Author's Notes: That's right people, WE'RE BAAAAAAACK! My comp isn't fixed, but we finally realized Bryn knows a computer guy who was able to stick my harddrive into hers and now WE HAVE IT ALL! WE HAVE IT ALL! IT'S BACK! EVERY LINE, EVERY… sorry. The feeling of euphoria hasn't worn off. Here is the full, complete, wonderful, chapter fifty-two. I'm really sorry this all took so long. (Remember, DHL is evil, Stopzilla rocks!) If you guys haven't all died or decided you no longer like Power Rangers, we'd appreciate reviews; we've missed you guys. I'll be updating again as soon as I share the good news with Freyja. For now, I'm gonna wander off, do a happy dance, and see if I have any pics of hot PR actors still saved in here somewhere. Enjoy!

Chapter Fifty-two

Different Drum

Jason didn't bother with the exit gate; he simply leaped right over the rail. He was so cheerful it was all he could do not to burst into song. He'd just soundly kicked Tommy's ass, and even though he would never admit it there wasn't much that brought him greater pleasure (well, Trini aside). Forcing himself not to hum, he strode over to the others, who were standing together a few feet from a trash can, minus Tommy.

"What's going on?" Jason asked the group in general. Conner was looking a little green, and the expressions on the others' faces ranged from amused, to disgusted, to… proud, maybe? It was a little hard to tell.

"Conner threw up," Dee announced. She looked downright awestruck and was currently rubbing Conner's back. "It was awesome."

"It was pretty wicked," Sandra commented idly.

"I've puked on the merry-go-round twice, man," Zack said confidentially to Conner, noticing that Conner looked a little embarrassed.

"I never throw up on rides," Rachel complained. "I have like an iron stomach…"

Rocky grinned. "Nothing wrong with that."

"I've thrown up on three different rides," Dee said proudly.

"Uh… so where to next?" Kimberly asked, wincing. She found the whole event thoroughly gross.

"Sandra, Dee and I were thinking of running to get something to eat," Rachel said. "Fast food or something; this carnival's expensive as hell. You guys game?"

"We ate not too long ago," Kimberly told her.

"I didn't," Rocky said quickly.

"You made me stop at Tim Horton's on the way!" Adam exclaimed.

"Yeah, but that was just a snack."

"That was a twelve-dollar snack!"

"Yeah. Next time, we go somewhere cheaper," Rocky said seriously. Adam rolled his eyes, but he grinned.

"What about you, Conner? Want to go grab a bite?" Dee asked hopefully.

"I… don't really feel like eating," Conner told her apologetically, cringing. Dee patted him sympathetically on the back as he turned away from the carousel, which had started back up.

"Why don't we catch up with you guys later?" Rachel suggested. "I'm starving, and I could really go for some fries." Kimberly randomly giggled and Ethan winced, but the others made no comment.

"Here," Dee said, pulling the Sharpie off the cord around her neck and pushing up the sleeve on Conner's right arm. She scrawled a number on his skin. "Give me a call if we don't see you guys later, eh?"

Conner nodded, grinning. He borrowed her Sharpie and wrote his own cell number on her arm. "Why don't you just call me when you're through with lunch?"

"Sure thing," Dee said.

She and Conner smiled at each other for a long moment. Then Anna said suddenly, "Hey—where'd Tommy go?"

There was a pause as they all tried to recall the last time they'd seen him. For just a moment, Jason began to panic, wondering if his talk with Tommy had had the reverse effect of what he was hoping for… and then, with a wild yell worthy of a true Power Ranger, Tommy came flying off the merry-go-round and over the railing. He hit the ground off-balance—not surprising, as he was coming from a running start on a crowded rotating circular platform—and was forced to roll to his feet. He popped back up a few feet away, turned and gave them a nonchalant look, as though he'd done nothing strange. Jason grinned. He'd bet anything that Tommy had been planning his strategy so intently that he hadn't noticed it was time to leave the carousel until it had started back up again.

"You people are awesome," Rachel squealed.

"Oh, yeah," Sandra added.

