jason could hear Adam clearly. It didn't hurt that he was screaming.

"In the flesh," Kimberly said cheerfully, pressing the button on the side of Tommy's phone to up the volume.

"You're… you're… you and Tommy…"

"Me and Tommy are having fun," Kimberly said cheerfully.

"You guys are sleeping together?" This came out loud enough for all of them to hear.

Tommy flinched. Jason put his head back down the dashboard. Ethan looked ready to sob. Conner nodded, an expression on his face that clearly said, "Aha! I knew it!"

"Don't be silly," Kimberly said silkily. "We're just friends. Good friends."

"Um… since when?" Adam asked, confused beyond belief.

"Oh, a while now," Kimberly replied serenely. "What's going on?"

"Rocky and I are hanging out… we were gonna… and then Carlos… and the news said Tommy… what's going on?"

"Oh, nothing, just driving to… somewhere. Not sure where. Trini said she had a surprise for us," Kimberly said lightly. "I love surprises. Right, Tommy?"

Tommy swallowed his pride. "Stop it," he whined pathetically.

"Kim… um… I'm sorry. Trying to back out of the Twilight Zone here… what's going on?"

"Nothing. Just driving to whatever wonderful event Trini's got planned."

"Great," Tommy muttered. "I almost forgot. I still have Trini to deal with."

"Uh-huh." Adam paused. Kimberly could tell he was trying to gather his thoughts, but it was obvious he was too flabbergasted to get very far.

"Coming to Power Rangers Day on Saturday?" she asked, just to make conversation.

"Yeah. Um, yeah. Um… listen… um… have you heard from Zack?"

"Yeah. He's in the car behind us. Why?"

"My morpher freaked out. Got a little worried about him."

"Oh, he's fine. Don't worry, Adam." Kimberly's eyebrows knitted. She was watching Tommy closely and he appeared to be slowly regaining his equilibrium. That wouldn't do at all. "God, it's hot in here. Is anyone else just burning up?"

"Me!" Conner spoke up.

"I swear, I'm on fire," she whined, almost but not quite moaning. She popped open another button of Tommy's shirt.

"Kim, what's going on?" Adam demanded. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Just a little hot and bothered. And I'm really hungry. I'm in the middle of lunch."

"Ah… well… I was just… wondering if Zack was okay… haven't heard from him… left about ninety messages…"

"You know Zack, he's always forgetting to take his phone off vibrate," Kimberly replied.

"Uh-huh. Um… hang on a second."

Kimberly instinctively hit the volume increase button on Tommy's phone a few more times, turning it up as loud as it would go. Therefore, all three of them in the front seat heard Adam saying, "Rocky, man, something freaky's going on."

"What?" Rocky replied. "Something to do with Zack?"

"No, it's Kim. She answered Tommy's phone."

"What? Kim doesn't talk to Tommy. That's, like, law of the universe."

"Well, technically, this random guy answered the phone… but… Kim's acting weird, man!"

"You're overreacting, Adam. Come on. Kim and Tommy?"

"You're right. Of course you're right. There's probably a logical explanation for this. There's one for everything, right?"

"…If you say so. Um, is Zack okay or not?"

Adam sighed. "You there, Kim?"

"Yep. I'm still here."

"Um… Zack's fine and everything, right?"

"Yeah."

"Cuz… my morpher freaked out last night, but then this morning, it did that warming-up thing it always does when Zack morphs, just like usual… it was fine… but I thought I better call and make sure that… and Carlos said Jason asked T.J. to threaten some guy named Walter…"

"It's a long story, Adam. Can I tell you later?" Kimberly asked in her best little sister voice. "I'm kind of… preoccupied."

"Yeah. Sure. Um. Yeah," Adam spluttered. "I'll… talk to you later?"

"Sure thing, Adam." Kimberly snapped Tommy's phone closed. "Adam says hi, guys."

"I'm sure he does," Tommy asked, holding out his hand for his phone. Pretending not to notice, Kimberly passed it back to Conner, just for the sake of annoying him.

Kimberly resumed eating Tommy's fries and watching him smugly. "It's just so hot in here," she complained. "I can't remember the last time I was this hot."

Tommy scowled and gripped the steering wheel harder.

"Know any good ways to cool down?" Kimberly asked sweetly.

Tommy reached for the dashboard, seized the air-conditioning knob, turned it up full blast and then returned his hand to the wheel, still clutching the air-conditioning knob. It took him a minute to notice he'd ripped the knob off; when he did, he cursed and smacked it back into place.

Kimberly smirked. "You always did have strong hands."

Tommy was all ready with a killer comeback, honest, but before he could say anything, Ethan began beating his head against his window. "Hey, hey!" Tommy yelled. "You're leaving forehead prints on the glass!"

"I want to sob," Ethan muttered. "Thank god poor Kira isn't here."

