Chapter Fifty-nine

Lights, Camera, Action

Don marched swiftly down the sidewalk. He was almost back to Hayley's Cyberspace. Hopefully Bulk and Skull were waiting for him, and he'd be able to get out of this freaky-ass city in a matter of minutes. The sleep deprivation, the threats from Hayley the Yellow Dino Ranger, and all that swinging round and round in a net had combined to make Don jumpy, irritable, and just plain twitchy. He would never be setting foot in Reefside ever again. He would never be setting foot near a Power Ranger ever again. Hell, at this point, he was thinking of setting fire to his Red Ranger action figure.

Power Rangers aside, I'll be glad to get out of this city, Don thought as he half-jogged towards the cyber café. Everyone here is completely insane.

He cut down an alley behind the café and was almost out the other end when he found his path blocked by three short figures in black cloaks. Frowning, he slowed down and went to move around them, only to realize that they were now on all sides of him.

Don counted nine of the cloaked figures, none of them within four inches of his height and all of them a lot skinnier. He doubted they were a threat, but being surrounded by robed and hooded figures in a back alley in a strange town after being growled at by a Yellow Ranger was no time to assume that the situation was harmless.

"A.G.P.D.," Don said, brandishing his badge at them. "Move along."

"We know who you are, Officer Brewster," said the figure in the center. The voice was feminine, but off a bit, as if she was trying to deepen it, trying to sound threatening when she'd never threatened anything other than a younger sibling. "We know all about you."

"We know what you're here to do," said another. "And we're here to tell you we don't like it."

Don frowned. Was this another "Don't mess with Power Rangers" scare tactic, or were these people completely unrelated to Hayley and Tommy? Or was he just hallucinating from fear and lack of sleep?

"Is that a fact?" Don asked carefully. "What are you going to do about it?"

The robed figures looked askance at each other. A few shifted from foot to foot.

"You don't want to know," said the one fourth to his left.

"You really, really don't," said the one second from his right.

"Just stay away from Dr. Oliver," the figure in the center added. "We mean it. Stay away."

"I don't know any Dr. Oliver," Don said slowly.

"Yeah, but you've been asking questions about him," said another angrily. "About him being a Power Ranger."

Don winced at the term. "I'm done," he said quickly, no longer caring who these people were or what their brain malfunction was. "I'm going home."

"Make sure that you stay there," the one in the center said ominously, and something about her voice hit home.

Teenage girls, Don realized suddenly. They're all just teenage girls. I'm surrounded by a miniature army of teenage girls in cloaks who are telling me to back off their science teacher.

Was everyone in Reefside totally bonkers? Was there a single person in this town who wasn't crazed and a good pal of Dr. Power Ranger?

"For crying out loud, people!" Don yelled. "You're threatening a police officer! That is not only stupid, it's illegal! I don't care about Dr. Oliver! I don't care about Power Rangers! I don't care about this stupid town full of psychopaths! I just want to go home, enjoy the rest of my leave of absence, and forget I ever heard of Dr. Oliver! Now leave me alone before I shoot you all!"

The nine figures looked at each other, as if not quite sure what to do. Then the one in the center stepped aside. "Okay. You may pass. But, um, beware the wrath of the Secret Society of the—"

"LUNATICS!" Don roared, storming out of the circle and marching out of the alley, ranting as he entered the parking lot for Hayley's Cyberspace. "Every last one of you! Forget Tommy Oliver! Forget Power Rangers! Hell, there's a half-dozen other teams besides the Dino Rangers that haven't had their identities exposed and I'm sure there's probably an easier Ranger to unmask than Tommy freaking Ol—"

Don froze in mid-stomp, one foot still in the air. There had been seven Ranger teams to date with secret identities. Dino Thunder. Mighty Morphin. Zeo. Wild Force. Time Force. Ninja Storm. Lost Galaxy. Of course, the Lost Galaxy Rangers hadn't spent much time on Earth, and Time Force had gone public, though most of them had returned to the future and two had stayed to form the Silver Guardians task force. Zeo, Wild Force and Ninja Storm he wouldn't even know how to begin hunting. But Mighty Morphin…

They were all going to be gathering in Angel Grove Park on Saturday.

