"Dr. O? You're back?" Autumn asked as Tommy walked into his classroom and looked around at the seniors. He had done everything that he could to not teach his son, but he had wound up with him in his homeroom. Even though he knew Autumn well, he had only caught glimpses of most of the kids that went to the dojo in the last month. Their entire lives had been turned upside down by this injury. "How are you?"

"For a couple weeks. Kim's home and is doing a lot better. We've still got one more surgery to worry about, but we're timing that with fall break. I'll probably take the next week just to…" Tommy trailed off as he realized the entire class had gone silent and was staring between him and Ollie. Tyler had told his classes the bare minimum about what had happened, apparently this class knew more because of Ollie. "I've…we've been better, but she's improving and that's all I can really hope for right now."

"What happened?" Seth asked as Tommy and Ollie locked eyes. He was not sure what to say, he was not sure what his son may have told them. "Ollie said someone broke in and took her out, but she's a good fighter. A really good fighter. Who could get the jump on her like that?"

"Even good fighters have bad days, Seth," Tommy said as he walked over to his desk and noticed all of the things he had abandoned when things went wrong. Apparently Tyler had kept people out of his classroom and he was appreciative of that. He hated coming back to a classroom that had been destroyed by careless students and overwhelmed substitutes. "I know we were just starting the school year when all of this happened, so I'll have more information for you tomorrow on any Senior announcements. Today I'm just trying to get my feet back under me."

"It's good to have you back," Braxton said as he slipped into the classroom before the second bell and Tommy shook his head as he settled down at his desk. He had missed his classes. He had missed these kids. He hoped this was the right decision to come back for these few weeks and the only way he was going to know was to try.

"Dr. Oliver," Tyler said as he plopped down next to him at the lunch table and Tommy glanced over at him. He missed Kimberly's cooking, but he knew better than to complain to his, still single, friend about that. "How's it going?"

"It's like any first day back- I'm just trying to set expectations, re-establish rapport, you know…the fun teacher stuff," Tommy joked as he picked at the square pizza, corn, and pineapple tidbits on his plate. He had never understood this food combo, but it had been served at every school he had ever been to. Normally- this would be a day that Kim fixed something, but for now he was eating every school meal that was offered. His mom and his wife had too much on them to fix extra meals and he had barely found time to cook the few meals that Kim had asked him to. "I'm glad to be back."

"How's everyone doing?" Tyler asked and Tommy looked down at his hands. Tyler was one of his best friends, but he didn't want to do this here. "You don't have to talk with me about it, I just…"

"It's not that, Ty," Tommy muttered as he chugged the glass of water and then got up to walk out of the lunchroom, dumping his half eaten meal. "Walk and talk?"

"Just like old times" Tyler asked as he fell into step next to Tommy and Tommy just nodded. When Tyler had first moved into the principal position, he had gone to Tommy over and over for advice on various things. To keep those conversations more private, there was a lot of walk and talk. "What's going on Tommy? What really happened?"

"It was Hayley," Tommy muttered as they began walking through one of the empty halls and Tyler froze in his tracks. Tommy gently grabbed his arm and pulled him along, heading for Tyler's office. "Yeah, I know. I thought she was dead too."

"What did she do? Is that why Ollie was acting so weird for a few weeks?" Tyler asked as he closed the door to his office and Tommy sat down in one of the chairs across from him. "Level with me, Tommy."

"She manipulated his DNA over the last nine years to turn Ollie against me and Kimberly. And then she used Ollie to hurt Kimberly. She wanted to kill her. We finally broke Ollie out of what was happening, but…" Tommy trailed off as Tyler just shook his head. "Dude- you know my life is weird."

"Yeah, but like you come in with mystery injuries weird. Not your son gets turned against your family weird," Tyler said as Tommy let out a long sigh. "What?"

"He's not the first one in the family to go evil," Tommy admitted and Tyler gave him a confused look. "Oh c'mon. You've seen the photos in our basement…you're smart enough to put this together."

"You've never said anything about it and I sure as shit wasn't asking you if you were a Power Ranger. It's absurd," Tyler said as Tommy placed his morpher on Tyler's desk and he stared at it. He picked it up for a moment and rolled it around in his hands. "Holy shit."

"Yeah. I was the original evil ranger. Kim was turned evil as well. It's almost like an Oliver right of passage, one that I hoped Ollie would avoid," Tommy muttered as Tyler just stared at him. "I know it's not what you thought you'd hear when you got the real story. Hayley's still being evaluated in the psychiatric ward and I don't trust that they can keep her there. She's smart. She'll have some sort of plan to get out and try to finish what she started."

