"Okay- Emily and Michael today. We can do this," Kim said as she rubbed some aloe vera on her sunburn and Tommy grabbed the bottle to get a few spots she had missed. They had done a great job with keeping the twins from getting burned, but both of them were sporting sunburns today. "We're not going to get physically attacked for this, right?"
"I doubt that is something we have to worry about. Emily knows me pretty well after all the years she was with Jason off and on. Michael…well…" Tommy trailed off as he let out a sigh. Katherine's husband had never been a fan of him, even though Katherine had forgiven him years ago. He didn't blame Michael for how he felt towards him, he had fixed something Tommy had broken. If he was in the man's shoes, he would hate him too. "We're adults- it will be fine."
"I hate this." Kim pulled on a pair of maternity jeans and looked in the mirror as she tried to decide what top to wear. Nothing fit well anymore and she had not thought to bring her bigger maternity shirts for this trip. In the last few days, she felt like she had transitioned to a much rounder belly and she had not been prepared for that. "We've never had any indication that being a Power Ranger would be hereditary."
"Most of the rangers were too young to have kids that could have been chosen this soon. We're just now getting into what is the second generation and…I hate this too." Tommy walked up behind her and she leaned back against him. He gently took the weight of her belly in his hands for a few moments and heard the sigh of relief. This was something he had learned when she was pregnant with the twins and it was something he had started doing again in the last month as this baby got bigger. It wasn't much, but it was the little bit that he could do. "All we have to do is give them the forms and tell them that we don't expect them to actually go along with it."
"Are you going to be okay?" Kim groaned as he slowly and carefully released her belly and she took the shirt he offered her. He gave her a non-committal shrug as he threw on some clothes as well. She watched him closely as he got dressed, knowing that he would give away how he was really feeling. His hands shook as he put on his communicator and she walked over and placed her hand on his back, trying to take some of the stress from him.
"I can't watch them die if they get powers and I know…I know how lucky we were." Tommy continued picking up the items he needed, but he didn't move far enough away to lose contact with her. He needed her presence today, perhaps more than he had needed her in a long time.
—-
"Emily- it's great to see you!" Tommy said as he gave her a hug and Kim peeked out from behind him to get a look at Jason's former girlfriend. She had met her, briefly, years ago and that meeting hadn't gone great. It had also come on the back end of the two of them disappearing for several days together, which wasn't really a good look. They'd never felt comfortable explaining to her that they had been kidnapped by an intergalactic being and were held hostage to lure the Power Rangers to come face a monster that could defeat them."How have you been?"
"What's it been? 15 years?" Emily asked as she moved over to give Kim a hug and Kim glanced up at Tommy. "Not since I've seen him- you. I mean the morning show was great, but I was starting to think you'd never come back out here."
"Probably closer to 18," Kim muttered as she gave Emily a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.
"What…why…why did you want to talk?" Emily asked as Kim quickly looked away and Tommy grimaced. They had both hoped that they would be able to catch up with her more before they had to discuss Greyson's potential as a Power Ranger. Apparently their body language was giving away how serious this talk was for them. "Tommy."
"Jason didn't know. Did he?" Tommy asked as Emily froze and then let out a long sigh. How did they know that Greyson was Jason's son? "Em."
"He knew and he was a part of Grey's life, but we just…it wouldn't have worked long term. Jason had this…this side of his life that he never let me truly see and without that, I couldn't trust him the way I needed to," Emily said as Tommy and Kimberly exchanged a glance. They knew exactly the secret that Jason had kept from her for all of those years. "I don't know why Jason never wanted the rest of you to know. He always talked about all of you to Grey."
"I can take a guess," Tommy muttered as he pulled the envelope out of his pocket and turned it over in his hands. "You know that we've established a Power Ranger Academy. Did Jason ever…did he tell you?"
"He never told me, but I suspected it. I suspected that that was the big secret he wouldn't let me in on and it was the one thing I needed to know so that I could…so that we could have been more than what we were," Emily said as she wrung her hands and Tommy let out a sigh. He did not want to present her with this. He wanted to walk away and just say that this year there had only been nine people that were potential rangers. "Grey…he's a good kid, but he's my only child Tommy. I never…Jason and I were off and on because neither of us could find anyone that we loved more."