Why had he been bothering wasting all this time, dealing with Bulk and Skull and talking to whack job after whack job? How could he have been stupid enough to overlook the obvious and spend his day on a wild goose chase that ultimately led to, of all things, a booby trap?

Power Rangers Day was coming. It would take some careful planning, maybe even a few accomplices… but then, who wouldn't be willing to help him? That reporter from the hospital, Abe… the mayor himself would probably want to unmask a Ranger. He could find help. Help beyond two buffoons who couldn't drive and thought wearing tie-dye with black leather was a good idea.

Don started walking again, grinning broadly.

In a couple of days, he'd have his proof.

And all he'd have to do was yank off a helmet.

"Conner still okay?" Kimberly asked as Tommy shut his phone.

"Eh, sounds like he's been kidnapped by axe-murderers, but other than that…" Tommy joked.

Kimberly giggled, trying to picture Conner being held at axe-point. She was about to ask Tommy if he was having better luck with the imagery when his phone beeped. Again.

Kimberly fought off a growl. They'd been having a blast together. They'd had dozens of great conversations and he'd won her so many prizes that they'd had to drop off another bag of stuffed animals at the Jeep before they'd gone for ice cream. But Tommy was still catching her off guard at random moments, and his phone wasn't helping. Apparently Hayley had been calling him pretty much every twenty minutes since they'd gotten to the carnival, though Kimberly had failed to notice until she'd started hanging out exclusively with Tommy. Tommy refused to answer the phone—something about not wanting to "get into it" with Hayley right now—but he also refused to shut his phone off, especially now that the Dino Rangers were on the loose. It was getting very disconcerting to be reminded of Hayley every time the conversation really got going. And once his phone had startled him in the middle of the game and they'd had to spend an extra three dollars to win the cute two-foot-tall Eeyore he'd been after (although it had been worth it to have an Eeyore to add to her collection of Pooh animals, even if they had lost Eeyore's tail for a good long while and had to spend ages looking for it before Tommy finally spotted it near the swings).

"It's probably Hayley again," Tommy said apologetically. He frowned. "Huh. She's sent me picture mail."

"Is it her being held at axe-point? Next to Conner?" Kimberly joked, but was annoyed to find that Tommy was ignoring her, punching buttons on his phone to bring up the picture. Kimberly bristled a bit, but forcefully reminded herself that this Hayley girl was Tommy's friend, just like Trini, just like Tanya, just like Aisha, and just like Kimberly.

Tommy stared down at the screen for a long while, then drawled, "This can't be good."

"What?" Kimberly asked, trying to sound interested.

He turned the phone around to show her. A redhead—a redhead far too pretty for Kimberly's taste at the moment—stood in front of a row of computer monitors, holding what looked like a large fishing net in one hand and a bottle of Jack Daniel's in the other. She was wearing an oversized green-and-black flannel shirt and glaring into the camera. The picture wasn't quite the same size as the screen, suggesting it had been taken with something other than a camera phone.

Kimberly looked askance at Tommy. "She's on a fishing trip?" Kimberly guessed. Remembering the computers, she added, "In a library?"

Tommy shook his head. "She's getting drunk in the lab. The one below my house—the home base for the Dino Thunder Power Rangers," he explained in a whisper. "That net… I think it's from one of the booby traps in the house."

"Booby traps?" Kimberly repeated incredulously.

"Hey, you weren't there when the Command Center blew," Tommy pointed out with a sad smile. Kimberly felt a pang of sorrow for Zordon, combined with the old guilt for leaving the team, but she forced herself not to think about it. "I have traps all over, just in case someone tries to get into the lab from the house. The lab's pretty wrecked right now, thanks to Zeltrax, but a few things are up and running and it looks like she's using the digital camera down there." He peered a little closer at the tiny screen. "Hey, I think that's my shirt, too."

"You let her wear your clothes?" Kimberly asked, struggling to keep the pang of jealousy out of her voice.

Tommy looked sheepish. "It's what she does when it's my fault she has to do something that could ruin her own clothing. When I've had some sort of problem and she cleans, or needs to get drunk, or dig tunnels, or deal with chemicals, or oil the zords—that sort of thing. Wearing my shirt while holding a bottle of J.D. is her way of saying I've screwed up big-time. I don't know why she'd have a net, though." He frowned thoughtfully, then shot Kimberly a hopeful look.