"I can do that, too," Zack told her.

"Really?" Sandra asked with interest.

"I'll have to show you some time," Zack said with his most charming smile.

"Great," Sandra said. "We'll call you when we get back from lunch."

The three of them said their goodbyes and headed off down the midway. Conner immediately began fishing in his pockets, becoming increasingly worried when he didn't find what he was looking for. Rocky abruptly handed him a roll of breath mints. "Help yourself, dude," Rocky said generously.

"Oh, thank god," Conner muttered, popping half the roll into his hand and tossing them into his mouth.

"So where to now?" Rocky asked the group at large.

"Something that isn't circular," Conner groaned.

"Tell you what," Tommy said, sounding rather distracted, "I'll go buy you a Sprite. Maybe that'll help settle your stomach. I'm kind of thirsty, anyway."

"Get him a Coca-Cola," Billy said. "Unless the ingredients have been altered since my departure, the Coke would help ease his stomach better."

Trini nodded. "The stuff they make Coke from is a natural anti-nausea agent. If they have Pepsi products, though, go with something clear. Sierra Mist or 7-Up. Ginger ale if they've got it."

Tommy nodded and headed towards the nearest concessions stand, already planning the first step of his newfound agenda. He couldn't go for the direct approach; he had to make a declaration of war first. That was the only way to do it. At least, that was the way Rangers did it—threatening poses to show off a bit of their skill, a few insults to show they meant business. Not only was it more fun than simply attacking, but it put the monsters off-guard a bit, got the monsters a little worried about their opponents (theoretically, anyway). And that was exactly what he wanted to do to Kimberly.

He bought Conner a Coke, wondering how he'd gotten to the age of twenty-five without knowing that Coke was good for nausea (countering the side-effects of heavy partying was important for college students, after all) and got himself a water with extra ice. He wasn't really thirsty, but the woman behind the counter refused to give him a plain cup of ice and he figured the water would be less conspicuous, anyway.

The group wandered back down the midway, Tommy doing his best to keep them near the chairlift. Before long, the carnival's setup did his work for him—the midway was lined with plenty of game booths. Their competitive tendencies led to lots of smiling game attendants; Rocky won the water-gun race, Billy beat the crap out of them in the ring toss, Ethan slaughtered them at a memory game, Zack won the basketball game, and so on, until they were all beyond overloaded with cheap carnival prizes.

Then they reached the game where they had to hit a pallet with a hammer hard enough to ring the bell at the top of a column. Tommy and Jason got into World War Three over this, but, despite being incredibly strong guys who still had active Power Ranger abilities, neither of them could manage to ring the bell. Under the cover of the gang's mutinous muttering about how the game must be rigged, Anna gave Tommy a lucky break.

"You just have to keep the hammer level and hit dead-center," she whispered.

"You sure?" he asked quietly.

"I've spent a lot of time at carnivals," she said dryly. "You can only ride the Ferris wheel for so many hours on end without wanting to jump, so I've made friends with plenty of game operators. Trust me."

Tommy tried this and got the bell to ring on the first try with half the effort of his previous attempts.

"Well done!" the jovial game operator yelled, hastily shoving the fifteen or so one-dollar bills Tommy had already given him deeper into his apron pocket. "Pick your prize."

Tommy looked at Kimberly. "You heard the man."

"Thank you!" she squealed, seizing a stuffed cat from the display. "This little baby's been practically begging me to take it home!"

Tommy grinned, knowing it was another mark in his win column, and figured he might as well rub Jason's face in his victory, but Jason had noticed how Tommy had changed his tactics after Anna's hint and tried copying him. He, too, rang the bell, much to Tommy's disappointment.

"Yeah! Jason yelled. "I knew your little carnie friend hooked you up. Trini?"

"This is so caveman," Trini announced, but she looked utterly pleased with her new prize.

"You know how to beat any other games?" Tommy asked Anna.

"Just a couple. That one in particular. Guy who worked there last year was the reason me and Mikey Torrance split up," she replied.

