Conflicts of Interest
Part Four
Written by: Gina
Disclaimer:
See Part One
* * * * * *
Chapter 19: Fancy Meeting You Here, Again!
Tommy’s eyes darted from one redheaded woman to the other, confused by how they
seemed to know each other. Before he gained enough presence of mind to ask what
the hell was going on, though, a scene unfolded in front of him that attempted
to answer his questions. Well, most of them, anyway…
“So, he’s the boyfriend you were planning this fabulous dinner for? Now I
remember where I recognized you from. So, was he surprised?” Haley knew her tone
was unnecessarily sarcastic and scathing, but she couldn’t help herself.
Kim didn’t know how to respond. She felt awful having to meet Tommy’s friend
under these circumstances. Now she knew she was right when she suspected that
Haley was in love with him. “Haley…I’m sorry, I didn’t get a chance to introduce
myself this morning. I’m Kimberly Hart. It’s nice to meet you. Tommy’s told me
so much about how talented you are with all the Ranger technology.”
“This morning?” Tommy asked, bewildered. Both women ignored him.
“Oh, he did, did he? Well, did he also tell you that I devoted almost all of the
last three years of my life to him, working night and day to develop this stuff?
That I was his shoulder to cry on after the last woman dumped him? Did he tell
you that I would have never left him?” Haley’s emotions had the best of her, and
she was amazed at how all of her earlier good intentions to apologize and try to
make things right went straight out the window at the first sight of Kimberly.
The tirade was short-lived however, when her rational self took over and she
realized what she was doing. Her eyes welled up with tears as she fought to
maintain composure. “I’m sorry…”
Kira stepped forward and wrapped a supportive arm around Haley’s shoulder. Once
the older woman felt the touch of the considerate girl, the flood gates broke
loose. She broke down in sobs, burying her face in the Yellow Rangers shoulder.
The boys, uncomfortable with profound displays of female emotion like most men,
stood to the side, hoping to fade into the background.
Kimberly felt genuine sympathy for Haley. She had experienced unrequited love
once, and knew it was an awful, degrading feeling. Despite her natural instinct
to want to offer comfort to someone who was hurting, she knew that any gesture
from her would most likely do more harm than good. It was almost a good thing
that she would be returning to Florida tomorrow. When she returned, maybe she
and Haley could start over. Once the initial pain wore off, the former Pink
Ranger hoped to be close with Tommy’s college friend.
Eventually, Tommy’s head cleared somewhat from the confusion. He had roughly
deduced that Kim must have met Haley when she was shopping for all that food in
the fridge upstairs. If he didn’t know better, he would have thought that he
surely did something to piss off the gods. It still seemed like he was being
made to pay for his happiness with Kimberly. The incredible timing that allowed
him to find her again had turned on him almost immediately thereafter, and
things have been going downhill ever since.
For several long, awkward minutes, the only sounds in the cavernous Command
Center were Haley’s anguished tears and the hushed murmurs of Kira’s attempted
comforting. Tommy knew that as the common denominator in this equation, he
should be the one to speak up, but he didn’t know what to say. His concern for
his friend, as well as his desire to clear everyone out of his house, finally
prompted him to gather the courage to get the ball rolling. Even though he was
pretty sure that Kim’s prediction had been correct, he still thought it best to
hear it from Haley, herself. There was no room for anymore misunderstandings.
“Haley, is there some reason you came here today? Something you wanted to tell
me?” It was a direct question, but it was also the only way to get everything
out in the open.
Haley slowly lifted her head from Kira’s make-up smeared shoulder to look Tommy
in his beautiful, brown eyes. He could have been so angry at her, but all she
saw on his face was compassion. There was no sign of any demoralizing antipathy,
and in some way, that made her feel even worse, like she wasn’t getting what she
thought she deserved. “I’m sorry, Tommy…I’m so, so sorry…” Sobs threatened to
overtake her again, but she fought them so she could continue. “There’s no
excuse for what I did, but the only explanation I can offer is that I was
jealous. You see, I’ve been in love with you for so long…even back when you were
still with Elizabeth. It took me almost five years, but I had finally worked up
the nerve to tell you. That’s why I came here yesterday morning. I knew there
was no way you’d be available forever, so I wanted to find out if we had a
chance together before you found someone else. My timing couldn’t have been
worse all the way around. I was angry, hurt…I felt so betrayed, even though I
knew I had no right. I’m so ashamed…” The confession was cleansing in a strange
way, prompting buckets of new tears attempting in vain to wash away her guilt.
“I…uh…” Tommy began. There was no easy way to tell Haley that he just didn’t
share her romantic feelings, but knew he owed her the same honesty that she
showed him. “I’m sorry, Haley. I really had no idea how you felt. It’s just that
I…uh…I don’t, I mean I never…” This must have been the hardest thing he’s ever
had to say to someone, and having to say it with an audience made it even worse,
but he figured the kids had already been made privy to all kinds of other
personal information. What’s a little more?
“…You never thought of me that way?” Haley took pity on him and finished the
sentence. After all, she put him in this position. It was the least she could do
to help him out of it. Besides, his hesitation and obvious discomfort answered
her question as well as any words he might say.
Tommy could only offer a slight nod to confirm her hypothesis, head lowered, not
able to look her in the eyes. Just because she had hurt him didn’t make it any
easier to hurt her. “I’m sorry, Haley.”
“Hey, it’s OK. At least one of us got what they wanted,” Haley eluded to
Kimberly, who stood stoically beside Tommy the entire time, offering her silent
support. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” Tommy answered simply, taking Kim’s hand.
“Haley,” Kimberly still wasn’t sure if her input would be welcome, but spoke up
anyway. “I just want you to know that I didn’t know who you were today at the
store, but when you told me your name, I should have said something. I was just
surprised. I realize I might be the last person you want to talk to, but I’m
here if you need a friend.”
Coming from anyone else, Kim’s speech would come off as patronizing, but the
sincerity with which she offered her help was so clear that Haley couldn’t help
but believe her. That didn’t mean that she was ready to accept, however, but
politeness and the fact that she had already caused enough trouble prevented her
from saying so. “Thank you, Kim. That’s very kind of you, but right now I just
want to be alone for awhile. I’ll see you all later.” As she turned to go back
in the direction from which she came, out the cave door, she felt a gentle hand
on her shoulder. She stopped, turning around to find Tommy, who led her a short
distance away from the group.
“Listen, Haley,” he began in a soft voice. “I want you to know that I’m not
angry at you anymore, I’ve forgiven you and I’m willing to forget all about
this. Please stay on with the Rangers. We need you and we’d miss you…I’d miss
you. Really. I don’t want things to change between us, but I understand if it
would be too weird for you here now, especially since Kim will be moving in with
me in a few weeks.” Tommy knew that news might be hard for her to swallow, so he
wanted to make sure he delivered it in private.
Haley caught herself before the wave of stabbing pain that shot straight through
her heart showed on her face. She didn’t want Tommy to feel any guiltier than he
probably already did. It was certainly unexpected, though. He had never been the
impulsive type, and this was a very radical and sudden move. But if Kimberly
made him happy, then she would try to be happy for them. Forcing a smile once
she collected herself, she started. “I’ll be OK. We all just need some time.
Thank you for your forgiveness and understanding. I guess it’s pretty hard to
stay mad at someone who’s just professed their undying love for you, huh?”
Tommy shared a little chuckle with Haley, grateful for her humor that lightened
the mood. “Hey, I’m really flattered, you know?”
“You should be. It’s not just anyone I’d humiliate like that!”
“Yeah…thanks, but you don’t have the market cornered there. It seems Cassidy and
Devin saw Kim and I having dinner Friday night. Naturally, they were not without
their camera, so they followed us around Little Italy and back to Kim’s hotel.
Now this morning, the whole school got to watch the two of us enter the Marriott
Reefside together. Of course, they didn’t stick around to see me leave five
minutes later, alone. By comparison, what you did was pretty mild.”
“Five minutes, Tommy? I would have expected a man in your physical condition to
have more endurance than that!”
“Haley! Shut up!” That was be far the most suggestive thing Haley had ever said
to him, and it didn’t fail to make him turn red as a beet. He wasn’t too
embarrassed to get her back though. “Anyway, you didn’t exactly hear Kim
complaining, did you...?” Enough of that, time to change the subject. “So,
you’ll keep working with us?”
The reminder of the ecstatic cries she heard coming from Tommy’s bedroom should
have hurt, but strangely enough, didn’t. She’d have to think about why later,
though. “I promised you and myself years ago that we were in this together. I’m
not about to let you, those kids, or the world down. Consider it business as
usual.” Haley took the risk of giving him a brief hug. She never really touched
him very much, afraid that her reaction to his warmth would betray her feelings
for him. Being in his arms felt as wonderful as she always knew it would though,
even if it was strictly platonic. “And you never know…maybe I can come up with a
little sweet revenge for Miss Cornell.”
“I can’t even bring myself to try and stop you.” Giggles from behind them broke
their little reconciliation. They turned around to find the four teenage
bystanders all laughing together, but Kim looked practically horrified, her hand
over her mouth, eyes wide as saucers. “What?”
“I’m sorry, baby…” She rushed towards him and laid a hand on the back of his
neck over the bruise. “I didn’t mean to do this.”
“Oh, that. Yeah, I was going to take that up with you later. Don’t worry, it’s
just another addition to ‘Embarrass Tommy Oliver’ week. I’ll let you cover it
with make-up tomorrow morning. I can’t keep teaching without turning my back to
the class to write on the blackboard until this goes away.”
Kimberly wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder.
She was getting antsy for everyone to clear out. Dinner still needed to be made
and Tommy still needed to be ravaged to within an inch of his life. She was
hoping that a little public display of affection would nauseate the Rangers
enough to make them leave.
It worked.
“Well, Dr. O, we’d better let you two lovebirds be alone. Have fun! See ya
tomorrow.” Conner couldn’t take any more reminders of his teacher’s sex life. He
briefly recalled a number of heavy-petting sessions with past girlfriends, and
it made him queasy to imagine those two doing anything like that, never mind
going even further. What’s worse, meeting Kim only made the mental picture of
the couple entangled with one another even more vivid now that the other partner
had a face. The fact that it was such a beautiful face didn’t help, either, and
so the Red Ranger led the procession out the cave door that had remained open
while Haley and Dr. Oliver stood there and made their peace.
“Yeah, guys. See you tomorrow. We’ll talk later, Haley. I don’t know how much
longer Mesogog will remain quiet, so we’d better be prepared.” Tommy didn’t want
to bring up their ‘side-job’ in front of Kim, just so she wouldn’t worry, but he
respected her too much to skirt the issue. She was part of his life now, and
that life included being a Power Ranger.
“OK, Tommy. You better get upstairs. It sounded like Kimberly here has quite a
feast planned for tonight. Kim, I’ll see you when you get back. Maybe you can
stop by the café for coffee sometime?” Oddly enough, it didn’t require as much
effort to be friendly with her would-be rival as she thought it would. She was
so genuine and sincere that Haley couldn’t help but warm up to her.
“I’d like that, Haley. Thank you.” Kim offered Haley a grateful smile. One
hurdle down, Tommy and Haley’s friendship was salvaged, and she was back with
the team.
Like a border collie, Haley rounded up the Rangers and herded them out of the
Command Center. Once the heavy cement door grinded shut, both Tommy and Kimberly
breathed a sigh of relief. Still in eachother’s arms, Kim lifted her head from
his shoulder to meet his chocolate, thickly-lashed eyes. Automatically, Tommy
lowered his lips to meet hers, instantly devouring her mouth with a passion he
had never known he possessed as little as three days ago. Their wet tongues
tangled together, nipping and plunging into the other’s depths. A natural
progression led him to her throat, and with an evil little grin, he latched onto
a spot underneath her jaw, sucking hard. Payback is a bitch. The only difference
was that he was doing it deliberately, and she wouldn’t have to face four
hundred teenagers with the mark on her neck.