"Go ahead and call her," Kimberly said reluctantly, feeling like she'd just put an electric eel inside her stomach.

"Thanks," Tommy told her gratefully. "I'll try to make it quick." Kimberly knew that the polite thing to do would be to tell him to take his time, but she couldn't muster that much politeness at the moment.

Tommy closed out of the picture-viewing feature, hit a single key, and hit send. Great. So Hayley had made it into the top nine on his speed dial. How lovely for Hayley. Tommy sat down on a bench, and Kimberly followed suit, making sure to sit on his right, as Tommy was holding the phone to his right ear and Kimberly was hoping to hear whatever Hayley had to say.

"Hayley? Hey, I'm sorry I didn't—"

"Where are you?" asked Hayley, her tone giving nothing away—no anger, no panic, no sign of having drunk a lot of Jack Daniel's.

"I'm in Stone Canyon. We had a big… issue… today, almost blew our identities, so I've, um, been too busy to answer the phone—"

"Almost blew your identities? Newsflash, Tommy—you did blow your identities."

Tommy's eyes widened in horror. Kimberly pressed her head against his, not bothering to pretend she wasn't trying to eavesdrop. "How?" he whispered.

"A cop named Don Brewster showed up. He thinks you're the original Green Ranger, Tommy."

"Oh, my god," Tommy breathed. "How did he get that?"

"I don't know. He mentioned you moving to Angel Grove right before the Green Ranger showed and acting like a prick when the Green Ranger was evil."

"You spoke to him?" Kimberly asked.

There was a pause. "Who was that?"

Tommy winced. "Uh, Kimberly."

He could practically hear Hayley rolling her eyes, but she chose not to comment. "Anyway, he came by the café this morning. With Bulk and Skull."

"Bulk and Skull?" Kimberly and Tommy repeated in the same breath.

"Yeah, Bulk and Skull," Hayley replied. "They've been terrorizing people in my café all day."

"You poor thing!" Kimberly exclaimed sympathetically.

"Thanks, Kimberly," Hayley said, and just enough of a slur came through to confirm Tommy's suspicions.

"Have you been drinking?" he demanded.

"Yes, Tommy, I have. Still am. I'm willing to deduct the amount of your alcohol that I've drunk from the money you owe me."

"What money I owe you?" Tommy asked blankly.

"Bulk and Skull broke four glasses, a table, and trampled half my supply of muffins. Not to mention all the customers who won't be back for a few days."

"That's not Tommy's fault," Kimberly pointed out, a little surprised that Hayley expected Tommy to fit the bill for Bulk and Skull's actions.

"Not his fault?" Hayley repeated in a tone that made Tommy cringe. "Not his fault? Excuse me, random ex-girlfriend, but if Tommy's going to get himself in such deep trouble that I have to spend the day babysitting the guys who are trying to expose the fact that Tommy's worn more colors than I have shoes, Tommy can go ahead and fork over the cash to pay for the damage they did, if for no other reason than because I've saved his hide more times than either of us can count. And I just had to do it again today, while simultaneously running a business, and Tommy was too busy enjoying Nostalgia Week in Angel Grove to even bother answering his phone!" Hayley voice had risen to a nearly-hysterical shout.

Tommy sent Kimberly a "Be. Quiet. Now!" sort of look. "It's okay, Hayley. I'll pay for it. I understand. I'm so sorry I didn't answer the phone; I didn't realize that I'd turned off the ringer until I got the picture mail and saw that I had voicemail, too. The tones for picture mail and voicemail are different so the picture mail tone alert was still on—"

"Spare me, Tommy," Hayley interrupted. "You owe me for this. A lot. Don't think I don't know you just didn't want to answer your phone. And by the way, don't tell someone you'd turned down the ringer five seconds after telling them you had an 'issue' that made you too busy to answer."

"I'm so sorry," Tommy said sincerely. "I just… I thought if it was an emergency like this, you'd beep me on the communicator."

"I was at the café most of the time, Tommy. I didn't have a chance to dial you up from the computer system in the back, between customers and making sure Bulk and Skull weren't going to burn the place down."

