AN1: Hello all you wonderful readers! This is your monthly reminder to check that your email opt-in is still turned on (if you want it to be). Since this bugger gets auto reset every six months to go away- you may want to double check it if you've noticed email notifications have gone buh bye. Now on with the story!

"You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave," Kim sang along to the song as they neared Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. They had blown out the bit of teleportation power that they had to get far enough away from the Winchesters to be able to make a legit break for this location. She was sure that they would somehow track them, but she hoped that this gave them long enough to take Lipretere out and get back to their home. She was desperate to get back to her home. She saw a life where they could be together again and she wanted to live it.

"I need you to promise me something," Tommy said as she just nodded, alternating between singing along and eating the food they had just picked up from a random side of the road gas station. Luckily for them, it seemed like their credit cards still worked in this world. "Kim."

"Why are you so serious? We get to go home when we end this. We know where Lipretere is and we're going to end this. Why aren't you happy?" Kim asked as he glanced over at her as they pulled into a campground parking spot. He knew in his gut that she was right, that Lipretere was going to come after them here. He just wanted to get them far enough away from other people to make sure that the damage could only be to them. "Tommy?"

"I need you to promise that if it's me or you- you let him take me. And you get home," Tommy insisted as they got out of the car and he saw the argument that Kim was prepared to have. "Kim- I don't know what is going on here, but I need to know you'll keep yourself safe."

"And I need to know that you aren't walking in there to just get yourself killed," Kim countered as Tommy looked down at the ground and then back up at her. She slapped him as he just met her levelly, that was exactly what he was planning to do. "You asshole."

"Lipretere told me…I will do everything to make sure we both walk out of there, but you making it home alive is the important part," Tommy said as he checked the little bit of gear that she had and her glare intensified. "He doesn't have enough power to send both of us back when he dies. It's not like the other times."

"No…you are not staying here alone," Kim said as Tommy started marching towards Clarks Creek and she quickly jogged after him. "Tommy."

"I don't think we'll have a choice," Tommy muttered and he could feel how much she hated this. He could feel how much she hated that he was taking this choice from her, but if this was the last choice he got to make he needed to know that she would be safe. "The Winchesters will be coming here, in case he wins. Don't worry about me."

"You're wasting your breath," Kim forced out as she walked next to him and she let out a sigh. Tommy was not going to make some heroic gesture to keep her safe. She had always meant it that they were a packaged deal, she'd never be able to show her face again in their world if she made it back and he didn't. Then there was the small thing about falling in love with him again, she felt it and she knew she wouldn't fight it this time. She didn't want to fight it anymore.

"You're sure we're in the right place?" Dean asked as he and Sam hiked into the woods more than a day later. There was no evidence that anything had happened here, even the news was silent. "Sam."

"Everything disappeared near coordinates that are just a couple of miles that way. We check it, if they're actually gone, they aren't our worry anymore," Sam stated as Dean grimaced. Something did not feel right about this, something was eating at him when it came to everything that could have caused the signs to disappear.

"Holy shit," Dean muttered as they crested a hill and saw the redwood trees that had been blown down by some sort of blast. "C'mon- we need to get to ground zero."

"Dean- they're gone," Sam stated as Dean just shook his head and then started running along, over, and around the trees with Sam trailing behind him. His gut said that they needed to check. "Damn it, Dean."

It took them well over an hour to reach ground zero and what they saw shocked them. Dean had thought that coming back from hell and the damage that caused was impressive, but this was a different level. It wasn't just that the trees had been felled, they were obliterated. Thousand year old redwoods, splintered into nothingness.

"Tommy! Kimberly!" Dean yelled as he slowly started moving out from the center point. Sam took the opposite direction. It seemed pointless to him, but he would never hear the end of it from Dean if they didn't thoroughly check. The hours went by as they continued searching and Sam slowly made his way back to ground zero. It was oddly quiet in the woods, but that would be normal when something like this happened.

"Sam?" a voice questioned as Sam spun around and he saw nothing at first. "Sam- to your left."

Sam looked around, still not seeing the owner of the voice. There was so much debris that it wouldn't surprise him if they were buried.