"I have to leave this paperwork with you- there are only so many people in the world that meet the criteria and he's one of the ten this year. I will not ask you to make a decision right now and I won't even ask you to tell him. We have to do this," Tommy whispered as Kim rubbed his back and he risked a glance down at her. "I wish I had known earlier about Grey."
"Jason wanted it to be this way. When I found out about him passing away- I wanted to reach out to you, because I knew you'd know what happened…if anyone knew, but I had no reason to. As far as any of you knew, Jason and I broke up years ago," Emily responded as she hastily wiped her eyes. "I will give Grey the paperwork, but there's a lot that I will need to explain to him."
"Em, you don't have to do that. You've lost enough. He has lost enough," Tommy said as they heard footsteps and he looked up to see her son walking into the living room and he froze. Kimberly was the first one to break out of her trance and she started to walk toward Greyson.
"Hi, I'm Kimberly Oliver. We were just talking with your mom a bit about your dad. He was one of our friends in high school," Kim said as she offered her hand and Greyson stared at it and then back up at her. When he didn't move to shake it, Kim calmly tucked her hand into her pocket as she squeezed her eyes shut and then glanced back to see that Tommy still hadn't recovered. "Sorry, you look so much like him."
"You must be Tommy Oliver," Greyson said as he looked around Kimberly and Tommy barely nodded. "He talked about you a lot."
"He was one of my best friends," Tommy choked out as he just shook his head. It had been hard to talk to all of his friends' parents, but this was different. This was like seeing someone that he knew he was never going to see again. "We don't want to take up a lot of your time. Thanks for letting us stop by, Em."
"I'll do it," Greyson said as Tommy and Kimberly got to the front door and they jerked around to face him. "I heard a bit before I came in. I didn't get to meet any of you before he died and you're the only connection I could possibly have to him now."
"Greyson- think it over. We're asking a lot from you, from your family. Your family has given enough," Tommy said as Greyson straightened and firmly met his gaze. Jason had been good at that too.
"I have, ever since you announced the Academy. You may not have known about me, but I've known about you my entire life," Greyson stated as he walked over to Tommy and grabbed his arm. "This is where I need to be."
—-
"Are you okay?" Kim asked as Tommy drove them a few streets over and then pulled over to the side of the road. "Handsome?"
"I…I don't…are we doing the right thing here?" Tommy blurted out as she watched him grab and pull at his hair as he slumped against the steering wheel. "Kim…I knew this would be hard, but that…that is…that's Jason."
"I wasn't expecting this either. I don't know why I thought…I guess I just thought he'd only have Emily's genetics," Kim rambled as she reached over and rubbed his back. She felt the sobs that were passing through his body and let out a sigh. California was always hard for him and she hated to see him hurting so much, but there was no way to ease this. "We can call Michael and reschedule. We don't have to do this today."
"I need ten, I've got…I just need to walk it off," Tommy said as he sat up and looked over at her and she just nodded before he leaned over to give her a quick kiss. "I'm so sorry."
"You've got nothing to be sorry for. Go. Walk it off," Kim said as she cupped his face and he just nodded. She watched as he jogged down the road and she finally let the tears flow. Tommy was hurting so much and she knew he was not going to let her help this time. He felt like there was too much of a risk with her using some of her prophet abilities to help him now that she was this pregnant. She didn't think that it would be a problem, but she also wanted to just enjoy this time and this was not a fight worth having. "Please let us be able to finish this."
—-
They approached Katherine's house and Tommy let out a long sigh. While he had been hopeful when they went to talk with Emily, he now knew that this was going to be much harder than he had ever expected. He had seen Jessica as she grew up and while it was not as much of a slap in the face, he knew it was going to be difficult. He knew that this was just another burden that he could only share with Kimberly.
"Hi Tommy," Michael said as he opened the door and Tommy gave him a forced smile. Michael had never been a fan of his and he couldn't blame the man. He had left Katherine in more pain than she deserved and she had kept Michael at arm's length for so long because she had learned that she couldn't trust men that liked her. He had taught her that and it was a lesson she should have never had to experience. "Come on in."