"Are you okay?" Tommy asked.

"Of course I'm okay. I'm great. Me and Cassidy and Devin kind of trashed your living room—"

"Cassidy and Devin?" Tommy repeated. "You're drinking in the lab with Cassidy and Devin?" Hayley might have a right to be upset, but he wasn't sure she had a right to supply minors with alcohol in his house while surrounded by Power Ranger artifacts related to every team every known.

"No, no, no. We ate what little snack food you had and watched the first hour of your collection of Miscellaneous Power Ranger Footage Salvaged from the Viewing Globe Archives, Part I. Then they took off and I started working my way through the bottle of Jack."

"You saved his identity by showing people Viewing Globe footage?" Kimberly asked, confused.

"Cassidy and Devin already knew," Tommy told her absently. "So… get back to the cop, Hayley. Tell me what happened."

"He came, he questioned, he left Bulk and Skull at Cyberspace, went to bother Councilwoman Sanchez, Elsa and Anton," Hayley said. "Don't know about Sanchez, but Elsa and Anton should have done pretty well."

"Eleanor Sanchez loves me," Tommy said. "I'm not worried about her, but I'll call her and ask her about it."

"Whatever. Regardless, he won't be bothering us again, that's for sure."

Something about the way she said it made Tommy a tad… worried. "Why's that?" he asked carefully.

"I threatened him."

"You… what? You threatened a cop?" Tommy asked incredulously.

"Yeah, Tommy, you totally gotta pay her for the muffins," Kimberly said, concerned.

"I kind of had to. I caught him breaking into your house; the security alarm in the café's office went off."

"You set it to 'detain,' right? Not 'incapacitate?'"

"Duh, Tommy. Anyway, I told him you're a personal friend of the Green Ranger, not the actual Green Ranger."

"Brilliant," Tommy said. "That'll stop him from looking too closely into my high school days, keep him off the track of the others."

"But I went ahead and told him you were the Black Dino."

"What? Why?" Tommy demanded, horrified.

"He was already there, Tommy. And I had to confirm a few of his suspicions, or he might have thought I was lying about everything and disregarded what I said. But the bottom line is, he wasn't here to find out if you were a Power Ranger. He was here to find proof. He's a cop, Tommy—that's how they work. They know that figuring out who did it is nothing if you can't prove it."

Tommy pinched the bridge of his nose. Kimberly rubbed his back soothingly, feelings and memories swirling through her—how he'd protected her, even though it could cost him his identity; the look on his face when he'd knocked Walter out…

"What makes you think he won't talk?" Tommy asked wearily.

"I told him I was the Yellow Dino Ranger and threatened to make him have an 'accident.'"

To Kimberly's surprise, Tommy chuckled. "You told him you were the Yellow?"

"Oh, shut up, Tommy. I kind of had to. I screwed up on the pronouns—kept saying 'we' instead of 'they.' Besides, it helped me scare him, made him think I was strong enough to kick his butt, and it protected Kira along the way, so at least that's one of you that's completely out of the woods. And it explained how I knew so much about you. He looked ready to wet himself by the time I was through. Trust me, he won't be back."

"You're sure?"

"Very."

"Okay." Tommy took a shuddering breath. "Thank you, Hayley. I can't tell you how grateful—"

"Yeah, yeah. I know, Tommy. I know."

"Okay. Um, any other catastrophes?"

"Mm… not really. Oh, add a bottle of glass cleaner to the list of things you owe me; there's smudges all over the café's windows from when I wouldn't let Bulk and Skull in. And not all of them are fingerprints, mind you."

Tommy grimaced. "Okay, I don't want to know."

"Listen, I'm sure you're anxious to tell the gang and hang out and all that nonsense—"

"In other words, you want to get back to your drinking," Tommy interrupted with a grin. Hayley was the sort of person who only indulged in things like overeating or alcohol after something stressful; he had gotten very good at predicting what she'd want to do after each and every crisis.

"Yeah. It has been a really rough day. Is Jason there?"

"No, why?"

"I wanted to ask him if I could stay with him over the weekend."

"Ah, so you're definitely coming?"

"Yep. When I called Anton to give him the all-clear, he said he'd pay to keep the café open over the weekend so I could take a vacation."