They continued down the midway, Tommy winning a few more toys for Kimberly, the others trying to outdo each other as much as their wallets would allow. One by one they started backing out of playing every game, realizing their cash flow wouldn't last forever and they still had a few days left of vacation time. Tommy backed out halfway down the midway, but he was careful to stay close to Kimberly. He didn't have much time left; the water in his cup was gone, and the ice was starting to melt.

Finally he saw his moment. The angle from the chairlift was perfect. No one in the gang was looking in Kimberly's direction. Garbage can not five feet away. It was now or never.

Fishing a handful of ice out of his cup, he shoved the cup into the trash can, got behind Kimberly, swept his glance over the others one last time to make sure there'd be no witnesses, and made his move. Darting his hand out over her shoulder from behind, he released his fistful of ice and skipped off to stand casually behind Rocky.

"GAH!" Kimberly shrieked.

"What? What's wrong?" the others demanded, hurrying to her. Kimberly danced a jig, reluctant to go diving for the ice in front of everyone. Tommy feigned concern along with the others.

"Someone must have thrown some ice off the chairlift," she said through gritted teeth.

"Did it hit you?" Jason asked, glaring up at the chairlift for a likely culprit.

"Yes," she ground out. "It went down my shirt."

"My shirt?" Tommy gasped loudly. "Is it going to stain?"

"It's just ice," she replied. "I…" She trailed off. Ah, so she'd made the connection. Perfect. Tommy let just a bit of a smirk twitch on his mouth, just enough to show her that her assumptions were correct.

"At least it's not fries," Conner pointed out consolingly. "OW! Ethan!"

Kimberly's eyes widened in realization and she stared at Tommy, incensed. He allowed the briefest of grins to flash over his face before schooling his features back into an expression of fake concern.

"Are you sure it's just ice?" Tommy asked worriedly. "I really don't want it to stain. I love that shirt."

"I'm sure," she growled. Oh, that was low, she thought. REALLY low. And he did it on purpose!

"Turn around!" Trini barked at the guys. They all hastily hopped-to, save Tommy, who stuck out his tongue at Kimberly and winked before complying. "Here, Anna and Kira and I'll block the view, Kim," Trini continued, having missed the action.

"Thanks," Kimberly said in a tone of pure Tommy-directed fury, digging out a chunk of ice and flinging it at the back of Tommy's head. It hit dead-center, but he didn't even start in surprise. Oh, he would pay for that, and pay dearly. Hadn't they just agreed they were even back in the parking lot?

Ice was the most difficult things she had ever had to get out of her bra. (Which put it first on a list of two, but still.) It was slippery, and while it didn't tend to break in half at the last second and fall back in like the fries, ice had a tendency to wiggle out of her grasp and fall back in anyway. Not only that, but ice wasn't something one forgot anytime soon. The ice could be removed, but the cold feeling remained for quite some time. She wondered just how much Tommy had thought about putting ice down her shirt since the accident on Friday night.

Struggling to distinguish between cold water and actual cubes, Kimberly flung each one at the back of Tommy's head, which thankfully Anna, Trini and Kira didn't notice, as they were too busy watching for onlookers. Around the fourth cube, Tommy said, in utterly mocking tones, "Look on the bright side, Kim—at least the ice will wash off all the grease from those fries."

"What was that?" Rocky asked curiously.

"Never mind," Tommy replied casually as Kimberly hurled another chunk at his skull. "Say, Rocky, do you have a camera on you, by any chance? Mine's in the car."

"Nope. Hey, Adam, do you have one?"

"…What do you want to take a picture of, Tommy?" Adam asked suspiciously.

"Oh, nothing," he replied innocently.

It was a wonder that the back of Tommy's head wasn't bleeding by the time Kimberly got all the ice out. No one had forked over a camera for him, but he didn't push the issue. Lucky for the camera. "You can turn around now," Kimberly announced, glaring at Tommy. He simply smirked back.

"Well," Trini said, patting Kimberly sympathetically on the shoulder, "why don't we see if we can find one of those balloon dart games?"

