Back in Time
Chapter 24
Tommy sighed as he leant against the wall. After He had finally gotten Kira to calm down, she had fallen back to sleep, and so he carried her into his room and put her in his bed, before returning to her room and cleaning up the glass that was littering the floor. He had gone downstairs where Kim was waiting for him with a cup of coffee and an expectant look.
"Explain." She said to him. He had spent about an hour explaining Kira's situation with her father and how he was coming back to Reefside and none of them knew what was going to happen. By the time he finally got back upstairs, it was already 4am and he was tired. He walked into his bedroom, seeing that Kira was sleeping soundly on the bed, only a few twitches in her arms and legs indicating how tense she still was in her sleep. That was how Tommy found himself leaning against his bedroom wall watching his girlfriend sleep, and wishing more than anything that Kim wasn't in the house and he could fall into bed with her and pull her close.
He sighed and went back downstairs, falling onto the sofa in the living room. He tossed and turned for a while before looking at the clock and saw that it was already 7am. He sighed before getting up and heading upstairs, quietly walking into his room to not disturb Kira. He looked at the yellow ranger and how peacefully she was sleeping. He sighed and gave her a quick kiss on her forehead before getting some clothes out of his wardrobe and heading to the bathroom to get changed. He walked into the kitchen and found Kim already there with a pot of coffee.
"Hey." She said, pushing the pot over to him. "How is she?"
"Still asleep." He replied, pouring himself a cup and sitting down.
"Who knows about her dad?" She asked, a frown on her face.
"Our team all know. They found out when we were in the past. Hayley knew before we went." He said, running his hand over his face. "I think Jason knows too. They swapped bodies for a day back in the past. He had to notice her injuries."
"What's going to happen to her?" Kim asked, making Tommy sigh.
"I don't know." He replied. He heard movement from upstairs and stood up, pulling items out of the fridge and cupboards to make breakfast. "Morning Kira." He said as she walked into the room, still dressed in her yellow tank and grey shorts she wears to bed. "Do you want some breakfast?"
"Sure." She muttered, sitting at the table. Kim shared a look with Tommy before standing up and leaving the room, stating she was going to the bathroom. "I'm sorry about the windows."
"Don't be." Tommy said, moving over and sitting next to her. "Kira, you can talk to me about anything, you know that. I know you're going through a lot, and I wish more than anything that you weren't." He ran his hand through her hair and gave her a smile. "You can break as many windows as you want as long as you know that you are safe here." He leant forward and gave her a kiss before resting his forehead against hers.
"So I can keep breaking windows?" She asked with a small smirk.
"Only during the day." He laughed. They kissed again before pulling away and Tommy froze at what he saw. "Shit."
"What?" Kira asked, turning around and freezing as she saw Kim stood in the doorway of the kitchen with wide eyes.
"Ok. You two have some explaining to do." Kim said with her arms crossed.
"Kim, you can't tell anyone." Kira said, standing up from the table. "At least not until I graduate."
"Are you two in a relationship?" She asked, still looking shocked. "Or just having sex."
"No!" They both protested, Tommy standing up as well. "No, we're not… we've not…." Kira stuttered, struggling to find the words.
"We're in a relationship." Tommy said, putting his hand on Kira's shoulder. "I really care about Kira, and I tried to ignore how I felt for a long time, but I can't stay away from her." He smiled, making Kira smile at him too.
"Have you two…." Kim trailed off, making Kira blush.
"No. We haven't." She said.
"Why?" Kim asked, making Tommy clear his throat.
"Kim, none of your business." He said, making the former pink ranger blush slightly. "Look, we're together, that's all you need to know. But you can't tell anyone."
"Why not?" She asked, looking at the two.
"Tommy's my teacher." Kira said, making Kim's eyes widen at the reminder. "If people find out, he'll get into a lot of trouble. He'll lose his job, and that's the best-case scenario." Kim was about to reply when Kira's phone went off. "It's Hayley." She left the room to answer the phone, leaving Kim and Tommy alone.
"Kim, please you cannot tell anyone." Tommy said. "I don't care about my job. I just want Kira to be safe."
"Tommy, I'm not going to tell anyone. And I'm sorry about the flirting yesterday. I guess with the memories coming back and seeing you again, I just wanted everything to be exactly the same as it was before." She said with a small smile.
"Don't worry. Let's forget about it and move on." He said with a smile as Kira walked back into the room.
"You may want to go down to the lab." Kira said with a slight smirk, making Tommy frown in confusion. "Hayley's on her way over, and you promised her you'd make a start on upgrades to the Zords." Tommy looked slightly scared before he practically sprinted out of the room and down to the lab. Kim stopped Kira from leaving the room and gave her a smile.