"Seriously?"

"Mm-hmm. He's bringing over a few of the people who work in the cafeteria at Mercer Industries' headquarters for me to train tomorrow; shouldn't be too hard, since they already have food service experience. Elsa offered to come in and 'supervise,' and given her time as a principal I'm sure that'll be helpful. I'll be driving down tomorrow after closing. Think Jason and Trini will be fine with that?"

"Probably. You know Trini loves you. Jason's been ranting a bit lately about people monopolizing Trini's time, but I'm sure you're still welcome to drop in. And Billy has wanted to meet you for years."

"Is Trini around at all?"
"Um, no, it's just… me and Kimberly." Tommy shifted uncomfortably. Kimberly stopped rubbing his back, wondering why he didn't seem to want to tell Hayley that he was hanging out with only Kimberly at the moment.

"Where'd the gang go?"

"They got banned."

"Banned? Banned from what?"

"We're at a carnival. Trini started a clown fight."

"A what fight?"

"Clown. Trini decked a clown and a whole troupe got into it. It was a full-scale riot. Managed to save Kira, Ethan and Trent, but Conner got caught in the crossfire."

"…Oh-kay. I'm guessing I'm gonna have a lot to catch up on by tomorrow."

"Yeah," Tommy agreed emphatically.

"All right. I'll call Jason, then. And Tommy?"

"Yeah?"

"When I'm sober, I'm going to rip you a new one."

"Understood. I love you, Hayley."

"Love you, too. Bye."

Tommy hung up and leaned back against the bench, his head flopping back and his eyes closed. "God, I'm lucky I have her."

"She sounds great," Kimberly said quietly, her head spinning. She felt a little sick. Here this Hayley woman was, saving the day, saving Tommy's identity and threatening a law enforcement officer. She wondered how many times Hayley had done something so spectacular and selfless in the past few years… and how many times Kimberly would have had an opportunity to do the same if she'd just made an effort to stay in Tommy's life, if she hadn't been too embarrassed and upset after their breakup to make amends. Once again, the question of how close Tommy and Hayley really were resurfaced—she didn't know of any two friends who said "I love you" at the end of a call, not even the Ranger gang. And Hayley had just taken a serious risk for Tommy—Kimberly had read once that verbal threats were technically, legally assault, and she wondered if even threatening Don could get Hayley charged with assault on a police officer.

"She's wonderful," Tommy groaned, stuffing the phone back into his pocket. "I couldn't survive without her. She just saved our asses. Again."

"Yeah."

He let out a deep, shuddering breath. "I should probably call Anton."

"The guy who was Mesogog, right?"

"Yeah."

"That was really nice of him, offering to pay people to take over her café for the weekend."

"Well, Anton's probably the richest guy I've ever met. I think he's in the top one hundred richest people in the country."

"Damn," Kimberly said, impressed.

"Yeah. Plus he kind of… feels guilty. For the whole Mesogog thing. I mean, it really wasn't his fault, but after everything that happened… two days after we defeated Mesogog, I suddenly had no more debt and Hayley was signing papers to own the building and land the café is on. He told me he's been trying to think of ways to broach the subject of helping the other Dino Rangers out with their financial problems. Ethan can't afford to move out of his parents' house for college, Kira's been looking to move to New York, that sort of thing."

"Wow. He sounds pretty nice."

"He is. I just… I can't believe that Anton and Elsa and Hayley have been saving my ass while I wander mindlessly around a carnival."

Kimberly wasn't sure what to say. "Heh."

"I mean, not that I haven't been having fun," Tommy said quickly, sitting bolt upright and looking kind of nervous. "I just… I feel bad. After everything she's been doing, and Anton and Elsa—"

"I'm sorry," Kimberly said.

He frowned. "For what?"

"For… for… well, it was my purse."

Tommy looked startled. "So?"

"So if you hadn't punched that Walter guy—"

"That Walter guy deserved to be punched!" Tommy growled. "How dare he try to steal your purse! I could have killed him, and then come to find out that he targeted you specifically—"

"He did? Who told you that?"