At first, the sensation of Tommy’s hot lips gliding over her smooth, warm skin
overwhelmed her enough that she didn’t realize what he was up to. Suddenly, an
aggressive bite bounced her back to reality, and her moans and sighs quickly
morphed into giggles. She pushed him away, both of them laughing at the prank.
“Stop it! Hey, I didn’t do it to you on purpose.”
“Well, I did. There, that’s a nice one!” He observed the red bruise with pride,
admiring his handiwork.
“Oh, you’re going to get it!” With a wise-ass, but playful smirk, Kimberly
turned and ran back through the Command Center and up the house stairs. Tommy
followed eagerly.
“You promise?”
---------------------
Dinner was out of this world. While she might have gotten a later start than she
would have liked, Kim still managed to put out a mean spread in less than half
an hour, thanks to the prep work she did in the morning and the tips she got
from watching Rachael Ray’s “Thirty Minute Meals” on the Food Network. She had
even cooked up a little chicken for Hobo Kitty, who would now be looking forward
to having her live with them almost as much as Tommy was.
After they were thoroughly stuffed with stir-fried chicken, vegetables, and
rice, they retired to the living room to watch a movie. It was not even seven
yet, but both of them felt the clock ticking away until Kim’s flight left the
next morning. They decided they’d hold off on dessert while their meal settled
in their stomachs and just have some tea for now. Tommy had a huge DVD
collection, so he let her do the honors and choose whatever she wanted while he
boiled the water…the extent of his culinary skills.
Settling on the sofa together, Tommy hit the ‘play’ button on the remote and
soon the room was flooded with the trademark Twentieth Century Fox introduction
followed by the familiar ‘Star Wars’ anthem, all in surround sound. Much to his
delight, Kimberly had chosen “The Empire Strikes Back”. He’d seen it a million
times, but the opening orchestral sequence still gave him chills. She curled
into his side on the soft chenille couch, and soon they were taken ‘a long time
ago in a galaxy far, far away’.
Halfway through, just as the Millennium Falcon landed on the asteroid, Kim
paused the film, and took off to the kitchen to prepare the perfect finishing
touch to their meal. She hadn’t told Tommy what she was serving, so when she
returned with a tray containing thick slices of decadent pound cake topped with
assorted ripe berries and freshly whipped cream, his eyes widened initially,
then narrowed as his imagination filled with sensual images of Kimberly’s tight
stomach and his tongue substituting for the plates and forks.
The dessert was divine, but Tommy knew that the taste of Kim was even sweeter,
and he couldn’t wait to indulge. Before Han Solo had even been frozen in
carbonite, Tommy began gently running his hand up her side, over her shoulder,
her breast and her neck. He then started lightly tracing the curve of her ear
with the tip of his finger. Soon, goosebumps had formed on her skin, and he knew
he was getting to her.
Sliding an arm under her knees, he quickly turned her sideways to lie down on
the sofa, carefully settling on top of her. “What are you doing?” Kim asked him
seductively, although she had a pretty good idea, and wouldn’t dream of
complaining.
“What do you want me to do?” Tommy replied with a leer before snaking his tongue
out of his mouth to tease the seam of her lips apart. Kim readily complied,
instantly drawing him into a deep kiss, her hands raking down his back and over
his ass, then back up and under his shirt.
Reluctantly, he broke the kiss, but only long enough to reach behind him and
yank the back of the black cotton forward over his head, tossing it haphazardly
away to land on the TV. Kim was already squeezing her hands between their bodies
to pop the button on Tommy’s cargos. Once his waistband was undone, she slid her
hands down the seat of his pants, grabbing a fistful of firm gluteal muscle,
then with a flick of her wrist, pushed the fabric of both the cargos and his
boxers down over his slender hips.
Without lifting his lips from hers, Tommy deftly kicked the clothing off of his
ankles. From there, it took exactly three seconds for him to realize that he was
the only naked party in the room. Before he could do anything to even the score,
though, Kimberly was pushing him away, signaling for him to get off of her.
Initially, he took it as a hint that she was going to undress as well, but when
she pulled him into a sitting position, he got confused. Once she kneeled
between his thighs and began kissing and nipping down his chest, however, her
intent became clear to him.
The last conscious thought Tommy had for several minutes was that he was sure
glad that he didn’t have any neighbors nearby, because otherwise, they might
have wanted him arrested for disturbing the peace.
Chapter 20: Sweet Revenge
Tommy and Kimberly both had accepted that they would spend all day Tuesday
brain-dead from lack of sleep. It wasn’t so bad for her, since she could sleep
on the flight back to Florida, but he had to teach six science classes starting
at eight-thirty. That wasn’t going to be easy after only two hours of shut-eye,
no matter how elated he might be with the reason for the shortage.
Their lovemaking had gone on into the wee hours of the morning, with passionate,
erotic sessions interspersed with quiet moments of planning the logistics of
Kim’s move. Tommy decided he was going to recruit her some help with the grunt
work, but he opted not to share his idea with her until he had solidified the
plans. He was excited about the prospect of surprising her. By three A.M., their
exhaustion and contentment had reached a pinnacle, and they finally allowed
sleep to claim them.
---------------------
The morning sun shone brightly into the bedroom, slowly arousing Tommy from his
nearly-comatose slumber. He was loathe to open his eyes, much preferring to
remain spooned up against Kim’s warm, soft body forever. After a few minutes,
his disorientation began to fade just a little, so he bravely pried open an
eyelid, accepting that there was no use postponing the inevitable. The red,
glowing numbers of the bedside clock caught his attention first, but since his
brain was still foggy, he read the digits at face value, never registering their
significance until several moments later.
8:15…
“Hmmm, eight-fifteen…” Tommy mumbled into Kim’s hair, grasping her slender waist
and pulling her petite, round bottom tighter against his groin, the only part of
him that was wide awake and ready to start the day.
“What did you say, baby?” Kim asked groggily, her voice croaking somewhat with
the first words of the morning.
“Oh, didn’t mean to wake you, sorry…I said it’s eight-fifteen,” he answered,
still in a pseudo-slumber state.
Five, four, three, two, one…
“Shit!” they both screamed simultaneously.
While frantically scrambling to disengage themselves from each other, their
haste found them entangled in the sheets instead. Tommy aggressively fought to
push the linens off of him, and once he thought he was clear, he moved to climb
out of the bed.
His foot, however, had different ideas.
The loud thud followed by a string of profanity that came from the other side of
the bed stopped Kim’s frenzied rush. Crawling across the mattress, she found
Tommy sprawled on the hardwood floor, deliciously naked except for the sheet
still wrapped around his ankle. She tried not to laugh, she really did, but the
snort that escaped her just would not be contained. Gazing on him from up on the
bed, she thought he never looked more adorable. “Hey, down there…”
“Hi. It’s eight-fifteen,” Tommy reiterated again as he freed his foot from the
sheet and got up. “Doesn’t your flight leave at nine? You’ll never make it to
the airport and through security in time, and I’m going to be very late for
class. We’re both screwed.”
“Well, actually it’s because we were screwing that we’re late.” Kim said with a
‘master of understatement’ grin. “It was worth it, don’t you think?” she added,
giving his backside a through once over as he bent over to root though a pile of
laundry for something clean.
He stopped his search for a moment to return her stare. Kim was still lounging
lazily on the bed with seem to have not a care in the world. Her soft curves
were highlighted by the sunlight streaming through the window, and at that very
second, Tommy felt happier and more in love that he’d ever been in his life.
“What are you looking at?” Kim asked, although she knew the answer. There was so
much love for her written all over his face that her heart nearly burst.
“You. I wish I could look longer, but I really have to fly. I’m in the dog house
with Randall as it is. What are we going to do about your flight?” Tommy was
already in the adjoining bathroom before he even finished the question. He had
to strain to hear her answer over the running water and the scrubbing sounds of
his toothbrush.
“I’ll just get another one later this evening. It may cost me, but oh well!
That’s the price I’ll have to pay for a night of passion with the man I love.”
“More precisely, that’s the price we pay because you had me too distracted to
remember to set the alarm.” Tommy replied, although it came out all jumbled
through the mouth full of foamy toothpaste.
“Oh, so this is my fault?” Kim marveled at how they dissolved into playful
banter despite their circumstances. It came as natural as breathing.
“Yeah. If you weren’t so damn sexy, I might have kept my head on straight.” He
finger-combed his messy hair, deciding that he could care less about how it
looked. His five-o’clock shadow, however, was another story, the consequence of
having such think, dark hair. He couldn’t go to school looking like he just
rolled out of bed, even if it was the truth, especially now since all the
students knew he probably had ‘company’. There was no time for shaving cream and
all that, but if he was lucky, the electric razor he kept around for touch-ups
in the afternoon still had a charge. He almost held his breath as he flipped the
switch. The buzzing sound that followed was an instant relief.
Less than three minutes later, Tommy was ready to get dressed. Going without a
shower felt gross, especially after all the exertion last night, but a few
sniffs assured him that he wouldn’t offend anyone’s olfactory senses. It wasn’t
going to be a shirt and tie day, either. A black polo shirt and khaki chinos
were the best he could do. Kim was down in the kitchen when he came down to grab
his briefcase. “Call me between nine-fifteen and ten. I have second period free.
Maybe you’ll know about your slight by then.” He gave her a quick kiss on the
cheek. The clock on the wall read eight thirty-five. He was already five minutes
late and he hadn’t even left the house yet.
Starting up the jeep, he screeched out of the driveway. Halfway down Valencia
Road, he was hit with an idea that just might save his hide. Pulling his cell
off his belt, he started paging through his phonebook for the number of one of a
fellow science teacher in the department, Brendan Harrison. He and Brendan had
become pretty good friends since Tommy started at Reefside, even working out
together after school sometimes. The man was almost ten years older than him,
and had been invaluable in showing him the ropes of teenage hormone management.
What’s more, he knew that Brendan had first period free.
Tommy’s hope mounted as he heard the other teacher’s cell phone ringing. He had
been afraid that he might keep it turned off during the school day. A few rings
later…
“Where are you, Tommy?”
As stupid as it sounded, caller ID still sometimes threw him off.
“Uh… Brendan… Hey, I need you to do me a favor. I’m late, obviously. I’ll be there
in about fifteen minutes. Would you go to my first period class and just keep an
eye on them for me? Have them review chapter seven. I’ve got to keep Randall off
my ass, so keep it low key. Tell the kids I had car trouble or something.”
“Watching the class isn’t a problem, but as far as Randall goes, you’re too
late. She was already here looking for you. She basically told me to fuck off
when I tried to cover for you.” Brendan was glad that Tommy had called, because
he had wanted to warn him anyway. He had had enough run-ins with the bitchy
principal himself, but he knew they were nothing compared to what she dished out
to Tommy. It almost seemed to him that Randall had a bit of a crush she was
trying to cover.
“Shit! I guess I’ll think of some excuse. Well, thanks, Bren, see you in a few.
I don’t even give a damn about Randall anymore. Let her fire me if she wants.”
It was true. After the inappropriate move she made on him yesterday, he was
convinced that she was a brick wall, and nothing he could say or do would ever
get through to her. He had Kim, now, and that was all that mattered to him.
“You don’t mean that, Tommy. You were born to teach… Hey, I’d better get to your
class. Good luck.”
“Yeah, thanks…” Tommy hit the ‘end’ button on the cell and gunned the gas. Years
of having to lie to people about his whereabouts when he was out on Ranger
missions had made him a world-class bullshitter. The stories rolled off of his
tongue like water by now. It wasn’t a skill he was proud of, but it was
necessary. He looked forward to the day he could put that particular talent to
rest.
---------------------
In record time, Reefside High School came into view. Tommy pulled into the
teacher’s lot, barely remembering to cut the engine before gathering his things
and jumping out. He ran across the lawn instead of following the sidewalk and
through the double doors closest to the science wing.