"Yeah, she looks like she could use an activity involving projectile weapons," Tommy said nonchalantly.

"Darts are really sharp," Kimberly said meaningfully.

"Yes, yes they are," Trini said in confusion. "Want to go—?"

"Bumper cars," Kimberly said loudly. "Let's go on the bumper cars. I want to bash something. A lot."

"That's understandable," Tommy said, nodding in mock-empathy. "Those little idiots throwing stuff off chairlifts… how rude."

Kimberly took a step towards him. He had the good grace to take a step back and look momentarily alarmed—an action which calmed her slightly. Thrusting her chin in the air, she stalked off for the bumper cars.

"Bumper cars, whoo?" Conner said hesitantly, sensing the sudden tension in the group but unable to figure out where it came from or what it was about.

"We just totally missed something, didn't we?" Ethan asked.

"You'll understand when you're older," Tommy replied pleasantly, and went to follow Kimberly to the bumper cars, grinning his head off.

The others looked at each other in confusion for a moment. Then Jason shrugged and followed Tommy, smirking all the while. Anna also wandered after Tommy, not as in tune to the strange happenings as the rest of them. The others looked at each other for answers, but when no one had any they gave up and joined Tommy, Kimberly, Jason and Anna.

The bumper cars vented a bit of Kimberly's annoyance, but the problem was that now she could see that something was distinctly off with Tommy. He kept grinning at her. In a decidedly evil sort of way. Lots of eye contact and smug expressions, even when she was ramming him into the corner of the bumper car arena.

He was fighting with her, in a way she couldn't put her finger on. Not in an angry way or anything… more like the way they all acted when sparring. Friendly competition, to be sure, but there was a score being kept, and something to prove.

She wasn't quire sure what his goal was, but she was starting to get the sneaking suspicion that he'd been planning something for quite some time. Somewhere around the chairlift, maybe. Trini wasn't acting perfectly innocent, which meant that Trini currently didn't have anything to feel guilty about. So Kimberly chatted up Anna, but the girl gave nothing away.

They went on three more rides, Tommy always sitting relatively close, always smirking at her. It wouldn't have bothered her so much if she had any idea why.

Eventually, she decided she needed a breather. Tommy had squeezed in with her on the egg scrambler, put his arm around her when she was squished against him from the force of the ride, and left it there for the duration. Then he'd gallantly helped her out of the ride, held the exit gate open for her, and did it all while grinning at her challengingly. When he offered to help her put her belt harness back on, she declined and announced that it was time to take Jake to the car.

"What happened to the separation anxiety thing you had going on the first twenty-four times we asked you to take it back?" Zack asked as he handed her the keys to his Escalade.

"He's heavy and it's hot," Kimberly said. "Plus the belts are starting to leave pressure marks. I'll meet up with you guys at the Tilt-a-Whirl, kay?"

"I'll come with you," Tommy offered. "Put some of this other crap in the car." They'd found a janitor who had graciously given them trash bags to hold most of their other prizes (an elderly, unattractive janitor, whom Tommy glared at on general principles given Jason's revelation about Tony), but now they had three trash bags to carry and they kept arguing about whose turn it was to play pack mule. Trini had insisted they stop playing games for a while, at least until they found the balloon dart game, which seemed to be eluding them.

"About time," Conner complained, handing Tommy his bag.

Tommy accepted the other two bags as Kimberly tried to think of a good reason to get Tommy to stay behind. "You don't have to come, you know," she said nonchalantly. "I can put Jake back in the harness, carry the bags myself."

"If it's all the same, I'd rather carry the bags and have my belt back," Tommy said, plucking his belt from the tangle resting on top of Jake's head. Conner, Adam and Jason eagerly reclaimed their belts. "After all, you do have a habit of stealing my clothing."

Damn, Kimberly thought as she hefted Jake into her arms. Before she could think of a good reply, Tommy had set off down the midway. Sighing, she followed.