"If Kira was here, we'd probably be talking about something else," Conner pointed out, eating his fries the way moviegoers munch popcorn during horror flicks.

Kimberly ignored this exchange and leaned forward even more, moving her arms out of the way of her torso as if trying to enjoy the full extent of the air-conditioning. "Thanks," she said. "That's a great way to give a girl chills."

"Kim," Jason managed, his head down on the dashboard again, "you're going to kill him, but you're going to kill me first."

"Don't be silly," Kimberly said. "Tommy's a regular tiger. He can handle it, can't you, Tommy?"

Tommy's desire to save face warred with his desire to make her stop. The former won out in the end. "Yes," he practically snarled.

Kimberly picked at her fries again. "You know what's really great about fries?" Kimberly said. "When you put the whole thing in your mouth, right before you swallow them, and there's just this nifty taste on your tongue…"

"That's IT!" Tommy roared, jerking the wheel so viciously that they all nearly got whiplash. He pulled onto the shoulder, turned on the emergency flashers, and accelerated to about eighty miles an hour, ignoring all the debris he was running over; the Jeep was designed to go off-road, and this was close enough. Letting out a triumphant shout at the sight of a fast-approaching off ramp, he sped towards it.

The phone rang again in the backseat. "Hello?" Conner said.

"What the hell are you guys doing?" Zack's voice boomed out over them all.

"Aw, man, not so loud," Conner groaned.

Kimberly grinned, sitting back. Her work here was done. …Almost.

"He can't help it; Zack's always been loud. I'm a screamer too," she said with a sigh, as though this was her biggest fault.

By the time they made it to the off-ramp, they were approaching ninety-five miles per hour and they were all becoming worried. "Tommy, man, the sign says thirty miles an hour on the ramp," Jason said, in his patented leader-talking-to-distraught-and-dangerous-person voice. Tommy ignored him and braked at the last second with all the skill of a racecar driver avoiding a fiery collision with the man waving the checkered flag. He blew down the off ramp, still going a good ten over, then shot over the six-inch-high median curb, blew across the street, and spun the wheel just as the front right tire hit another curb, sending them onto two wheels.

"LEAN TO THE RIGHT!" Jason roared.

"I don't want to die like this!" Ethan screamed.

"WHOO!" Conner yelled happily.

Kimberly shook her head, smirking. Did he really think this was an effective strategy?

I'm getting out of this car whether it kills us all or not! Tommy thought wildly, hunched over the steering wheel.

Tommy sped into a gas station driveway, blew past the gas pumps and several startled patrons, and kept going straight towards the glass storefront, a maniacal gleam in his eye. The car slammed back to the pavement without warning, making them all yelp in panic, and another spin of the wheel sent them fishtailing around until they were facing the entrance. Tommy flung the Jeep into reverse and backed up in a haphazard impersonation of parking, his back tire hitting the curb with an ominous noise. He slammed on the brakes again, stopping them just in time to keep the bumper from colliding with a newsstand. Tommy threw it into park and bolted from the Jeep, leaving his door wide open. The gas station's front door was on the other side of the Jeep; Tommy vaulted over the hood and disappeared.

There was a moment's silence as the four passengers digested this turn of events. Then Jason calmly leaned over, turned the Jeep off, pulled the keys from the ignition, and tucked them as deep into his pocket as they would go. "Everyone okay?"

"Fine," Kimberly replied calmly.

"Let's go again!" Conner exclaimed.

"Wamahama," Ethan whimpered.

"Good," Jason said, satisfied.

Zack's Escalade screeched to a halt in the parking spot next to them—well, as best as it could, given the angle of Tommy's Jeep meant they were blocking several spots. Zack leaped out. "WHAT THE HELL?" he roared.

Trini hopped out of the front seat. "Are you guys okay?"

Trent, Billy and Kira scrambled out of the back. "We saw the whole thing! What happened?" Trent called anxiously.

Jason, Kimberly, Conner and Ethan looked at each other.

"I need to stretch my legs," Conner said cheerfully, climbing out of the car.

"Galamam," Ethan babbled, popping open his door and nearly falling face-first to the pavement as he struggled to escape.

"Trini!" Jason shouted, hopping out and running towards his scheming wife. Boy, did he have an update for her.

Kimberly leaned back and calmly popped another of Tommy's fries in her mouth.

End Notes: Happy Memorial Day, everyone! Figured I'd go ahead and put this up for the long weekend (in the U.S., anyway) but fair warning, it may be the last update until the tenth or so.

The fry thing was inspired by (sighs) me, dropping a fry down my shirt while driving down the interstate. I'm working on cranking out the full story, and I'll let everyone know through author's notes when it's posted on my livejournal, the link to which is in my bio.

For those of you who live in countries where they use the metric system, here's an approximate translation of the speeds we mentioned, from miles per hour to kilometers.

40 mph - 64.37 kilometers per hour

65 mph - 104.65

80 mph -123.2

95 mph - 152.95