Slowing down as he entered the quiet building, he quickly glanced around for any
witnesses, especially Randall. Satisfied that the coast was clear, he stealthily
glided down the hallway until he reached his lab. Not for the first time, he
paused for a moment to stare at the engraved plaque on the door: Thomas Oliver,
PhD. Sometimes, he still found it hard to believe that the shy kid whose life
revolved around the martial arts now was a Doctor of Paleontology. Realizing his
little reverie was just a stalling technique, he took a deep breath and placed
his hand on the brass doorknob.
The class immediately looked up in unison when their teacher strode into the
room, almost a half an hour late and looking worse for wear. He didn’t say
anything right away, but simply nodded to Mr. Harrison, who returned the gesture
and quietly left the lab.
“Good morning, guys. I’m sorry I’m late.” Tommy offered the apology, but nothing
by way of explanation for his tardiness. It was just going to have to be another
incident that he had to downplay. “There’s only fifteen minutes left in the
period, so why don’t you all continue your review of the chapter, unless any of
you would like to take this time to ask any questions about the material.”
A hand shot up that was connected to the arm of a precocious blonde girl, who
didn’t even wait to be called on before she stood up and posed her question.
“Dr. Oliver, I’m sure everyone is wondering: who was that girl you were with
Friday night, and does she have anything to do with why you were late this
morning?” Cassidy remained standing, very much the reporter at the scene of a
major crime. Devin’s camera was no where to be seen, but her performance was so
real, Tommy was still amazed that she didn’t stick a microphone in his face. She
truly believed she was going to get an answer.
At first, he could only gawk at her, astounded at her boldness. His mouth soon
became suddenly dry from standing there with it hanging open for so long. After
a near-eternity, Tommy averted his eyes from Cassidy and focused on the rest of
the class, finding his voice at last. “So, no questions on the material, then?”
He deliberately disregarded the girl, pretending she hadn’t even spoken. If
there was one thing a person like her couldn’t stand, it was to be ignored. By
doing so, he made his point without having to address her intrusion or
accidentally saying something inappropriate.
No one raised their hand, so Tommy retired to the chair behind his desk.
“Alright, then. Study the material tonight. You never know what kind of mood
I’ll be in tomorrow. I’m sure I don’t have to remind you what that could mean.”
With that not-so-subtle threat, he opened his briefcase and started to get a
little work done, never acknowledging the students again.
When the bell rang a little over ten minutes later, he still hadn’t said another
word. Conner, Ethan, Kira, and Trent had been exchanging anxious looks, clearly
impatient for the class to be dismissed so they could investigate their mentor’s
erratic behavior. They were stunned, however, when Dr. Oliver fled from the room
before they had a chance to approach him. He didn’t even seem to care enough to
try and hide the bruise on the back of his neck, which they thought he was going
to have Kim cover for him.
The Rangers, working like the true team they had become, dashed out of the room
after Tommy, none of them even having to say what they were planning to do.
Pushing their way through the crowded hallway, they finally caught up with him
heading toward the courtyard door on what looked like an almost obsessive quest
for some fresh air. They didn’t blame him. The classroom had been stifling after
Cassidy’s little inquisition. All the students had felt the heavy tension,
counting down the minutes until the end of class with much more anticipation
than they usually did.
“Dr. Oliver!” Conner called to him, but he didn’t stop, or even slow down for
that matter.
Kira sprinted ahead of the boys, desperate to reach their teacher. “Dr. O,
wait!” She was within a few feet of him now, and that made it pretty hard for
Tommy to continue to ignore her. He was pissed at Cassidy and wanted to be left
alone so that he could talk to Kim when she called, but he didn’t really want to
be rude to the kids.
He stopped suddenly, spinning on his heel to face Kira as the other Rangers
jogged to catch up. “What is it, Kira?” His tone was impatient, but he couldn’t
help it. Tommy just wanted nothing to do with teenagers at the moment, not even
his team.
“We, uh… I mean we wanted to see how you’re doing. You seemed kind of… off.” The
Yellow Ranger worded it as delicately as she could.
Tommy ran a hand through his messy hair, sighing deeply. “I’m sorry, guys. I’m
having a bad morning, and Cassidy only made it worse.” By now, the others had
gathered around him, and in some way, he was touched by the show of support, but
he still wanted to be alone.
“We know. That was pretty low, but you know her… no scruples when it comes to a
big story.” Ethan had been close to Cassidy at one time, even going on a
disastrous date with her before deciding to just be friends. He knew there was a
heart in there somewhere, but her drive and curiosity usually overwhelmed her
common sense.
“My personal life is not a news story. That’s the problem.”
“Yeah, Dr. O, but you’re a new, young, good-looking teacher. How many of those
do we have around here? Kids are curious.” Kira wasn’t defending Cassidy, but
thought she could offer some explanation for the situation, no matter how lame.
“Well, I hope everybody’s curiosity has been adequately satisfied. I have to go.
Kim missed her flight this morning. She’s supposed to call me with her new one
any minute.” Tommy was already on his way out the door. He could have taken the
call in his classroom, but he preferred to be outside in the open so that he
could see all around him, not being in any mood to deal with eavesdroppers.
“Too distracted to set the alarm?” It came out before Conner could stop himself.
The other three knew they shouldn’t be surprised, but he still never failed to
blow them away with his ‘classiness’.
Tommy didn’t answer for a few beats, and then he cracked a sly smile. What is it
they always say? Don’t get mad, get even. Looking Conner straight in the eye,
“yes” he replied simply with a nod before waltzing off into the courtyard.
Back in the hallway, Conner’s pallor had taken on a sickly shade of green. “I
had to ask. Remind me to keep my mouth shut from now on.”
“We remind you to shut up all the time, but you never listen. Come on, we’re
going to be late for second period.” Trent threw an arm around his friend’s
shoulders and steered him back toward the classrooms, Kira and Ethan following
right behind.
The bell rang well before they reached Mrs. Anderson’s French class. The Rangers
sprinted the rest of the way up the hall, but they knew they would still have
some explaining to do. If they were really lucky, it might not mean detention.
---------------------
Tommy sat at a picnic table on the lawn, grading papers while waiting for Kim to
call. He was acutely aware of the four hundred pairs of eyes that were watching
him from the classrooms surrounding the courtyard, but they didn’t bother him
too much. What was important was that no one could hear him. About nine
forty-five, the familiar six beep ring tone startled him from his work.
Everytime the phone rang, he couldn’t help but feel a little nostalgic, since he
programmed the cell to sound like the original Rangers’ communicators. The
caller ID displayed his home number.
“Hey, Beautiful…”
“Hi. So, did you sneak in successfully?” Kim couldn’t help but feel just as
responsible as Tommy for their oversight, since she also had someplace to be
this morning as well.
“Yes and no. I called another teacher that I’ve gotten to know pretty well and
had him cover my class until I got here, but he said that Randall had already
been looking for me though, so I’m not off the hook yet. I guess I’d better
avoid her as much as possible today. What’d you find out from the airline?”
“Well, I can get a flight out at seven this evening, but it’s not non-stop.
There’s a two hour layover in Houston, and I won’t get in to Tampa until five
tomorrow morning, but the good news is that it’s only going to cost me another
seventy-five bucks to change the flight since they are underbooked.”
“That’s great. It’ll give me time to have my way with you a few more times
before you go.” Tommy teased seductively, then added more softly, “I’m going to
miss you.”
“I’m going to miss you, too, but I can’t wait to get there and start packing up
my things. It’s going to be a big job. Hopefully, I’ll make enough money by
selling most of my stuff that it will cover the cost of the movers to bring what
I am keeping.”
“Yeah, about that… Remember when I said I had an idea? Give me until the end of
the day to see if I can make it work. We might not have to pay for movers at
all.” Tommy was excited about his plan, but he didn’t want to tell Kim about it
until he was sure it was going to pan out.
“Really? OK, I’ll bite. What time do you get home?”
“By three-thirty, if no students ask for help with something. I’ll try and make
myself scarce. We should leave for the airport by five. You’ll have plenty of
time to get through security…unless we make you miss your flight again.” There
was a suggestive leer in his voice that made her toes curl.
“I’m sure we’ll give it our best shot. See you then. I love you.” It made Kim as
happy to be able to say that as it did for him to hear it.
“I love you, too. I’ve gotta go. Honors sophomore Chemistry starts in seven
minutes. Later, Beautiful.”
“Bye, baby.”
Tommy hung up the phone and glanced at his watch. Crap… no time to call the guys.
It’ll have to wait until fifth period. The distinctive sounds of teenagers
flowing into the courtyard told him that class was out and he’d better get
going. He gathered up his stuff and headed back to his room.
---------------------
“So, Dr. Oliver’s little girlfriend is supposed to go home today. What do you
say we make sure she never wants to come back?” Elsa stood in Mesogog’s lair
watching Tommy’s telephone conversation on the view screen with Zeltrax. She
maintained her usual sneer in order to disguise her true feelings, eventhough
she wasn’t quite sure exactly what they were. All she knew was that hearing the
science teacher tell this Kimberly woman he loved her put a sick knot in her
stomach bigger than a basketball.
What she didn’t realize was that Zeltrax noticed the sudden change in his secret
crush’s demeanor. Now he had no doubt; Elsa wanted Tommy Oliver, but he wanted
Elsa. You’ll never take what rightly belongs to me ever again, Dr. Oliver.
Almost five years ago, Tommy and the young man who would become Mesogog’s evil
henchman, Zeltrax, were fellow graduate students doing research together with
their mentor, Anton Mercer. When the Senior Paleontology assistantship position
at Mercer’s company became available, both of them applied, knowing it was the
chance of a lifetime.
Tommy Oliver was perfect. Perfect grades, perfect looks, perfect personality. He
got the job. Terrance Smith, as Zeltrax used to be called, was crushed, and the
camaraderie he felt towards his colleague was suddenly replaced with jealousy
and animosity. Eventually, he got another job with a smaller research firm. The
work he was doing on a more accurate method for dating fossils by studying the
remnants of their DNA could have been a cutting-edge breakthrough. He would have
been famous, but he was never able to finish the discovery.
Labs could be dangerous places even for the most safety-conscious individuals,
but when greedy ambition is the driving force behind the work rather than
patience and solid scientific practices, costly mistakes were inevitable.
Terrance had been working long hours, often getting only three or four hours of
sleep at a time. He was so close to perfecting the technique he could taste it.
One night, after nearly twenty hours of straight research, he was alone in the
lab. His fellow scientists had long ago gone home to their families and lives.
Terrance had become a loner ever since losing the job to Tommy, and the prospect
of wealth and fame was his sole ambition. The recovery of intact DNA required
meticulous skill, as well as a number of chemicals, many of them quite volatile.
Around four a.m., the lack of sleep finally caught up with him, and he had
finally decided to call it a night. While cleaning up so as to start fresh in a
few hours, his dulled judgment soon had him carelessly pouring a large flask of
sodium azide down the sink. The building where the lab was located was older.
All of the plumbing was original, which meant they had used copper pipes.
Copper pipes and high concentrations of sodium azide do not mix.
The resulting explosion knocked Terrance off his feet, causing him to drop a
test tube of picric acid directly onto a lit Bunsen burner.
Explosion number two had the lab in flames and Terrance Smith trapped under an
overturned work table. He was severely burned and had a bad concussion as he lay
on the floor, unconscious.
Terrance had no idea how much time had passed, but the next thing he remembered,
he woke up in what resembled a dentist’s chair from hell. His body was covered
in metallic grey armor, and a helmet covered his head.
After a few minutes, a scaly, gruesome creature appeared in the room. He was
bipedal and dressed in a long leather coat. His face looked like a cross between
a dinosaur and an iguana, with widely spaced teeth in a gaping mouth.
He introduced himself as Mesogog, then went on to explain his plan to return the
Earth to the time of the dinosaur. Being a scientist himself, he had been able
to reconstruct Terrance using cybernetics. Unfortunately, his body had been
burned beyond repair, necessitating the armor, but otherwise, he was physically
as good as new.
Obviously, the first question Terrance asked was ‘why’? For what reason did
Mesogog rescue him from the burning lab and took the time and effort to save his
life? The answer surprised him.