"And then, on May 19th, the car wouldn't start again, and that's how I knew it was in fact my alternator, and not my battery, but unfortunately I was still stranded in the middle of the desert with a broken car…"

Hayley breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully, Bulk and Skull had latched onto a boy who could somehow remember what he'd been doing every single day for the past two months and didn't mind that they kept calling him "Blue Ranger."

The business had died down, too; it usually tapered off around mid-afternoon, only to pick up again in the early evening when the older customers finished their summer jobs for the day and the more degenerate customers finally woke up. Now that Hayley had a breather, she went to the storeroom and picked up the phone.

She tried Elsa's number first, but she got the answering machine, so she tried Anton's. He answered on the third ring. "Am I glad to hear from you," he said wearily without bothering to say hello.

"I'm sorry; I've been so swamped I haven't had a chance to warn you. Did someone come by to—?"

"Ask a lot of questions about Tommy? Yes. He's here now. Apparently he's already gone to see that Sanchez woman. What's his story, Hayley?"

"He thinks Tommy's the original Green Ranger."

"What? But Tommy was the—"

"I know. Of course I know. I suppose he's told you about the purse snatching, so I'll spare you that story, but I'm not sure what else he's got. Tommy's not answering my calls."

"Well, I haven't made any mistakes, to my knowledge."

"I'm sure you haven't," Hayley assured him. Anton was too methodical to screw up on something this important. The last risk he'd taken had transformed him into an evil reptile villain.

"Elsa's given him a list of staff meetings; some of them were during Ranger battles when all five Dino Rangers were present. She doesn't have an attendance list, of course, but she's made it clear that she always insisted that every teacher participate." Hayley grinned. Tommy was notorious for missing staff meetings, even though he'd only been teaching a year. "She also told him about the strange illness Tommy contracted that put him off work for several weeks when all the Rangers were seen in battle. I think he's starting to falter, but I can't be certain."

"Good. That's good. I think I dented him but good when he came by here. I've got Devin and Cassidy tailing him, but they haven't checked in since they left. Still, it probably won't be long before he gives up entirely. He's probably just some ambitious kid who realized there aren't a lot of chances to be well-known as a cop in a town famous for its superheroes. Wants to prove himself."

"Regardless of his motives, he's still a liability," Anton said tightly.

"I know. I'm trying to come up with a plan."

"Good. He's becoming quite a pain."

Hayley peeked out of the storeroom at the main café. Bulk and Skull were harassing a different customer, but this time the boy was with them and doing a lot of the questioning. "Trust me, Anton—you got off easy."

"I can put Jake in the car by myself, you know," Kimberly said as pleasantly as she could while growling. The whole point of finally separating with her pink bear was to get a few moments away from Tommy… and he'd just invited himself along.

"You never know… there might be purse snatchers in the parking lot," Tommy joked calmly, ignoring her tone.

Kimberly tried to fight down the feelings that statement invoked. The look on Tommy's face when he'd decked the purse snatcher… how sweet and protective it was… stealing his clothes later that evening… the fact that they'd grown more and more comfortable with each other… and now this. What was this? What's going on, and why am I not in control here? Kimberly asked herself. Oh, god, I'm thinking like a Yellow. Wait… is that bad?

"Sure you don't want me to carry him for you?" Tommy asked lightly.

"I can manage, thanks," Kimberly said firmly. "I'm a big girl."

"I know. I was just worried about all that fur getting on that shirt." He grinned playfully. "By the way, much as I hate to admit it, my shirt looks really good on you."

Why you little…! she thought, irritated beyond belief. It was a suggestive comment. From Tommy. He was not good at those. Well, at least he didn't use to be. But, then, he had been seventeen the last time he'd tried. He was now twenty-five. A lot could change/improve in eight years. (Her mind wandered off at this point, and she had to take a second to pull it back into line and give it a stern lecture.) Still, he hadn't seemed very different this morning when she had been torturing him. She of all people knew Tommy could face down an evil alien monster any day of the week but put a girl in front of him and he was all blushes and stammers. Forget the eight years thing, what had changed in three hours?

"Thanks," she said in a barely-controlled tone. "I guess you won't mind if I hang on to it a little longer." Ha! Take that, Oliver!