"I'm sorry for how I've acting since arriving here." She said, making Kira look down slightly. "I guess I got caught up in reliving my relationship with Tommy in the past, and I can't imagine how that made you feel."
"It's alright. You didn't know." Kira replied. "I mean, it did hurt, and it did piss me off, but I guess it's a good thing we were on our way to a battle and I could take it out on some Tyrannodrones." She laughed, making Kim join in. "And I'm sorry for how I acted in the past. I was snappy with all of you to start with, especially you."
"Hey, I get it." Kim replied. "You were watching your boyfriend expressing his relationship with his ex. And you were in the past. That would put anyone on edge."
"Thanks Kim. You're not a bad person, and I'm sorry if I offended you with how I was acting. It was just difficult seeing you and Tommy acting the way I wish we could act." Kim watched her for a moment as they walked through to the living room and sat down on the sofa. "It was strange. I knew that I felt jealous, but I wasn't sure what was making me jealous."
"What do you mean?" Kim asked.
"I didn't know if I felt jealous that you and Tommy were together, or…" She trailed off, looking down at her hands.
"You were jealous because we could express it?" She asked, making Kira nod slightly. "I don't think it was from seeing me and Tommy together. You already knew about that, and it wasn't too difficult to distinguish this Tommy from his past self. You put on a tough act, but you're still a girl, and you still want your boyfriend to be able to show affection, which is something you were getting very little of due to the situation."
"It wasn't just in the past." Kira said with a sigh. "We've been together for around a month. And before I moved in, we could only act like a couple during our training sessions, or on the rare occasion that both of my parents were out and I could come here. Sometimes I hate having to keep it a secret, but I can't risk anyone finding out."
"Tommy told me about your Dad." Kim said, making Kira look up in shock. "I didn't give him much of a choice. I know I don't have active powers, but I still know how to fight. You're important to Tommy, which means you're important to me and every ranger. Not only your team and mine, but every team that Tommy has fought with and every team that came after. Rangers stick together and protect each other."
"Thanks Kim." Kira whispered before pulling her into a hug. They looked up as the door opened and saw Hayley walk in, frowning at the two females sat on the sofa.
"Hey. Is there a reason that some of the windows upstairs are broken and the glass is littering the grass outside?" Hayley asked, making Kira look sheepish.
"Tommy will explain." Kim said with a slight laugh.
"He's down in the lab." Kira said. "He only started the upgrades a few minutes ago. But don't be too mad at him. It was a long night." Hayley frowned at the guilty look on Kira's face for a moment.
"Is everything alright?" She asked, looking at the two rangers in confusion.
"It's just been a rough night." Kira said. Hayley nodded before heading down into the lab, leaving the two girls on their own.
Xxx
Later on in the day, Hayley was still down in the lab working on upgrading the Zords while Tommy, Jason and Zach were working on fixing the broken windows upstairs. Everyone else was outside enjoying the nice weather, with Kira, Kim and Trini lounging on the sun beds and the Dino Thunder boys sparring not far away. The boys were quietly whispering between themselves between sparring matches, throwing glances at Kira every so often.
"Do they think they're being discrete?" Trini asked without looking in their direction. "They've been whispering and looking this way for ages."
"Pretty sure none of them know what the word discrete means." Kira replied with her eyes closed. "If you ignore them for long enough they'll get bored and either forget about it or ask whatever it is that's bothering them."
"So you're not curious about why they're whispering?" Kim asked.
"I know what they're whispering about. But as long as they don't bother me about it then I don't care what they do." She replied making the two former rangers share amused looks.
"Reminds me of how we used to deal with Rocky." Kim said with a laugh.
"Do you think we should call them? Get a proper reunion going?" Trini asked.
"Nah. These guys have enough to deal with without adding Rocky into the mix." Kim laughed. She noticed the boys look over again and sighed. "How do you ignore those three?"
"You get used to it." She replied. They lay in the sun for a few more minutes before a shadow fell over Kira, making her open her eyes to see her three teammates stood in front of her. "Can I help you?"
"What happened to the windows?" Conner asked.
"What do you think happened?" Kira asked. Kim and Trini watched the exchange with frowns, wondering how Kira had managed as the only female on the team with these boys.
"Well the only thing that could break the windows like that is your Ptera scream." Ethan said with a frown.
"Well done, you figured it out." Kira replied, making the three boys share looks.
"But why did you use your scream?" Trent asked. "That's what we can't figure out."
"None of your business." She replied.
"Kira, you need to tell us." Conner said, trying to sound like a leader, only to flinch as Kira stood up.
"No I don't." She snapped. "If it is something to do with being rangers and Mesagog then I will, but I do not have to tell you anything about my private life unless I want to."
"It was your dad, wasn't it?" Trent asked, making Trini's frown deepen as Kira glowered.