In order to fulfill his plan, Mesogog had to have help. Every evil dictator
needed loyal generals to lead their army of conquerors. The best way to ensure
that loyalty was to make sure there was something in it for them.
Knowing your enemy was one other important quality of an effective dictator. In
Mesogog’s case, and now Zeltrax’s, Tommy Oliver was the enemy.
Mesogog had been watching Tommy and Terrance for some time, just as he watched
Zeltrax and Elsa now, immediately zeroing in on the sour turn the men’s
friendship had taken, and saw the immense potential.
Tommy had the knowledge and experience to be a major thorn in Mesogog’s side. He
had escaped the island with the gems that would supply the power to destroy the
Earth’s climate, rendering it barren and primitive. He was also using that power
to tap into the morphing grid, ready to create Power Rangers when the time came.
He needed to get his hands on those gems. A henchman with a personal vendetta
would be a perfect addition to his team. With Zeltrax leading his team of
Tyrannodrones, he couldn’t lose. Loyalty could be guaranteed because Mesogog
saved the young man’s life, and there was a built-in motivation to destroy Tommy
Oliver.
Working in tandem with another recruit, the gothically beautiful Elsa, Zeltrax
had spent the last couple years tracking Tommy Oliver, and recently, fighting
the Power Rangers.
Mesogog soon realized he got even more than he bargained for in putting Zeltrax
and Elsa in charge of his army. The human/cyborg had gone and fallen in love
with the woman. She, in turn, was developing conflicting feelings for Dr. Oliver
ever since she had been assigned to stay close to him by posing as Reefside
High’s principal. Both of these things could be assets, but they could also foil
his plan.
Zeltrax was becoming a little too obsessed with destroying Tommy. Mesogog’s plan
was becoming secondary, especially since he’d jealously begun to notice Elsa’s
affections for the science teacher. That simply wouldn’t do.
And Elsa, although she had no use for Zeltrax, thinking him a bumbling fool,
might start wavering in her goal if allowed much more exposure to Tommy’s charm.
The best plan for dealing with the both of them would be to capture those gems
as soon as possible so that he could do away with everyone. After all, loyalty
need not be a two way street.
Elsa knew Zeltrax was interested in her. It was something she used to her
advantage when it suited her, but that’s where her interest in him ended. There
was no place for him in her plan to destroy Tommy Oliver, though. This was going
to be a one-woman operation, and she would show her Master she was worthy of his
favor once and for all.
Completely ignoring Zeltrax, who still stood next to her glaring with envy at
his rival teaching Chemistry on the viewscreen, Elsa mentally prepared herself
for her next step. First of all, she had to eliminate the girlfriend. That
should be easy. Tommy seemed to have a healthy sex drive. Exploiting it
shouldn’t be a problem. After that, she needed to gain his trust in order to
learn the secrets of the Power Rangers. Then she would steal those DinoGems for
her Master.
She had better get moving. Elsa had a lot of work to do. The disturbing part of
it was how much she was looking forward to it, but she would worry about that
later. Extending her arm into the air, a bright green portal opened, and she
disappeared into the hole, reappearing in her office at Reefside High. She chose
to be dressed in a curve-hugging, yet professional-enough red suit with matching
leather stiletto heels, perfect for the seduction of one Dr. Thomas Oliver.
Chapter 21: A Friend, Indeed
Third and fourth periods flew by in no time. Tommy regretted that he had to
resort to taking a no-nonsense approach with his students since Cassidy’s
invasion of his privacy. He missed the casual, comfortable, yet professional,
relationship he had developed with them, but in light of the line that had
already been crossed into his personal life, he didn’t think any more
familiarity was such a good idea. In time, he hoped it would all blow over.
Until then, he was extra-careful to tune out any stray comments he was apt to
pick up in the hallways, trying to remain convinced that if he acted like
nothing was out of the ordinary, they would, too.
Lunch time found him sequestered in his classroom with an apple and his cell
phone. The plan was to recruit some of the old Ranger gang to help Kim with the
move. If he could pull it off, he would be killing two birds with one stone. She
would have reliable, cheap labor to get her stuff hauled from Florida, and all
of their original friends would be reunited. Tommy was really looking forward to
telling them about how he met up with her at the bank, and that they were a
couple again, but he wasn’t looking forward to the razzing. For the last few
years, every time they talked, the first question out of Jason’s mouth would
inevitably be “so, ya getting any?” Even worse, Rocky was of the opinion that
his decision to become a science teacher would ensure that he’d never get laid.
Tommy knew that the teasing was all in good fun, and he made sure to get in his
fair share as well. In fact, it was almost becoming a contest who could get in
the last word. Paging through his palm pilot’s address book, he located Jason’s
office number. As disappointed as he was that he couldn’t take any time off to
help out himself because of Ranger duty, upcoming midterms, and a bitchy boss,
he took a great deal of comfort in knowing that his best friends would be the
ones there in his place.
Jason Lee Scott had gone on to college at UCLA, first getting a Bachelor’s
degree in accounting, followed by a MBA in finance. He was the director of
operations at the headquarters of Metropolitan First Federal Savings and Loan in
Palm Springs. It was a very well-paying job, and Tommy was pretty sure it
afforded Jason the flexibility to grab a few days off without much notice.
Tommy’s plan was to conference call Jason and Rocky. From there, he would create
a sort of phone-tree to contact the other guys. Most likely, Jason would get a
hold of Trini, Billy, and Zack, and Rocky would call the other Rangers hailing
from Stone Mountain, Aisha and Adam. He didn’t expect all of them to be able to
come. He couldn’t himself, after all. Out of the seven of them, if even three of
them could help, though, it would work out well. Maybe then after Kim was moved
in, he would throw a party to welcome her back into the fold, and they all would
be there.
He jotted down Jason’s number, then paged through until he found Rocky’s. Well
known within the gang for having a ravenous appetite, Rocky DeSantos had become
the Executive Chef of one of Los Angeles’ trendiest restaurants. The place was
very simply called ‘Olé’, and served an eclectic blend of Latin- and
Nouveau-American cuisine. It was a perfect fit for Rocky, who was of
Mexican-American heritage, himself.
On the first ring, a young, but professional-sounding woman’s voice answered.
“Metropolitan First Federal, Jason Scott’s office. How may I help you?”
“Good Afternoon. Jason Scott, please.” Tommy answered politely.
“Whom might I say is calling?”
“Dr. Thomas Oliver.” He knew adding the ‘Dr.’ part was kind of obnoxious, but
since that was another thing Jason was forever ragging him about, he figured
he’d stick it in there as a nice little dig.
“One moment, please.”
A few seconds of boring elevator music later: “Dr. Oliver, this is Jason Lee
Scott, CPA, MBA, Director of Operations. How may I help you?” It came out kind
of jumbled, as if Jason was barely containing his laughter, and it also sounded
like he was eating something, too.
“Bite me, you ass.”
“Not now, darling. My mouth is already full.”
“Well, as long as your knees aren’t dirty.”
That’s one for Tommy.
“You suck! So what’s up?” Jason conceded gracefully to this first round. He’d
get Tommy back later.
“I’ll tell you in a minute. We’ve gotta get Rocky in a three-way.” As soon as he
said it, he realized he opened himself up for Jason to even the score.
“I’m not having a three-way with you and Rocky! Your ass is too damn hairy. It’s
a real turn-off.”
One for Jason. The score is tied.
“I do not have hair on my ass! Bro’, as much as I’d love to carry on with you
until you have no choice but to declare me the master, this call is important.
We have to get Rocky on the line.”
“Something wrong? The Rangers?” Jason knew all about the DinoThunder Rangers. He
admired his best friend more that anyone else in the world for the sacrifices he
was still willing to make to save the Earth.
“No, everything’s great, it’s nothing to do with the team. I really don’t want
to tell the story twice. Wait a second while I call Rocky.” Tommy put Jason on
hold and dialed Olé’s number. He kind of felt bad about calling during the lunch
rush, but not bad enough to not do it.
“Olé. Are you calling for reservations?”
“No, thank you. May I speak with Rocky DeSantos, please? Tell him it’s Tommy
Oliver.”
Nearly five minutes passed until Jason and Tommy heard the familiar voice of
their good-natured-if-a-little-goofy friend pick up the phone. “What do you
want, O fearless leader? I got a room full of hungry customers here!” It was
clear that he wasn’t really irritated.
“Alright. I’ve got Jason on the line here, too. Say ‘hi’ Jason.”
“Hi, Jason.”
“You’re an ass.” Tommy probably should have waited until tonight to call them.
This was how they always were around each other. It was liable to take him all
of lunch just to get his story out.
“OK, Dr. Oliver. To what do we owe this Guys Who Look Hot in Red Spandex Society
teleconference? I’ll admit you’ve peaked my interest.” Jason was comically
alluding to the nickname they’d given to themselves whenever they got together
to do what guys generally like to do… drink beer, eat hot wings, and watch
sports.
“Alright, already. You’re never going to believe who I ran into Friday
afternoon.”
“We give up,” Rocky and Jason droned in unison.
“Kimberly.” Tommy wasn’t usually so dramatic, but for this, he wanted to give
the guys a moment to let the name register. It wasn’t that he thought they’d
forgotten Kim, but it had been so long since any of them had heard from her, it
was more an out-of-sight, out-of-mind thing.
“Kimberly? Kimberly Hart, former Pink Ranger? No shit!” Rocky had a way with
words much like Conner, although he wasn’t quite as dingy.
“That’s the one.”
“You just ran into her… in Reefside?” Playtime was over, and now Jason gave Tommy
his full attention.
“Yep. She came in from Florida for a job interview. I was at the bank, and there
she was at the ATM.”
“So how is she? Job interview? What does she do? Is she moving back to
California?” Rocky was firing off questions a mile a minute. This was big news.
“She’s just fine, and yes, she’s moving back here. She’s a Medical Technologist
in a clinical laboratory. They ended up offering her the job yesterday at her
second interview, and she accepted. That’s where you guys come in. She’s going
to need help with the move.” To some, it might seem like a lot to ask, but Tommy
knew that friends like these wouldn’t think twice about it.
“I’m there.” Jason didn’t hesitate for a minute.
“Same goes for me,” Rocky agreed.
“That’s great. I was thinking we could call Trini, Adam, Billy, and Aisha, too.
They will want the chance to help if they can. The bummer is: I can’t go. I have
midterms coming up… and then there’s my side-job.” The regret was evident in
Tommy’s voice.
“Hey, we know you’d be there if you could. I’m sure Kim understands. Does she
already have a place to live?” asked Jason.
“Uh… yeah. Actually, she’ll be moving in with me.” How’s that for a half-truth?
“Man, Tommy. That’s really good of you to offer her a place to stay until she
gets settled… I mean after what happened and all…” Rocky knew the ‘letter’ was
not a scar that Tommy still carried around with him after all these years, but
he wasn’t sure if seeing her again would open old wounds.
“Well, umm… it’s not really a temporary arrangement.” Tommy braced himself,
knowing that his explanation was no where near enough information.
“Wait a second, Bro’, are you saying you and she are a thing again…already?
Didn’t you say she just got into town this past Friday? Or is this a platonic
thing?”
OK, since Jason came right out and asked, might as well get it over with. “No,
it’s definitely not a just-friends situation.”
“So no separate bedrooms, then? Damn, dude, you work fast. You da man!” It was
the typical reaction Tommy had expected from Rocky.
“Thanks, Rock. Now listen you two, I haven’t told Kim that I’m calling you guys.
She thinks she’s going to have to hire movers. There won’t be tons of stuff, at
least not much furniture. She’s selling most of it and her car, as well. There
will just be her personal things, like clothes…” Tommy caught that stupid
statement as soon as he said it.
“Her clothes? That could take six U-Hauls alone!” Jason remembered Kim’s clothes
obsession well.
“Yeah, and she’s even worse now that she has a good income. Anyway, she flies
back to Florida this evening. From there, she has to have a garage sale and give
her current job sufficient notice. We’re figuring three, maybe four weeks, max,
because she has to start at Reefside Memorial in six. Do you think you can make
it?”