"Michael- this is my wife," Tommy started to introduce as Michael held up his hand and Tommy froze.
"Kimberly?" Michael asked as Tommy nodded and Michael shook his head. "You seriously took that bitch back?"
"It's not that simple," Tommy ground out as he felt a sudden pang of pain from Kimberly and he reached back to grab her hand. He could not rise to Michael's bait, even if he really wanted to right now. "And it's not something that I owe you an explanation on."
"You chewed Katherine up and spit her out and you go back to the woman that did the same to you?" Michael growled and Tommy felt Kimberly pull on his hand and he looked back at her. "She never got over you."
"Why don't you go wait in the car?" Kim suggested as Tommy looked down at her and shook his head no. "Tommy- you've been through enough today. I can talk with him."
"Fine, but if she comes back to that car upset- I'm coming back for you," Tommy threatened Michael as he turned around to give her a quick hug and then walked back down to their car. While every bone in his body told him he needed to stay, he knew that he would get nowhere with Michael. The both of them were too emotional for any type of conversation to be successful.
"It's nice to meet you," Kim said as she held out a hand and Michael grasped it as he looked her up and down. He only then realized she was pregnant and he felt the punch to his gut. He was lucky that Tommy hadn't decked him and he knew that saying anything about Kimberly was pressing his luck with the man. "It wasn't a fluke that we got married and I'm really sorry for any pain that Katherine went through because of Tommy trying to find a way to live after what I did. I'm not here to talk about that though."
"Come in," Michael said as he opened the door and she walked inside and paused before he led her into the living room. "Take a seat…I didn't realize you…that well…"
"I'm going to take a wild guess that Tommy is one of your least favorite people in the world," Kim stated as she slowly lowered herself onto the couch as she felt a particularly sharp kick to her ribs. "And by proxy, I'm also not one of your favorite's. Why did you even agree to talk to us?"
"Him. He didn't mention anything about…oh…well he might have…oh no," Michael trailed off as Kimberly offered him a friendly smile and he just shook his head. "I can go tell him that he can join us."
"He's had a rough day, this will be easier for me. Did he mention why we needed to talk to you?" Kim asked as Michael shook his head and she just nodded. She had left these calls up to him, but she wished that he had told them a bit more. "Are you aware of the Power Ranger Academy we have opened in New York?"
"Vaguely. What does that have to do with you needing to talk to me?" Michael asked as Kimberly held out an envelope and he slowly took it from her. He read the addressee and then looked back at her. "No. There is no way. There is no way that Katherine…she would have told me."
"I can't say why she didn't tell you, but I can say that she was a ranger. She was actually my replacement…in more ways than one," Kim said as Michael looked at her in horror and she took in a shaky breath. It explained so much to him as to why Katherine had struggled to get over Tommy, they had bonded through the trauma of being a Power Ranger. "There aren't that many people that could be Power Rangers. We only found ten, in the entire world, this year. We don't need an answer today, but we do have to offer Jessica a spot. It is your choice if you tell her and we won't come back and ask you again. Neither of us like that your children are some of the people that…that would be the best fit."
"You can't possibly think that I would even consider sending my daughter…" Michael ground out as Kim met his gaze head on and he fell silent.
"We have to ask, but we really don't expect you to support it," Kim stated as Michael just stared at her. "Our own children…we'll have to…there will be a time when we go through this as well and we won't have the luxury of saying no. We'd like for some of you to have that luxury."
"I'll read the forms," Michael said and Kimberly nodded her head in thanks as she started to push herself to the edge of the couch and she let out a disgruntled groan. "You need a hand?"
"Please," Kim said as Michael pulled her to her feet and she just shook her head. "I didn't realize how squishy that couch was."
"It's all good," Michael said as he led her towards the door. "She forgave him a long time ago, but I never have."
"And you don't have to. I'm the one who is lucky…I should have never gotten a second chance," Kim said as Michael gave her a confused look and she shook her head. "Katherine didn't lie to you about how bad it was and everything that I did. You're right to ask how he moved past it. And there's days that I still don't understand it- but that man is the best thing that has ever happened to me- twice."
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!