Tommy shrugged. "When I do mind, I'll just rip it off you," he said, as casually as if discussing the weather.

No you did not just say that! she raged silently, wishing she wasn't carrying Jake so that she could throttle Tommy. "I'd like to see you try," she ground out.

Tommy grinned at her, obviously amused. "Would you?" he asked, his eyes boring into hers challengingly.

Under the cover of getting a better grip on Jake, she hoisted the bear up so that their eye contact was broken; Tommy's view of Kimberly was now completely obscured by the bear he'd won her. Oh, god, why had she let him win her all those prizes? Why had she forced him to win her Jake? Talk about bad signals…

She stomped over to Zack's car and pulled Zack's keys from her pocket. Unable to see around Jake very well (she wouldn't have found the Escalade if she hadn't seen Tommy's Jeep out of the corner of her eye), she aimed the remote at the car and fumbled with the buttons. When she failed to find it, Tommy seized her hand.

"Let me help you with that," he said, turning her wrist slightly and holding on for quite some time under the cover of studying the buttons. She attempted to kick him in the shin, but her only result was Jake rustling about violently in her arms. (This made Tommy quite nervous; it put him in mind of the movie Child's Play and he had a fleeting vision of the bear as a thirty-story monster, but he forced himself to focus on his goal.) Unfortunately, the way he held her hand kept her from continuing her search for the right button with her fingers, so she was at his mercy. Even more unfortunately, she couldn't help but think of how much she wanted him to hold her hand.

Finally the trunk popped open, and she jerked away, tossing Jake in the back of the car. She turned him around so he could stare at people through the rear windshield, saying a silent apology as she slammed the lid shut on him. Then, cursing her very nature, she shoved the key into the lock (with a silent cry of "No more hand-holding now, buddy!") and reopened the car to give Jake one last hug.

"Wow. I'm almost jealous," Tommy said idly as she pulled away.

Kimberly glowered at him, but he merely smirked back. Then something inside her just sort of snapped.

"All right, that's it!" she growled, shutting the trunk once more. "You and me. Right here. Let's go." She dropped into her preferred martial arts stance.

Tommy grinned. "Now, Kim, there are little kids running around. We should at least get inside the car first."

With an inarticulate snarl, Kimberly launched herself at him. The next thing she knew, Tommy had spun her around and was holding her firmly, arms pinned in front of her, her back against his chest. She struggled futilely for a moment before sighing, cursing her luck. Great. Just great. What was with him?

"Now, now, Kim, temper, temper," he murmured in her ear. "If you really want to go out here in the parking lot, I'm game."

Kimberly held very still, thinking over her options. On the one hand, she was loathe to hurt his feelings. On the other, he was starting to tick her off. (And if she'd had a third hand, on it would be a feeling of something along the lines of "This is kinda nifty. And it's not like it would be my backseat. It'd be Zack's." And if she'd had a fourth hand, well, she was sure she could hide his corpse somewhere…)

"Tommy?" she whispered, her voice breathy, intimate, heated.

"Hmm?"

"Shut. Up."

Tommy considered this for a moment, then laughed and released her. Rolling her eyes, she spun around to face him and tried to stare him down, but he wouldn't engage. He merely continued laughing.

"I think it's time to get back to the gang," Kimberly said with a baleful glare.

"After you," Tommy replied with a mock-bow, sweeping his hand out towards the entrance. She stalked off, and Tommy fell into step behind her. With the tone of one unable to resist, he called after her. "I like it back here anyway. I get to admire the view."

Without even thinking about it she kicked, straight back like a vindictive mule. Her foot never connected; Tommy saw it coming and leaned easily out of the way. Still, it was enough of a warning that he kept quiet all the way back to the Tilt-a-Whirl… but she imagined she could still hear him laughing.

End Notes: Just a fun fact—Anna's game tip was not pulled out of a hat. It's actually true. I used to work at an amusement park called Cedar Point, along with Bryn, and while we both worked on the admissions crew, I still remember some of the tricks my friends in the games department shared.