“Not a problem, Bro’. Just say the word, I’ll be there.” Jason couldn’t wait to
see Kim again, and he was thrilled that she and Tommy were making another go of
it.
“Yeah, same goes for me. Hey, we all gotta go out and celebrate Tommy getting
laid before she gets here. I could use a guy’s night. There might not be too
many more of those now that he’s got a ball and chain.”
Let the razzing begin. Thank you, Rocky.
“Up yours…” The shrill sound of the bell cut off the rest of Tommy’s retort.
Fifth period was over and he would have a class coming in any minute. “Listen,
guys. I’ve gotta fly. I’ll call you tomorrow. Rocko, you call Adam and Aisha.
Jason, you get a hold of Trini, Zack, and Billy. I’d do it myself, but I have to
take Kim to the airport tonight.”
“Listen to our fearless leader giving out orders again.” Rocky just couldn’t
resist. “OK, dude. I’ll call them as soon as I get home. I have to get back to
work, too. People want to eat around here.”
“Yeah, Bro. Trini will blow a gasket when she hears. We’ll talk to you then.
Later…”
“Later,” Tommy said and all three of them cut the connection just as a few
students began wandering in. It was his freshman Honors Biology class, one of
the easier groups of kids to teach since they were generally self-motivated.
Three more periods to go, and he could be with Kim. Just the thought of it had
him adjusting his trousers.
---------------------
Three o’clock came at last, and the dismissal bell was the sweetest thing Tommy
had ever heard. Once the kids were all gone, he had gathered up his papers and
stuffed them haphazardly in his briefcase. With prospect of ravaging Kimberly on
the brain, he didn’t notice that Ms. Randall had entered the classroom until he
heard the door close behind her. They were alone, and she was slithering up to
his desk, much like a snake stalking its prey.
“Uh, Ms. Randall, is there something I can do for you?” The uneasiness he felt
due to her seductive manner came out in his voice, and she picked right up on
it.
“Dr. Oliver… Tommy… how was your day? I was looking for you this morning.” She
hoisted herself up on the edge of his desk and draped herself across it, leaning
back on her elbows. She tilted her head at a flirty angle, a come-hither look in
her eyes.
“Yeah, about that, I’m sorry I was late. I forgot to set the alarm. It won’t
happen again.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it. I understand. So, how’s your girlfriend?” Ms. Randall
asked, fishing for a reaction. She wished she could remove the dark-rimmed
glasses she wore as part of her principal disguise, but she knew that they were
essential to her not being recognized as Elsa. For once she wanted to look upon
him through her own eyes without being in the heat of battle. I hate him, I hate
him, I hate him. Say it enough times, and you’ll start believing it.
“She’s fine…” The discomfort welling up in Tommy at that moment threatened to
smother him into oblivion. He had fully expected to be chewed out for his
tardiness, but here she was, completely blowing it off. It was disturbing on
every level.
“That’s good…” she said with obvious insincerity. It was time get aggressive in
her move to eliminate the competition. “Tommy, have you thought any more about
having that drink? I’d really like to get to know you better.”
“Ms. Randall, I thought I made it clear that I’d like to keep our relationship
strictly professional. I haven’t changed my mind. Besides, I’m involved with
someone now.”
“Call me Elise, that is my name. I understand that you’re spoken for, and I
respect that, but I’m new to Reefside. I get very lonely sometimes. You don’t
know how hard it is to act like the hard-nosed principal all the time. I have to
keep up this image, but underneath it all I’m just as vulnerable and in need of
friends as anyone else. I feel safe around you, like I found someone I could
finally open up to.” She spun her sob story with as much pity-me emotion as she
could muster. He was clearly a sensitive, compassionate man, so she milked it
for all it was worth, even forcing her eyes to well up with tears.
Tommy didn’t know how to respond to this softer, more delicate Principal
Randall. He was usually a sucker for crying women, but something about this just
screamed ‘Academy Award nominated performance’. Then again, what if he was just
being cynical and she was genuinely hurting? She seemed to be waiting for him to
speak, so he cleared his throat nervously and began. “Ms. Ran… I mean Elise, I
know what it’s like to be a newcomer. I’ve been in that position several times,
but it takes time. Maybe you should join a club or take lessons in some sport or
something. You’ll meet people who share the same interests.” That was as much as
he could think of to say, as cliché as it was. It would be too easy to dig a
hole he would have a hard time finding his way out of.
“I thought of that, but I’m just too shy to do it alone.” Randall quickly turned
away from him for dramatic effect. With her back to him, she squeezed her eyes
shut, trying desperately to make them water even more. Seconds later, she smiled
sadistically to herself when she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. Now it was
time for the clincher.
Much to Tommy’s surprise, and dismay, his polite gesture of comfort seemed to
have been misconstrued as Elise spun back around and flung herself into his
arms. She buried her head in his shoulder, pressing her body tightly against
his.
As hard as she tried, Ms. Randall could not deny how amazing it felt to hold
him. For some reason she preferred not to think about, she felt the tears
beginning to pour on their own. It was as if she found what she didn’t even
realize she was missing in her life. She had no idea who she was before she
became Mesogog’s henchwoman. Maybe there was a piece of whomever she used to be
still left inside. I hate him, I hate him, I hate him…As she repeated it to
herself over and over, Elsa noticed it no longer had the same effect, but the
fear of her Master’s retaliation kept her on track anyway. She pressed closer to
him, rubbing her face into his shirt collar just enough to leave a trace of
lipstick. Phase one of the mission accomplished.
Tommy stood frozen solid with Ms. Randall’s arms around him. He couldn’t bring
himself to return the embrace, but didn’t know how to extract himself from her
without hurting her feelings, just in case she was being sincere.
After a few awkward moments of silently cursing the caress of her warm breath
against his neck, Tommy slowly reached up to gently disengage her grasp. She was
still blubbering, and he was sure his shoulder was covered in runny mascara.
“Elise,” he whispered softly while stepping out of her reach. “I’ve got to get
home. We’ll talk tomorrow, OK?”
Pulling back to admire the artwork she left on his pale grey shirt, Ms. Randall
simply nodded, continuing the charade of the vulnerable little girl. “OK, and
Tommy… thank you.” She choked the words out just as she started to walk away. Now
that she had done what she came here to do, she couldn’t wait to get out of
there before she was forced to acknowledge the emotions he stirred within her.
Checking the hallway to make sure there were no students hanging around to
witness her leaving his classroom with tear-stained cheeks, she saw that the
coast was clear. Concentrating to summon her evil power, the green portal opened
above her, and she disappeared to Mesogog’s lair to watch the viewing screen for
the fireworks the makeup on his shirt would surely cause when Tommy got home.
Once Ms. Randall was gone, Tommy finished gathering his things in preparation
for getting the hell out of there. He was pretty pissed that the precious little
time he had left with Kim was now shortened because of the principal’s visit.
Looking down at his shoulder, he frowned at the multi-colored smear on his
shirt. He thanked God that for some reason he’d gotten in the habit of wearing a
T-shirt under his work clothes. Yanking on the knot of the silk tie, he tore it
off and stuffed it in his briefcase, followed by the shirt, and was out the
door.
By three forty-five, Tommy was heading down Valencia Drive on his way to Kim.
They would only have a little more than an hour before leaving for the airport,
so he hoped she had her things ready, because he had no intention of allowing
her any of that time to pack. He took the gravel driveway a little too sharply
in his enthusiasm to get his hands on her, nearly rolling the Jeep before he
gained control and skidded to a stop. No time to bother with the briefcase, he
left it in the backseat and ran up the front porch steps into the house. “Kim!
I’m home.” God, how good that sounds.
---------------------
Elsa scanned the tracking system in Mesogog’s lair to search out Tommy’s energy.
She found him driving down the road about a mile from his house. The first thing
she noticed was the heather grey T-shirt. “What the hell?” she muttered to
herself. “What were the odds he had on more than one shirt? Goddamnit. It’s time
to get a little more aggressive. Enjoy the time you have left with your slut,
Tommy. It will be your last.”
---------------------
When he first walked in, there was no sign of Kim, and he got a little worried,
but a few minutes later, he heard footsteps coming down the wooden stairs. What
he saw when he turned around he would remember for the rest of his life.
Kimberly had waited impatiently all day for Tommy’s school day to be over, and
during that time, she had plenty of time to plan a special homecoming present
for him. When she heard him pull up, she took a last, quick glance in the
bedroom mirror and shook her head a few times to give her hair that tousled,
sexy look. Perfect. You go, girl.
The black satin bra she wore was covered with sheer silver lace, and it shaped
her breasts nicely without giving her that overly-pushed-up look. A matching
black and silver thong barely covered her lower half, and the silver high-heeled
sandals she bought for the wedding completed the outfit. It was instant
gratification when Kim saw the look on Tommy’s face as she glided down the
steps. “Hi, Honey. How was your day?” she asked in a sultry voice.
“Hi…” was all he could say, suddenly forgetting the English language. Here
before him was the sexiest vision he had ever seen, the sight quenching Tommy’s
desire like an oasis in the desert. Just in case it was an illusion, he darted
towards her, sweeping her into his arms before she could disappear. For an
eternal second, they just stared into each other’s eyes, communicating their
need without words.
As if in slow motion, Tommy lowered his mouth to her upturned lips, barely able
to force himself to close his eyes lest he miss a nanosecond of her presence. He
kissed her slowly, deeply, and with all the passion that had been building in
him all day. He was rewarded for his patience as her delicate tongue snaked out
to entwine with his in a sensual dance.
After several minutes of Kim’s delicious kisses, Tommy found the sense to pull
back and acknowledge her efforts. “My God, you’re beautiful,” he breathed as he
continued to scatter little nips and licks over her ear and neck while she
moaned in delight.
“Tommy…” she started, but that was as far as she got when he suddenly centered
in on a particularly sensitive spot near her collarbone. “Ahh…that feels so
good.”
“You ain’t felt nothing yet,” he replied as he pushed her backwards towards the
sofa, too eager for her toclimb all the way up to the bedroom.
Once she was seated, she leaned back, bringing him down with her. Kim had no
intentions of taking a passive role, so she immediately pulled off his shirt,
unfastened his belt, and unzipped his pants. Running her hands over the warm,
rippled skin of his muscular abs sent sparks shooting up her arms to terminate
between her legs at her core. She worked the pants and boxers over his hips
until he could kick them off, freeing his painfully rigid erection to press
against her thigh. It might have been easier to get him undressed if they had
been able to tear their lips apart, but they were addicted to each other’s taste
and couldn’t get enough. His hands weren’t idle by any means, either. He had
slid the straps of the sexy bra off of her shoulders and pusheda cup asidein
order toroll her hard nipple between his fingers while his other hand fumbled
with the clasp in the back. After a few frustrated tries, he was finally
successful. The material was thrown to the floor, leaving him available to work
on removing her panties.
When their desire to meld together as one had grown beyond all reason, Kim
started to push Tommy to sit upright on the couch. She threw her leg over his
lap, straddling him,staring into his deep brown eyes. He became more turned-on
than he thought possible as he realized her plan. Grabbing her hips, he thrust
himself up into her while simultaneously pulling her down. They began a steady
rhythm that soon dissolved into a frenzied pace, her hands on his shoulders,
using his strong body as leverage to hit just the right spot. Time seemed to
stand still as they rode out their passion to a shattering crescendo. They both
gasped, then let out a loud cry as their sweat-slicked bodies gratified one
another before she slumped over him, her head resting against his neck with a
contented sigh.
Tommy traced lazy circles over Kim’s back as they caught their breath, but he
couldn’t help but notice the time on the VCR. It was ten after five, and they
were already running late. “Hey, we’d better get going,” he whispered, as much
as it killed him. She slid off his body, and looked around for her underwear.
The bra was on the floor beside the coffee table, but the panties were no where
to be seen.
“Where’d you throw my underpants, Tommy?” she asked, now in a major hurry since
she realized the time, as well.
“Hell, I don’t know. I just wanted them off. They’ve got to be around here
somewhere. Are you packed?”