"Killing Kimberly?" Tyler clarified and Tommy just nodded. "Why the hell are you here?"

"Mostly because I don't have enough leave to cover the next couple of weeks and the time I've got to take off after she has the second surgery. We're making it by because of the dojo, but…I need to do something that is normal. She's at home, which means I'll get a warning if Hayley gets out and this will get me to her," Tommy said as he held up his communicator and Tyler stared at him. Tyler had never pushed to know about this part of his life, but he needed someone at the school that understood. "Talk to me."

"You're a fucking superhero?" Tyler asked as Tommy just shrugged. He didn't think of it that way, he had just been doing his job. "Are you still…can you still…what do you do now?"

"Mostly answer the phone," Tommy said as Tyler gave him a confused look. "I am available to help and mentor new teams. Sometimes I get pulled in if the threat is too big and other times my family is targeted because of who I…who Kimberly and I are. I'm coming clean because Ollie is next in line and with what Hayley did…there's a really good chance things are going to get worse for us."

"You don't think she'll try to bring someone else in…" Tyler trailed off as he stared up at the ceiling. "I wish this walk and talk was like the old ones. You're gonna have to get back to class."

"I know and Ty…" Tommy trailed off as Tyler just nodded. "Thank you."

"I'll make sure that I'm checking in with Ollie too. He's a tough kid, but…" Tyler trailed off as Tommy gave him a grateful look. "He's struggling?"

"Yeah and Kim and I…we're really at a loss for what to do. We're still trying to figure it out, but…" Tommy trailed off as the second bell rang. He then quickly let himself out of Tyler's office and hoped that his friend would be able to deal with all the bombs that he had just dropped. It was one thing to talk with his ranger friends, it was completely different to talk with a non-ranger friend about ranger things.

"Thanks Mom," Tommy said as he gave Janice a hug and she then went back to Kim's car and drove off. Kim had had therapy today and he hadn't been able to make it. However, he knew how desperate she was for something that was normal, so an afternoon at the dojo was in order. "How was it?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Kim whispered as he pulled her weaker hand down from her chest and gave it a squeeze. "I know this is going to take time, I just…"

"Yeah," Tommy whispered as he pulled her into a hug and she settled against him. For a former gymnast and Power Ranger, the hardest part of this injury was that she just couldn't get her body to do what she wanted. Billy had given him a long list of things that might happen while she was healing and this was the one that had concerned him the most. Kim being dependent on him was always rough on the two of them, but especially on her. The years that they had spent apart made her fiercely independent when it came to so many things. "You still good with going to the dojo?"

"Hey, Tommy!" Tyler called as Kim just nodded against his chest as he let out a sigh. "You were down for heading the fall festival, but I was thinking I'd move that to someone else. I forgot to mention it when you stopped by the office earlier to…day. Kim, hi."

"Hey, Ty," Kim said as Tommy kept an arm around her as she turned to face him. They both saw the shock in his eyes, but he quickly camouflaged it. "That would be great if you could move that to someone else this year."

"I…how…" Tyler tried and Kim placed a hand on his shoulder and he let out a sigh. Thank goodness Kim knew him well, because he had no idea what to say at this moment. "It's really good to see you. He's no good when you're not doing well."

"So, I've been told," Kim joked and she stepped forward to give him a quick hug. "You're still enjoying being in charge?"

"Some days are better than others. You two…it's been rough without having my normal enforcer hanging around," Tyler said as he looked over at Tommy and Kim let out a laugh. Tommy being an enforcer was one of the most hilarious things that Tyler had come up with over the years. Pretty much all of the students knew that if they got sent to Dr. O that they had messed up, but in a way that needed a dad talk instead of a suspension. "What time do classes start today?"

"We're just going to catch up on admin stuff and get new classes set up. Everyone has been great, but it's gotta get worked out or we'll be slammed come January," Tommy said as Tyler glanced at Kim and it hit him just how much had changed. Tommy must have only told him the bare minimum of how she was recovering.

He knew that those were things that Kim had always done with relative ease, it had never been Tommy's strong suit. For the first time in ten years, he had to step in and he was also desperately trying to keep Kimberly sane. To help her to feel like she was still herself, but it was a struggle for both of them. They had navigated the other changes in their lives so seamlessly, but this one had truly knocked them off their game. And they just wanted to get back to them, they desperately wanted to get back to them.

AN: Life has finally settled down and I'll be back to a normal posting schedule starting next weekend. You'll see chapters from my primary stories (Just Desserts and Generations Rise) on Friday and Saturday. Not sure which will get what day just yet- so if you have a preference let me know!