"Carrie did, this morning. When she came into the restaurant while I was eating breakfast." He sighed. "I feel bad about what happened with Walter and his friends back in school. But… to try to mug you… well… I really wish he hadn't gone down so fast, you know? When I saw him going after you… I wanted him to suffer."

Her stomach flipped in a way it hadn't since high school. She had almost forgotten what it was like to hear something that romantic. Sure, "I wanted him to suffer" wasn't straight out of a chick flick, but it meant a lot to her that he felt so protective of her.

"Thanks, Tommy," Kimberly said softly.

"Anytime," he replied firmly.

They stared at each other for a long while, the old chemistry sparking between them. Kimberly couldn't help but remember all the good times with Tommy, how sweet he was, how considerate, how romantic and thoughtful and protective, on top of being smart and funny and good-looking. Hell, he was even, technically, a doctor. Her mother would be beyond pleased about that…

It occurred to her quite suddenly that Tommy was Getting Closer. He was leaning in. Oh, god, was this really about to happen? What was she gonna do?

And now her head was moving of its own accord, tilting to the side, lips parting just enough that the kiss could be closed- or open-mouthed depending on how the moment of impact went. Her heart was pounding hard in her chest as if struggling to break free, run home and pull the covers over its head. Her fingers twitched; her arms longed to go around his neck and yank him down, partially because the suspense was killing her and partially because it felt so right, sitting on a bench in a carnival, this carnival, their first date.

What if it sucked, though? What if this kiss was horrible? What if Tommy had somehow become the worst kisser on the face of the earth? What if all those memory issues had made him forget how to do it properly? What was the last thing he'd eaten? Hopefully it wasn't going to taste too awful—oh, no! What was the last thing she'd eaten? What if she kissed him again after all this time and then he pulled away and said "Never mind, let's forget that ever happened and go buy you a toothbrush and a copy of Kissing for Dummies?"

Panic swirled through her as Tommy's mouth inched closer and closer. She wasn't ready for this. She needed days of planning for this and she wasn't even sure she was wearing kiss-proof lipstick and dear god she needed Trini, she needed her best friend to say all those reassuring things that Trini was so good at when she wasn't plotting to force Kimberly to like Tommy all over again and—

Wait.

Wait just a second.

All the stuff about Hayley.

The occasional sweet remarks that had shaken her up.

Conveniently ditching everyone else before hanging out with her. Especially since their first date here hadn't gotten "fun" until after the rest of the gang had been banned.

Turning a blind eye to Ethan and Anna, despite being responsible for Ethan—probably because once he said something, he wouldn't be able to just leave the two of them alone and hope they stayed kosher.

His odd, I'm-gonna-get-you behavior earlier.

How passionate he'd seemed about being so protective of her.

Too shy at one moment, not shy enough at the next.

Not answering his phone when Hayley called, but making sure that Kimberly knew who was calling.

Winning all those games.

Buying her cotton candy—what had Anna been saying about Tommy buying her cotton candy?

Was she really supposed to believe that he just wanted to be friends after his stunts earlier?

Was she really supposed to believe that he'd just dropped it, just like that?

After that display on the tunnel of love, and in the parking lot…

Of course! Kimberly thought, furious with herself for not seeing it before. Of COURSE he's still… still doing IT! Ever since Trini CONVENIENTLY got the gang banned again, all that sweet talk—I can't believe I was so stupid!

"You little creep!" Kimberly roared, quite literally in his face, which had come close enough that her lips almost brushed against him when she shouted. Tommy jolted in surprise and shrank back, cringing. "You planned this! I can't believe you, with your little speeches about 'I just wanted to hang, to be with you again' and your greatest fear being dying alone and all the things you 'accidentally' brought up to make me all nostalgic and… and… I don't believe you!"

Everyone within a fifteen-foot radius was staring. Kimberly jumped up and loomed over him, screaming at the top of her lungs.

"Did you honestly think I wouldn't figure it out? Huh? Did you honestly think that as a girl who's been Trini's best friend since the age of five that I wouldn't see right through you? You, with your cotton-candy buying and your 'sure, I'll win you a stuffed Eeyore and I'll help you find his tail you must have dropped it near the swings oh look it magically appeared almost as though it was in my pocket the whole time' and your little door-opening thing and your 'I'll buy lunch, I'm being financed by a billionaire' and 'it's okay, I won't freak out if you cling to my arm on the house of horrors ride' and you planned it! You totally planned it!"