“Mostly. Fuck it, I’ll put on another pair. You’ll find them eventually. It’s
not like I’m not coming back any time soon.” They couldn’t afford to waste any
more time on the search.
Tommy scrambled to put on his own clothes while Kim ran upstairs to get dressed
and grab her bags. His keys were still in his pants pocket, and he found one of
his socks between the sofa cushions. She came running down in a surprisingly
short amount of time, but she seemed to be missing half of her luggage. “Hey,
where’s the rest of your stuff?”
“I’m only taking back the things I’ll really need. Everything else can stay
here. I have plenty of clothes at home.”
"I don't doubt that," he teased. The sense of comfort and security Tommy felt
from knowing that she was definitely planning to come back was overwhelming. It
just hit him that he had some cleaning up to do in this house to make room for
her things, especially in the bedroom. He couldn’t think of anything he’d rather
do. “Good idea. Let’s get going, I’m going to have to relive my racing days to
get you there on time. Hopefully, there won’t be a big line at the security
gates.”
“Yeah, come on,” said as she took one last look around what would be her new
home in just a few short weeks before they ran out the door to the Jeep.
Chapter 22: An Eye for an Eye
It was the longest four weeks of Tommy’s life. He tried his hardest to
concentrate on teaching and working out, but the time still seemed to drag on
forever. Eventually, the day finally came: Kim and the gang would be arriving by
tomorrow afternoon. She was very pleased by his surprise ‘plan’ to have their
old friends help with the move. Jason, Rocky, Trini, and Billy were all able to
make it, each of them flying down to Florida from their respective homes about
three days ago. Adam couldn’t come on such short notice, being in the last year
of his Oncology residency, but everyone understood. He was so angry he had to
miss it, but promised to be there for the party Tommy planned to have for Kim in
a few months. Zack was also tied up. He had become a fairly successful record
producer, and was scheduled to fly to London to meet with an artist the label
was hoping to sign, but he, too, said not even an attack by a bunch of Putties
would keep him from the party.
Tommy decided to hit the sack early this momentous Friday night. When he was a
little kid and was looking forward to something, his Mom always told him that
sleeping seemed to make time go by faster, so he figured he’d try it now. As he
lay there, he thought about how this was his last night in this bed alone.
Starting tomorrow, and hopefully for the rest of his life, Kim will be by his
side. He knew that thinking about forever might be somewhat premature, but he
couldn’t help it. It just felt right when they were together. For right now,
though, he fought to quiet his mind so that his body would follow. Another part
of him seemed to also be thinking about her, but rather than handle it himself,
he wanted to wait to unleash all his sexual frustration on her during their own
little ‘welcome home’ party.
As the Black Ranger slept soundly, oblivious to the intruder stalking through
his living room downstairs, Elsa moved in silence, having come for a definitive
purpose. Looking around the tastefully furnished space, she had to fight to push
aside the longing that welled up inside her for a normal life, maybe a family
and a nice home. She shook off the feeling, redirecting her emotion towards her
mission, which was to destroy Tommy’s relationship with ‘that whore’. Then when
he was feeling down and depressed, Ms. Randall would move right in to help him
pick up the pieces. In that kind of vulnerable state, it would be easy for her
to use her feminine charm to gain his trust…and the Dino Gems.
She had to find the perfect place to plant the slinky black satin thong with the
silver lace she carried in her pocket, and it had to be somewhere it would be
discovered by the girlfriend. Ms. Randall looked forward to watching Tommy try
and talk his way out of this one. His little goody-goody woman would immediately
think he had been cheating on her with that kind of evidence. Once that trust
was gone, the relationship would naturally just fall apart. Elsa knew her master
would be pleased with her for developing such a brilliant, foolproof plan.
The overstuffed recliner in the corner seemed like a good spot. With any luck,
by tomorrow at this time, Elsa would be planning phase two: the seduction. She
placed the underwear carefully in the corner of the chair with the silver lace
downward as not to attract attention. The black blended into the dark leather
just enough that it wouldn’t be discovered until someone went to sit there.
Hopefully, that person would be the woman. It wouldn’t exactly be a disaster if
it were Tommy himself that found the lingerie, as long as he found it in her
presence, otherwise it would mean she would have to think up another plan. That
wouldn’t be easy, and this was already plan ‘B’. Mesogog was becoming impatient,
and she wasn’t about to let that moron Zeltrax get the gems before she did. They
used to work together, but recently, it had become an unofficial competition
between them to be the first to destroy the Rangers. Luckily for her, he was a
bumbling idiot most of the time and was usually distracted by either his crush
on her or his hatred of Tommy Oliver.
The deed done, she snuck towards the door, wanting to be outside before opening
an invisiportal back to her master’s lair. Very soon, though, her next stop
would be the Power Rangers’ lair. The exact location of their command center was
a mystery that, once solved, would mean the end of those pesky, spandex-clad
do-gooders. Getting Tommy Oliver to open up to her was the key, and now, as she
approached the front of the house, she found her mind wandering to the future
she was looking forward to despite herself. Romantic dinners with Tommy,
dancing, midnight walks on the beach, snuggling on that comfy-looking sofa with
pizza and a movie, making love into the wee hours of the morning…Then, shaking
her head to refocus her priorities…Crushing the Rangers, Mesogog’s praise and
approval, replacing that stupid Zeltrax as second-in-command.
In her distraction, Elsa wasn’t doing a very good job of watching where she was
going. A few steps in front of the exit, she tripped over something lying in the
middle of the floor, barely catching herself from landing on her face, but still
knocking over a large vase sitting on a pedestal in the foyer.
“RRRrrrrrrrrrreeeeoooooowwwwww!” screeched the striped tiger-tabby, highly
offended at being woken by a clumsy human. The loud wail cut through the silent
house like a hot knife through butter, scaring the hell out of Elsa, causing her
to let out a yelp before she stifled herself with a hand over her mouth. Hobo
Kitty stood there, eyes narrowed, claws extended and fur standing on end,
hissing ferociously. Her feline instinct seemed to have told her that this
person wasn’t a welcome guest in her home.
Elsa panicked at all the noise they just made. Before Tommy came down to
investigate the commotion, she ran out the front door, barely remembering to
close it behind her, and stepped off the porch into the front yard. Once there,
she extended her arm in the air, opening the portal, and then disappeared into
the night.
---------------------
A piercing crash woke Tommy from a deep slumber. He bolted up in bed, his heart
beating rapidly. Untangling himself from the sheets, he got out and opened his
bedroom door, listening carefully for anymore noise. He could have sworn he
heard a short ‘ah!’ just after the crash, but that could have been the remnants
of a strange dream. Now, though, the only sound he heard was the sharp hissing
of a cat.
Tommy wasn’t in the least bit afraid of a burglar or other intruder, being a
martial artist and Power Ranger, but he crept downstairs quietly anyway as to
not scare the culprit away before he could apprehend him. After years of being
in dangerous situations on a regular basis, he had developed a sixth sense, sort
of like he could feel the presence and intention of someone. The sense had never
failed him, so since he didn’t have that tingling awareness signaling another
person in the house, he relaxed somewhat. When he got to the bottom of the
stairs, he paused again, still feeling nothing. Seconds later, Hobo Kitty
sauntered into the room from the direction of the foyer. Seeing him, she
approached her human, rubbing herself against his bare legs and purring loudly.
“Meow,” she said, as if it meant something profoundly important.
“Speak English, cat,” he replied before a piece of something sharp and shiny
caught his eye near the front door. Once in the foyer, he no longer had to
wonder about the source of the crash. His one-of-a-kind Native American vase lay
shattered all over the floor. It had been a gift from his brother, at one time
belonging to their parents. Tommy gasped at the sight, his stomach suddenly
feeling sick. He looked down at the kitty. “Did you do this?” he asked, as if he
would get an understandable reply.
Hobo’s innocent green eyes stared up at him from at his feet. “Meow,” she said
again, cocking her head to appear her most adorable.
“I know. You didn’t do it on purpose. Were you chasing a mouse or something?”
Tommy’s home in the woods did have its drawbacks, one of them being the
occasional furry houseguest. Having the cat was a good arrangement, even if she
sometimes liked to bring him little carcasses to show off her talents.
“Meow.”
“Yeah, that’s what you always say. Learn another word. I’m going back to bed.
I’ll clean this up in the morning.” He was planning on cleaning up some anyway
before Kim and the others got there. Taking one last look at the priceless
heirloom, he shook off the queasiness that threatened him again, and marched
back upstairs.
---------------------
Several hours later, Tommy was up, finished with his workout, and showered. Kim
would be calling sometime this morning to let him know where they were and when
he could expect them. While waiting for the phone to ring, he focused on
de-bachelorizing the place. The smashed vase was swept up, laundry got done,
folded, and actually put away, too. All of the dinosaur knick-knacks scattered
around the living room and the office got dusted, and the dishes in the sink
were loaded into the dishwasher. The last order of business was the bathrooms,
which were the worst. The bathroom off his bedroom was the one he used most
often. It was full of shaving stuff, hair gels, and deodorant all sitting on top
of a layer of soap-scum. There wasn’t a lot of cabinet space to begin with, and
if there was to be room for Kim’s many girlie products, his junk had to go. He
would move his things to the bathroom downstairs, and then they wouldn’t get in
eachother’s way in the mornings. The same went for his clothes. There was a
spare bedroom in the back of the house that he only used for storage. He cleaned
out the closet, uncovering a bunch of things he hadn’t worn in years to donate
to charity. While he was moving his current clothing from upstairs, the phone
finally rang. “Hey, Beautiful…” he answered, recognizing her cell phone number
on the caller ID.
“Hi, Baby!”
“So? Where are you guys?” Tommy asked impatiently. It was already after eleven.
“We should be there by one at the latest.”
“Wow! You’re making good time!” He hadn’t expected them until around four.
“Rocky’s driving. He and Billy are in the big U-Haul up ahead. Those things are
supposed to be governed at sixty MPH, but somehow, he’s hit at least
eighty-five. He even got a speeding ticket in Alabama. Me, Jason, and Trini are
in the van we rented. It’s been hell trying to keep up.”
“Have you stopped for lunch yet?”
“No, but we were talking about it. I’m not really hungry. All the excitement has
made me sort of sick.”
“Well, don’t stop anywhere. Get the others on the line.”
“Wait a second…”
A few seconds later, Billy Cranston’s voice came through the phone. “What’s this
about not stopping for lunch? I’m not riding in this truck with Rocky if he gets
hungry.” Billy had gone on to get a PhD. as well, in Astro-Physics. He worked
for NASA on the space shuttle project as a design engineer.
“Hey, Billy! If you’re only a couple hours away, just wait until you get here.
We’ll all go out. I’m sure Rocky loaded up on the junk food when you stopped for
gas. He’ll survive. It will be worth it, I promise.” Tommy wanted to take them
to BellaRosa’s for pizza.
“Yeah, we’ve got a truck full of Doritos, chocolate milk, and Hostess cupcakes.
Alright, we’ll see you soon.” And Billy cut out, leaving just Tommy and Kim on
the line.
“Ok, then you’ll be here by one?”
“Probably earlier, especially if Rocky knows there’s food at the end of the
line.”
“I’ll be waiting. Tell Jason and Trini I said ‘hi’.”
“I love you, Tommy.” Kim said it softly to keep it a private moment between the
two of them.
“I love you, too. See you soon.”
“Bye.”
Tommy put down the phone and walked back to the spare room to finish putting his
clothes away. Kim would be so surprised that she’ll have the whole closet
upstairs to herself. In reality, there was not enough room in all of Reefside
for her entire wardrobe, but it was still better than having to share space, and
hopefully she, too, weeded out some of her old items like he had. By the time he
was finished relocating his stuff, it was nearly twelve-twenty. Now he was
getting excited. They should be there any moment.
Before he could finish the thought, a loud horn blared from outside, and he knew
they had arrived. Tommy ran outside in time to see several of his best friends
in the world pile out of a white van and a twenty-foot U-Haul.