"You're staring at me," the voice said as Sam was tapped on the shoulder and he then jumped and lashed out. "Easy- have you seen Tommy?"

"I can't see you right now," Sam remarked as Kim suddenly appeared in front of him, clutching her arm to her chest, desperately trying to keep still. Other than a few bruises and tattered clothing, she didn't look like she had just been a fight for her life. "That's one hell of a trick."

"I did what he said- why am I still here?" Kim asked as Sam just shook his head. He was still recovering from the fact that she had just appeared in front of him. "I saw him defeat Lipretere and then…we're supposed to go home. We're supposed to be safe."

"Can he do what you did? Can he disappear?" Sam asked as Kim nodded her head as Sam went about making her sling to help stabilize her arm, they'd worry about popping it back into place later. "Can you see him when he's like that?"

"Yeah, but I've been searching for hours. I went to where he was and…he said that Lipretere would only have enough power to send one of us back. He was determined I would be the one to make it home, but what if…" Kim trailed off as she heard someone jogging up behind them and spun around to go on the offensive. "Dean?"

"What the hell happened?" Dean asked as Sam adjusted the sling and Dean then offered her his flannel. Her clothing had been torn to shreds in the fighting, but it seemed like she hadn't even noticed that.

"He did it. He got rid of him. Did you find him?" Kim asked as Dean shook his head no and glanced up at Sam. They needed to get her out of here. It was obvious that she was running on adrenaline and fear and when she crashed, there was no telling what other problems would show up. "No, no, no, no, no. He's got to be here, somewhere."

"I'll keep looking. Why don't you let Sam get you out of here?" Dean suggested as Kim shook her head and started moving back towards the epicenter of this disaster. "Look- people are going to eventually notice what happened out here. We do not need to be standing in the middle of it when that happens."

"Package deal," Kim muttered as she moved past him and she grabbed her morpher. This was going to hurt. She morphed and let out a scream as her powers took her over. With how injured she was, she knew this was stupid, but it might allow her to be able to find Tommy.

Sam and Dean followed the pink ranger as she searched and searched for the white ranger. They both felt like this was useless, but they knew that until she realized it- they were not going to be able to pull her away from this place. Hours passed and still they found nothing. There was no sign that Tommy had ever been here. Kim's hysteria was staying just below the surface, but as night neared they knew they were going to have to convince her to leave.

"Kim. We can come back tomorrow. We need to get you some medical attention or at the very least some sleep," Dean said as he grabbed her arm and she threw him away from her. She was not going to leave here until she found Tommy. It didn't matter what condition he was in, she had to find him. "Damn it, Kim."

"I don't care what attention I need…that man…I will find him or I will find what happened to him. You and Sam can go," Kim dismissed as Dean let out a groan and then threw her over his shoulder. "Dean…I'm stronger than you right now."

"Yeah, you'd normally be stronger than me right now, but I'm going to bet that your entire body is throbbing and in pain and you don't have enough strength to fight me right now," Dean stated as she pounded against his back and he shifted her to carry her more comfortably. "He made sure someone would come for you, because he was sure you were going to survive this. I just don't think he bet on you getting stuck here."

"No. No!"

"Boys- glad you're back in the real world. We've got a problem," Bobby said as he watched a tornado, spinning over the same field in Broken Bow, Oklahoma. "I've got some other hunters on their way. There's a tornado in that field again."

"There's no way…" Dean muttered as he glanced in the back seat and saw Kim was still passed out back there. "Do you think?"

"It's either going to spit out Lipretere or Tommy. We're headed that way," Sam said as Dean steered the impala towards the interstate and floored it. Last time that tornado had sat still for over a day, hopefully they would be able to get there before it closed this time. "You think she's up to it?"

"I think she'll kill anything that comes out of that, that isn't Tommy," Dean said as he just shook his head. They were not going to get her hopes up or wake her from her fitful sleep. They were going to need her on her A-game tomorrow.

AN2: Thank you for reading and I'd love to hear what you're thinking about this story! Just as a heads up- I will be taking some time off from publishing from 7 to 21 October 2023 and plan to take a little break from fanfiction websites (in general during that timeframe). I'll get back to any reviews or DMs after the break- promise!