"Kim—" Tommy began.

"Oh, shut up! Did you honestly think you'd be able to make out with me within a couple hours? Did you think I wouldn't see that clown fight as part of some big psychotic master plan engineered by you whack jobs to get you and me alone?"

"The clown fight wasn't me—"

"Oh, sure it wasn't! Wasn't your fault at all! You were just the guy who happened to be gone when it happened! Just like you just happened to be okay with me clinging to you on that horror ride! And you just happened to find Eeyore's tail! And you just happened to brush my hair out of my face when we got off the roller coaster so you could get all sheepish afterwards! IT'S ALL PART OF YOUR EVIL PLAN!"

"Kim—" Tommy said desperately.

"Let me tell you something, Mister—oh, excuse me, Doctor—I'm Kimberly Hart and I'll be damned if I'll let you trick me into anything! I kick ass in the truest sense of the word and I'll be kicking yours if you try any more head games on me! So back off!"

Tommy stared at her as she glowered at him, breathing so heavily she was practically snorting, livid with rage. Then, he did the unthinkable.

Tommy grinned.

"Good going, Kimberly," Tommy said calmly, standing up and fixing her with a steely gaze that she hadn't seen since Jason had shattered the Sword of Darkness. "I really didn't think you'd figure it out. I had this whole thing planned, you know, the old 'that shouldn't have happened' and 'let's put it behind us' and oh, my personal favorite, 'let's take things slow.' Guess it's back to the drawing board."

"Draw all you want!" Kimberly screamed. "It's never gonna—"

"Oh, yes it will, Kimberly," Tommy interrupted dangerously. "It'll happen. It'll happen because out of the six of us I'm the evil genius, not you, not Trini, not Jason, not Billy, not Zack. I am. I'm the one who will take you down and there's nothing you can do to stop me because no matter what happened, no matter what will happen, you're mine, Kimberly. Mine. And nothing's gonna change that. Not Florida, not cruel little letters, not seeing other people, not years of ignoring each other. Nothing. You are mine!"

Kimberly glowered at him, lost for words. Her mouth gaped open and closed repeatedly as she fought to come up with something to say. She wanted to scream. She wanted to rant. She wanted to be angry. But the sad fact was, the rage was quickly leaving her. Because as egotistical and unrepentant as Tommy's little speech was, it was also insanely touching. It actually made her feel warm and happy, even after all the years and all the pain, to know that Tommy still thought of her as His.

Kimberly took a deep, shuddering, calming breath. Then—

"I'm gonna kick your ass, little boy!" Kimberly growled, and dove at him, flying over the bench, fist cocked back, ready to knock his lights out. He only had a couple of seconds to react, there was a good chance she'd land a few hits before he could get his wits about him…

Unfortunately for Kimberly, Tommy had allies close at hand. Someone flung their arms around Kimberly from behind and both Kimberly and Tommy's savior tumbled off-balance, falling backwards onto the bench. Kimberly elbowed her attacker hard in the gut and jumped up the moment he released her; she spun around to find Ethan clutching his stomach. Before she could decide whether it would be more productive to admonish Ethan or continue going after Tommy, Trent latched onto one of her arms and Kira grabbed the other. Anna ran up and flung herself down next to Ethan, rubbing his back and trying to see if he was okay. Ethan waved her off, managing a weak thumbs-up, and Anna stared at Kimberly as if she was a by-product of Lord Zedd.

"Jesus, Dr. O," Trent half-joked as he fought to keep his hold on Kimberly. "We leave you alone for two hours…"

"Ethan, are you okay?" Kira called.

"Fine," Ethan choked out, looking as though his eyes might start watering.

"You people are all really violent," Anna muttered nervously, shooting a glance at Tommy.

"So nice to have friends," Tommy said in amusement, smirking at Kimberly. "You never know when you're going to need a little help."

With one hard wrench Kimberly tore herself free from Kira and Trent. "I'm going to help you off a cliff if you don't knock it off right now," she snapped, and stormed off into the crowd, which parted quickly for her.