“OK, Tommy, where’s the food?” Rocky was not surprisingly the first to speak up.
“Hold your shorts on, Rocko.” Tommy ran to Kim and swept her up in his arms. For
a lingering moment, they blocked the others’ presence out of their minds,
kissing deeply.
“Break it up, break it up! Jesus, can’t you control yourselves long enough to
greet your friends?” Jason had begun the razzing already. It would be an
interesting few days.
“Sure, right after I greet my girl,” Tommy replied before resuming the kiss.
“Yeah, Jase, we gotta cut him some slack. He went a long time without getting
any, poor guy,” Rocky spoke up in his ‘defense’.
“Bite me, Rock,” Tommy started as he released Kimberly and stepped over to hug
Trini. He hadn’t seen her in at least five years, although they’d exchanged
e-mails fairly regularly. She lived in Seattle and was a successful TV news
anchorwoman, having graduated from a small liberal arts college with a degree in
journalism.
“How are you, Trini? You look great.” And she did. The graceful, strong-willed
but soft-spoken Vietnamese woman had only become more beautiful with time. She
still kept her shiny black hair long, but had grown out the bangs she wore in
high school.
“Thanks, Tommy. So do you.” Trini meant it, too. She had been with Kimberly at
the Karate tournament all those years ago when they had first seen Tommy, and
couldn’t deny she also found him incredibly gorgeous. She never thought of him
in a romantic way, though. It was obvious that he belonged to Kim from the
start.
Tommy moved over to Billy. “Hey, man. Glad you could make it.”
“It was no problem at all. I had a lot of vacation time banked,” Billy replied.
It had been a while since he had gone on a road trip. His life in Houston was
great, but sometimes he still needed to connect with the old gang. They were a
unique combination of personalities, each complementing each other without
clashing. It was a refreshing change from the people at work he usually hung out
with at home, who were all scientific types like him.
“OK, now that everybody’s said ‘hi’, what the hell are we eating?” Rocky’s
obsession with food was legendary, so his career as a chef couldn’t be more
fitting. He had kept himself from gaining the excess weight that plagues most
chefs, though, by continuing to practice martial arts at least five times a
week.
“Alright, alright, Rocko. Let’s leave the unpacking for later. I think we’ll all
work harder once we’ve eaten. I’m taking you guys to a great Italian place.
We’re going to have to take two cars, though. All six of us won’t fit in mine.
Jase, you wanna drive the Jeep or the Durango?”
“Neither. I’ve done most of the driving for the last three days. Billy or Trini
can drive.” Jason looked forward to kicking back and relaxing with his buds over
a large pepperoni pizza and a pitcher of beer.
“I’ll drive, Tommy. Give me whichever one you want.” Billy had played the role
of navigator throughout the trip, and only logged a few hours of driving time.
He felt perfectly alert.
Tommy tossed Billy the keys to the Jeep. The gang naturally split in two, with
Kim and Trini going with him in the Durango, with Rocky and Jason riding with
Billy. “Follow me. It’s about a fifteen or twenty minute drive.”
---------------------
Soon they were all gathering on the sidewalk outside BellaRosa’s. They were
lucky to find two good parking spaces, especially since it was lunchtime on a
Saturday. Once assembled, they filed into the little restaurant. Upon hearing
the jingle of the bell on the door, Mama Rosa came waddling out of the kitchen.
Seeing Tommy and Kim, her eyes lit up and a smile as bright as the sun appeared
on her plump face. “Gaetano! And-a you have-a you pretty girl with you. Oh, and
more friends! Come in, come in. Welcome to BellaRosa’s. I’m Mama.” She embraced
Tommy, nearly squeezing the breath out of him, and took Kim’s hand, leading them
to the dining room. “Carla, we got-a six hungry people here. Move-a those tables
together and get-a the menus.” Mama fired off orders like a Marine drill
sergeant, and her granddaughter immediately jumped up to follow them.
Once they were seated, Carla approached to greet the group. Upon seeing Tommy
walk in, her heart had leapt in her chest, but when she saw Kim, it quickly sunk
to her knees. Her hopes that he was single had risen in the last few weeks
because he came in a couple times alone. Now they came crashing down as the
couple walked hand-in-hand to the tables, Tommy placing a brief kiss on her
forehead once they were settled. The young waitress realized she had been kind
of rude to Kim the last time they were there, but he didn’t seem to hold it
against her. Accepting that he would probably never be hers, she politely went
about her job, treating Kimberly with the same hospitality she showed all of her
other customers. Besides, there were three other guys with them today, and they
were all pretty hot. “Hi, welcome to BellaRosa’s. I’m Carla,” she introduced
herself for the sake of the newcomers. “Tommy, Kim, it’s nice to see you again.
Can I bring you something to drink while you look over the menus?”
Rocky spoke up first. “Can we get a couple pitchers of beer, please?”
“Sure. Would anyone like anything else?”
“Oh, can we have a large order of mozzarella sticks, some stuffed mushrooms,
fried calamari, and the bruschetta, too?” Rocky added, obviously starving.
“Sounds good. Is that all?” As if that wasn’t enough, Carla thought.
“I’d also like a glass of water, please,” Kim asked. Then to her friends, “I’m
feeling better, but I don’t want to jinx it with beer. Maybe I just need to
eat.”
“Alright. I’ll get your drinks and appetizers while you look over the menus.”
And she ran off to the kitchen to get started on the food and to have Mama bring
out the beer, since at nineteen she was still underage to serve alcohol.
While the gang was waiting, they discussed what they were going to order.
Although Rocky had already had enough appetizers coming to feed an army for a
week, they still needed to decide on everything else. “OK, what do we want on
our pizzas?” Tommy asked, even though he was sure he already knew. These good
friends had sat around a table and ate pizza more times than he could count.
“Anything but anchovies!” Trini blurted out, in case they somehow forgot how
much she hated the salty, fishy things.
“We know, Trini.” Kim said with a laugh.
“Well, why don’t we get one pizza with everything, and one with just pepperoni?”
Jason reasoned. Everybody likes pepperoni.
“I want a Hawaiian pizza, with ham and pineapple,” Kim threw in as Billy, Tommy,
and Jason stared at her like she had grown a third eyeball.
“Beautiful, that’s just gross.” Tommy responded.
“It is not! It’s good… have you ever tried it?” she challenged.
“No, and I don’t want to. I like Jason’s idea. That’s what we always did
before.”
“I concur with Tommy. It is the most sensible solution to the dilemma.” Billy
agreed in his usual genius-speak.
“Whatever! It’s settled then,” Kim gave in just as Carla and Mama appeared with
the beverages. She took a long gulp of water, hoping to quell the nausea that
seemed to be creeping up on her again.
“Have you decided?” Carla asked.
“Yeah,” Rocky had nominated himself spokesman for the group whenever food was
involved. “We’ll take a large pizza with everything, and a large pepperoni,
please, both with extra cheese. Oh, and I’ll have a house salad with ranch
dressing, too. Thank you.”
“Save some food for the rest of the customers, Rocko.” Jason laughed.
“It was a long trip. I’m hungry!”
The twenty minutes or so they had to wait after the appetizers arrived passed
quickly. The friends talked about everything from their old Ranger days, to
their jobs, to past relationships, all the while laughing, teasing, and eating.
By the time Carla appeared holding two large, round trays with thick-crusted,
cheesy, Sicilian-style pizzas on top, space on the table had become scarce, so
she cleared away the first course’s dishes to make room.
The deluxe pizza was put down first, still piping hot. The smell of the homemade
crust and the fresh toppings caught all of their attention, but it wasn’t a
pleasant scent for everyone at the table. As soon as Kim got a whiff of the
anchovies, one hand automatically flew to her stomach while the other
frantically covered her mouth. She jumped up and darted to the ladies’ room
before anyone even noticed her reaction.
Tommy was momentarily confused by Kim running off like that, but the confusion
rapidly dissolved into concern as it became clear what was happening. He was
tempted to storm right into the women’s restroom to check on her, but thankfully
gained control over that instinct before he scared the hell out of some
unsuspecting lady touching up her makeup in there. “Trini, could you see what’s
wrong with Kim?”
He need not have said anything because Trini was already out of her chair and
halfway across the restaurant. Once inside, she could hear the distinctive sound
of retching coming from the corner stall. Luckily, no one else was in there. She
grabbed some paper towels off the role, wetting them with cool water before
approaching the door. “Kim? Are you OK? Open up, I have some towels here. Let me
put them on your neck.”
A couple seconds later, Trini heard the latch unlock. She hesitantly pushed the
door open and stepped inside to find Kim on her knees in front of the toilet.
Her eyes were watery and her face was flushed red. “And you thought you hated
anchovies…” she joked with as much of a smile as she could manage. Now that she
had thrown up, she felt much better. Trini knelt down next to her and pulled her
long, auburn hair back, placing the damp towels on the back of her neck.
“Thanks, Trini. That feels good. I don’t know what’s wrong. I’ve been sick to my
stomach on and off for about a week now, but I never puked. All this excitement
must have gotten to me, what with the move and seeing you guys again, a new
job…”
“Are you feeling better now?”
Kim nodded.
“Then let’s get you cleaned up and back out there. Tommy’s got to be worried to
death. I thought he was going to come crashing in here himself. I could just see
it in his eyes.”
“Yeah, that’s Tommy, always the hero.”
Kim was the type of girl that came prepared for anything. Her bottomless pit of
a purse had everything from a needle and thread to a roll of masking tape. At
this point, she was just glad she had a toothbrush and toothpaste. She quickly
brushed her teeth and ran a comb through her hair. Feeling semi-presentable, the
two women left the bathroom and headed back to the table.
Tommy stood up as soon as he saw them coming. He was relieved to see the smile
on Kimberly’s face, but was still worried. “Hey, how’re you doing?”
“I’m fine now. I must have caught a bug or something.” She sat down, glad to
notice that she had somewhat of an appetite.
The gang finished off the pizzas over the next two hours between reminiscing,
laughing, and goofing around. Once finished, Carla brought the bill. Tommy
snatched it up before the others had a chance to see it and pulled out his
bankcard, ready for the young waitress to take it. As soon as Jason noticed, he
reached across the table and grabbed it, handing Tommy back his Visa.
“Bro’, what the hell? I’m taking care of this.” Tommy protested.
“No way. It’s on me,” Jason argued.
“Come on, it’s the least I could do after all of you took time off to help us
out.” Tommy thought it only logical and fair.
“I’m all for either of you paying. I won’t fight you for it,” Rocky piped up,
always interested in a free meal.
“Yeah, we know, you mooch. Lord knows you ate fifteen times more than the rest
of us put together,” Jason said, but he was just teasing. The bill was almost
one hundred dollars, but on his salary, it was nothing. “Tommy, you’re a high
school teacher. How much could you possibly make, five dollars an hour?”
“Not even,” Tommy agreed. He reluctantly let Jason take the bill.
The bill settled, the group wove their way out of the busy restaurant and back
to the cars. The plan was to pick up some beer and unpack the truck. They would
probably be working far into the night, so they wanted to have some fun with it.
After a stop at 7 Eleven, with a couple cases of Miller Lite in hand, and some
chips and salsa that Rocky threw in, they were back at Tommy’s. The guys
unloaded the heavy stuff while the girls worked upstairs in the bedroom
organizing the closet and the bathroom. When Kim saw the empty bedroom closet
just waiting for her things, she ran outside and took Tommy by the hand, leading
him away from the others. He was alarmed at first by the suddenness of her
rushing toward him, but when she grabbed him by the back of the neck and pulled
his mouth down to hers, he relaxed and threw himself into it. A hot, wet kiss
followed, right there on the lawn, in front of everyone.
“Damn, you two. Can’t you wait until were finished here?” Rocky teased as he
threw a pinecone he found on the ground at them.
After they finally broke the kiss, Tommy took a few seconds to catch his breath
before he could speak. “What was that for?”
“Just for being you. Thank you for the closet space, but where are your
clothes?” Kim inquired.