"Oh for god sake! I had a bloody nightmare! You happy now?" As Kira's voice rose, she didn't notice as Tommy, Jason and Zach walked out of the door, stopping as they took in the exchange. "Is that what you wanted to know? That I got scared by a fucking dream and accidently used my Ptera scream, waking everyone up and breaking the windows!"
"Why didn't you say?" Conner asked, only to regret it as Kira's face turned red.
"I didn't say because it was none of your fucking business!" She snapped. Tommy made his way over, having a feeling he was going to have to stop Kira from killing them. "Do I need to tell you about every single dream I have? Or just the bad ones?"
"Kira, enough." Tommy said softly, putting a hand on her shoulder to stop her from moving closer to the boys. He felt her begin to calm down, but he could feel how tense she still was. "They were just concerned. They went about it the wrong way, but they were just trying to look out for you."
"I know." She sighed, sitting back down on the lounger.
"You three really need to stop pissing her off." Tommy sighed as he looked at the three teens. "I'm not always going to be around to save your butts."
"Tommy!" They all turned to see Hayley running from the house towards them, the girls standing up at the worried look on her face. "We've got a problem."
"What is it?" He asked.
"I've just had a call from the café." She said, looking at Kira with a worried look. "Your dad's just been in looking for you."
"What?" Kira gasped. Zach and Trini watched in confusion as Conner, Ethan, Trent and Tommy all subconsciously stepped closer to her, almost like they were trying to create a shield around her.
"It gets worse." She said. "Devin was there and told him that you have been teaching her to fight. He's coming here." There was a moment of silence, Trini and Zach not knowing what was going on looking confused as Kira looked like she was about to pass out.
"Conner, get all of Kira's things into the lab as quickly as you can." Tommy said. Conner nodded and ran off using his Tyranno speed. "Ethan and Trent, check the rest of the house and make sure there's no sign that Kira has been here." The two nodded before running into the house. "Jason, help Hayley set up the camera. We may need some footage as evidence." They two nodded and ran into the house as well. "Kim, fill Trini and Zach in on the situation. And then make it look like it's just us and Jason having a catch up. Get the beers and food out." They nodded and went into the house, Kim filling the other two in on the way which left Tommy and Kira alone outside. Tommy noticed that Kira hadn't moved. "Kira, I need you to hide in the lab with Hayley and the boys. He cannot know that you're here."
"He's coming here." She breathed. Tommy sighed and pulled her into his arms. To anyone that might have looked at them, they would assume that Tommy was providing her with some much needed comfort, and he hoped that none of them would think anything else.
"I am not going to let him hurt you." He whispered, running his hand through her hair. "Hayley's setting up some cameras, and she's going to be monitoring them from the lab. If I give her the signal, then you need to get on your raptor cycle and get out of there as fast as you can. Hayley knows the location of the Ninja Storm rangers in Blue Bay. If anything happens, you go there until I come for you."
"But-" She started, only for Tommy to cut her off.
"No buts." He said, pulling away and looking into her eyes. "If anything happens, you go to Blue Bay and stay there until I get to you. Promise me."
"I promise." She whispered. Tommy nodded and gave her one last hug, pulling his arms tight around her.
"Come on." They hurried inside and saw that the house had changed very quickly. "How we looking?"
"Cameras are up. Hayley's just linking them to the computers." Jason said, throwing some food in bowls and taking them through the living room.
"Everything from down here is in the lab and the place looks like it's only you 5 here." Ethan said.
"How's Conner doing?" Tommy asked as they went into the living room, seeing that the room was set up like the 5 had been drinking and talking for a few hours. Zach had even grabbed some empty bottles from the previous day and set them up in the middle of the table to look like they'd all had a couple each.
"Almost done." A shout came from the stairs. A few seconds later Conner appeared in the room, making the four former rangers jump. "Everything's in the lab. I'm sorry but I had to touch your guitar." He said with an apologetic look at Kira.
"It's fine." She said, still looking scared.
"He's just turned off the main road." Hayley said as she hurried into the room. Kira's eyes filled with fear and her breathing became heavier.
"Kira, calm down. I need you to keep a clear head and not panic." Tommy said to her. She nodded, but didn't look like she was about to calm down. "Boys, down to the lab. Conner, keep her safe." Conner nodded and put his arm around Kira as he guided her down into the lab. Tommy closed the door using the fossil on his desk before heading into the living room and sitting down with the other rangers, picking up a drink and some food to make it look like they had been there all along.
"Is she going to be alright?" Trini asked, her face full of worry.
"I hope so. We just need to get rid of him and not make him suspicious." He replied. "Think you can pull out the Yellow Ranger attitude?" Trini smirked at Tommy comment.
"Consider it done." She replied. Tommy sighed as he heard a car door slam outside and thought about the girl hiding downstairs, praying that she was going to be alright.