Anna, Ethan, Kira and Trent looked questioningly at Tommy. Tommy returned their gaze calmly. "Well. Took you guys long enough. Any longer and she'd've knocked me unconscious."

"You're welcome," Ethan said dryly. He coughed. "Ugh. I think she knocked out one of my lungs."

Tommy gave him a quick once-over and shrugged. "You'll be fine," he said dismissively.

"Thanks," Ethan replied, rolling his eyes.

"So, um, what now?" Kira asked. "Should we call Jason to come get us?"

Tommy shook his head. "Nah. Kimberly will stay scarce for at least an hour, and I'm gonna need some time to work on a new game plan. It's gonna take me a bit longer now that I blew the whole kiss-on-the-park-bench. Maybe I can convince the gang to swing by the lake later, though," Tommy said thoughtfully. "That'd probably get her."

"Just out of curiosity," Trent began, "um… how many different people are you?"

Tommy blinked. "I figured that was pretty obvious." Anna, Kira, Ethan and Trent stared at him blankly. Tommy grinned. "Four, Trent. Approximately four."

Tommy checked his watch. "Okay. I know we were supposed to meet at the entrance in an hour, but I'm thinking we should push that back to, say, an hour and a half." He looked at each of them in turn, obviously thinking hard. "Look, I hate to break up your fun, but I need your help."

"Does it involve getting elbowed in the gut again?" Ethan demanded.

"No. But I need Anna, and I need Kira to go after Kimberly. You and Trent can go your own way."

"How come?" Trent asked, slightly offended that Tommy wasn't including him and Ethan.

"I work better with Anna one-on-one. And Kimberly needs a female, one who doesn't have her own agenda, to rant to right now."

"I'm not gonna spy on Kimberly for you," Kira said, folding her arms over her chest.

"I'm not asking you to," Tommy said with a shrug. "I'm asking you to go calm her down before she starts her own clown riot."

Kira sighed. "Okay. I was kind of thinking about it anyway." She looked at Trent. "I'll see you later." Trent nodded and Kira took off.

Ethan turned to Anna. "That cool with you?"

"As long as I don't get elbowed in the stomach," Anna said, in the helpless sort of tone used by those swept along in others' chaos. She smiled at Ethan. "This was fun. If I don't see you later, call me some time, okay?"

"Definitely," Ethan promised happily, and Anna beamed at him before walking off with Tommy, heading the opposite direction of Kimberly and Kira.

Trent sighed and plopped down on the bench next to Ethan. Trent and Kira had run into Ethan and Anna near the funnel cake kiosk shortly before hearing Kimberly go off on Tommy; they'd been able to follow the screaming past several noisy rides. He'd been hoping to eventually split back up; it was nice to spend time with just Kira, which they hadn't done a lot of this summer. Now, he'd traded Kira in and gotten Ethan; Trent sincerely hoped it was worth the sacrifice. Trent turned to look at Ethan, all set to ask him what he thought about this new development in the Tommy/Kimberly saga, but instead Trent found himself blurting out, "Dude, are you wearing lipstick?"

"What? No," Ethan said quickly, hurriedly wiping at his mouth.

Trent chuckled. "Had fun with Anna, then, I take it."

Ethan nodded, slightly embarrassed. "You could say that."

"Don't worry," Trent told him. "I won't tell Conner."

Ethan stared at him incredulously. "Why not?"

Trent thought it over. "Never mind. I just won't tell Kira."

Ethan nodded emphatically. "Thanks. She'll go all, 'aw, how sweet' on me. It's scary when Kira acts like a girl."

Trent smirked. "Not to me." Ethan made a face and started to reply, but then suddenly burst out laughing. "What?" Trent asked.

"I get it now," Ethan explained. Seeing Trent's confused frown, Ethan added, "When you asked how many different people Dr. O was."
Trent smacked his forehead in realization. "Duh! That's what he meant by four."

End Notes: Sorry for the wait. Hopefully the next won't take so long; we'll be back to Conner, Rocky and Zack by then.

Shameless plug: I've made a music vid called "Tommy's Reminders," set to "How You Remind Me" by Nickelback, and posted it on Youtube under my friend's account, BrynEnsomhet. I'd love any and all comments; it still needs some editing, as it was my first vid, but I'm pretty proud of it.