“In the downstairs bedroom. I’ve also moved my junk into the bathroom down
there, too. The upstairs is all yours.”
“I hope the bed’s not all mine…” she whispered suggestively.
“You willing to share?”
“I insist.” As tempting as it was to drag him up there right now, they had lots
of work to do, so she gave him one last quick kiss before getting back to
unpacking.
Several hours later, the U-Haul was empty, the boxes were broken down and put
into the shed in the backyard, and the crew was crashed in the living room,
beers in hand. Except for Kimberly. She had begun to feel ill again halfway
through the job, and was lying on the sofa, looking a sickening shade of green.
Tommy sat down next to her and laid a hand on her forehead, checking for a
fever. She felt perfectly normal, but he was still concerned. “Can I get you
anything, Beautiful?”
“No, Tommy. Thank you, anyway. I just need to rest. I’ve worked my ass off these
past few weeks, and it must be catching up with me. I’ll be fine after a good
night’s sleep. In fact, it’s after eleven. I’m going to turn in now,” Kim
announced as she forced herself to get up.
The sudden shift to a vertical position must have done something to Kimberly’s
equilibrium, because no sooner than she was on her feet, she was running to the
bathroom. This time, Tommy went after her, but Trini stopped him. “Better let me
go, Tommy. Girls don’t like to let guys see them barfing.” He nodded, not
entirely happy about it, but he knew she was probably right. It wasn’t the most
dignified activity in the world. He moved to the leather recliner in the corner
and prepared to sit down and wait when a shimmer of fabric caught his eye in the
corner of the cushion. Confused, he reached down to pick it up, and found
himself holding a pair of black satin and silver lace thong panties. “What the…”
Before he could tuck them away, the other guys took notice. “Yours, Tommy?”
Billy asked with a grin.
“Ha, ha, ha. They’re Kim’s. When she was here a month ago we, uh, lost them. I
can’t believe they were tucked away in this chair all this time. Shows you how
much time I spend sitting around here,” Tommy explained, turning red.
“Lost them? I won’t even ask…” Rocky started.
“Yeah, please don’t,” Tommy begged.
---------------------
Trini walked to the back of the house to Tommy’s bathroom. She could already
hear the water running, so Kim must be feeling better already. Knocking lightly,
she didn’t wait for Kim to answer before she walked in. Her friend was standing
at the sink, splashing her face with cold water. It might not be the best time
to bring up the sneaking suspicion she’d been having since lunch, and it was
really none of her business anyway, but they had been friends since grade
school. There wasn’t anything she couldn’t talk to Kim about.
“Kim? Hey, how’re you doing?” Trini started gently.
“OK, now. God, Trini, what a crappy time to get a tummy bug!” Kim moaned. She
looked forward to spending the night making love to Tommy, but right now, she
didn’t feel like doing anything but putting on her coziest pajamas and passing
out for two days. Tommy would certainly understand, but it still sucked.
“Are you sure that’s what it is?” Trini asked delicately. She hoped Kim
understood what she was implying without her having to come right out with it.
“I don’t know what else it…” Kim paused, concentrating on recapping the past
four weeks. They had gone by in a whirlwind. Between her last days at the old
job, the garage sale, packing, arranging the truck rental, etc., etc., she had
not realized that she hadn’t had a period since a couple weeks before she was
here last time. It took a few moments for the idea to sink in, but once it did,
she turned greener than before. “How…no way. I can’t be pregnant. I’m on the
pill.”
“Were you taking it regularly while you were here?”
“Yeah…well, not exactly regularly. I hadn’t planned on spending the night with
Tommy the first time, and I missed a day. I usually take it before bed, but they
were back in the hotel. Stupid, stupid, stupid! I go two years without sex, and
I never missed a pill anyway. Then as soon as I get some, I go and forget. How
could I have been so dumb again?”
“Again? What do you mean?” Trini didn’t understand what Kim was talking about.
Taking a deep breath, Kimberly started to tell Trini the story of her accidental
pregnancy and subsequent miscarriage nearly thirteen years ago in Florida. No
one else knew except Tommy, but sharing it with a girlfriend felt good. She knew
that her oldest friend would never judge her.
“Kim, I’m so sorry, but you have to forgive yourself. Tommy has. Besides, you’re
adults now. You two are mature and responsible enough to handle becoming
parents. It will be the first Ranger baby!” Trini was already mentally planning
a baby shower.
“Yeah, I’m really responsible. God, what is Tommy going to say?”
“I think he’ll be thrilled, but I wouldn’t tell him until you know for sure. No
sense getting him excited about a false alarm.”
“I have to know, Trini, although now that I think about it, this is a pretty
familiar feeling. Come with me to the drug store,” Kim implored her.
“Now? How are you going to explain taking off at eleven o’clock at night?”
“I’ll think of something, but I need to know tonight.” Kim’s tone left no room
for Trini to argue.
“Alright. Let’s go…” And the two women took off for the twenty-four-hour
Walgreen’s, telling the guys that they needed some ‘girly supplies”, knowing
that was a subject they wouldn’t want to know anything about.
---------------------
Elsa and Zeltrax watched the last few hours unfold at Tommy’s house on the
viewing screen in Mesogog’s lair. She was incensed at having her brilliant plan
foiled. What were the odds that little Miss Kimberly would have the same
underwear, and that they had been lost in Tommy’s living room? Her master was
going to be furious.
Zeltrax was initially delighted that Elsa’s set-up failed again. It wasn’t that
he didn’t want to ruin Tommy Oliver, but he wanted to be the one to do it. He
didn’t exactly have any ideas himself just yet, but after hearing the
conversation between Tommy’s girl and her friend, he was struck with a sinister
plan.
Several months ago, Zeltrax created a new monster, but for some reason, the
creature thought it was his son. The golden cyborg was blindly devoted to him,
and it wasn’t long before Zeltrax began thinking of the thing as family, too.
Not long after, his ‘son’ was destroyed by the Black Ranger. From that day on,
Zeltrax vowed to have his revenge on Tommy, adding the slaughter of the only
family he’d ever known to the list of reasons to kill the man.
Here was the perfect opportunity to get even with the good Dr. Oliver. Zeltrax
would capture the woman, kill her, and thus kill Tommy’s unborn child.
We’ll see how you like it, Tommy. An eye for an eye…
Chapter 23: Expecting the Unexpected
All four guys watched Kim and Trini fly out of the house on their late night
‘girl supply’ run just as they were about to put in a movie, but none of them
questioned the excursion. As concerned as Tommy was about how Kim was feeling,
there were just some subjects that were better left a mystery to men, one of
them being anything to do with ‘that time of the month’. For all he knew, that
might even explain why she felt sick in the first place.
“So do we hold the movie until they get back?” Jason asked before he pushed the
‘play’ button on the remote.
“Nah…they aren’t going to want to watch this anyway. We might as well start or
it will be four AM before it’s over. God knows how long they’ll be once they
start shopping,” Tommy answered, knowing the pair could easily spend three hours
just in the cosmetics department.
“Tell me something… How come women do these things as a group activity? I mean,
Jason, when’s the last time I asked you to come to Walgreen’s with me to buy
shaving cream?” Rocky questioned. Being a typical dense guy, the inner-workings
of the female species intrigued, yet confused the hell out of him.
“Well, Rocky. It dates back to several ancient civilizations when women were
sequestered during their menstrual periods because they were thought to be
unclean. They spent those days each month in special living quarters together,
and so over time, a sense of community developed among them,” Billy explained.
It sounded logical, but he was smart enough to know that there was a lot more to
female behavior that he’d never understand.
“Thanks for the history lesson, Billy. I don’t even want to think about it.
Let’s just watch the movie, guys,” Jason said, changing the subject.
The boys had chosen an old Steven Segal movie and were finishing off the last of
the beer with the chips and salsa. Once the action started, the guys, including
Billy, were hypnotized. They were simple creatures on a testosterone overload,
easily distracted by fast-moving objects. When Kim and Trini came in, no one
even heard them.
“Hi, gentlemen!” Kim exclaimed as they ran past the living room on the way
upstairs. She was glad to see that they were well-occupied enough that Tommy
wouldn’t come snooping around to see what she was doing. The girls locked
themselves in the bathroom before Trini opened the package and took out the
directions.
Kim, being a Medical Technologist, knew for the most part how to use the kits.
She also knew that the ones on the market were more or less the exact same ones
they use for urine pregnancy tests in the lab. Therefore, she knew that she
could trust the results. Whatever the test said would decide her and Tommy’s
future. That thought made her nervous. If some would say that their decision to
live together after only a few days re-acquaintance was brash and impulsive,
then having a baby already would be considered downright stupid. She knew she
loved Tommy, and would be lying to herself if she denied ever dreaming of giving
him the family he’d always wanted, but that should come when they mutually
decided it was the right time, not as an accident. What if he didn’t want a baby
now? He had a very full plate with mentoring the Rangers, including being a
Ranger himself, and teaching high school full time. Where would he fit in
raising a family?
Before Kimberly worked herself up too much, she realized she should know for
sure. With Trini there as her support, she collected a sample, then taking a
deep breath, dipped the white stick into the cup. The instructions said the test
could not be called negative until a full ten minutes passed without a blue line
developing, but as she watched the sample flow across the test window, a line
was immediately visible in its tracks. The test was positive. Kimberly Hart, for
the second time in her life, was facing an unplanned pregnancy.
When Trini saw the result, she instinctively placed her arm around her friend
and gave her a little squeeze. The comforting gesture touched Kim, and she
buried her head against the former Yellow Ranger’s shoulder, eyes filled with
tears. “How could I do this to Tommy? I’m such an idiot!” she exclaimed
suddenly.
“Come on, Kim. You didn’t do this on your own. He played a pretty important
part. You’re both responsible, educated, thirty-year-old people. You can handle
parenthood. It’s not the same as before.” Trini understood that Kim knew all of
this, but she didn’t know what else to say.
“I know, but I just feel like I let him down. What if he thinks I did it on
purpose?”
“You know Tommy better than that. He will understand, and probably be so
excited. Now when are you going to tell him?”
“Hhhmmm… I don’t know. I think I’d better come to terms with it myself for a few
days.”
The stern look from Trini told Kim what her friend was thinking without her
having to say a word.
“Don’t worry. I promise I will tell him… tomorrow. Tonight, I’m just really tired.
I think I’ll go to bed.”
“Isn’t that how you got in this situation in the first place?” Trini couldn’t
help teasing her. It was a good way to help lighten the mood.
Kim laughed at the joke, grateful to have a friend like Trini. “Yeah…as um,
enthusiastic as we were, it shouldn’t really be a surprise that I’m pregnant,”
she said with a blush as she stuffed the used test in the box and put all the
evidence back in the Walgreen’s bag. She hid it in the cabinet under the sink,
and they left the bathroom. “Tell Tommy and the guys ‘goodnight’ for me,” and
went straight to their bedroom. She was exhausted from the move, the excitement,
and now added to that, the symptoms of early pregnancy. Peeling off her clothes
and slipping into her Hello Kitty pajamas, she crawled into bed and was out
before her head hit the pillow.
---------------------
Morning found Tommy sound asleep next to Kim, his arms wrapped tightly around
her trim body. He had come to bed around two-thirty, sneaking silently into the
room as not to wake her up and she never even stirred when he lied down. Now as
the sun streamed through the window, she had barely peeled an eyelid open when
her stomach lurched, signaling an emergency visit to the porcelain god was
imminent. The problem was that he was holding her so snugly against him that she
couldn’t get out of his grasp. After a struggle with the dead weight that was a
sleeping Tommy, she finally pried his arms loose and rushed to the toilet where
she emptied what little there was left in her belly. It didn’t take long, and
once she brushed her teeth and had a quick shower, she felt much better.
When she reentered the bedroom, Tommy was sitting up in bed waiting for her. She
bounced in with a bright smile on her face. “Good morning, Baby,” she greeted
him enthusiastically. Kim usually used her shower time to sort out her thoughts
and organize her day, and today was no different. While she was still a little
worried about telling him she was pregnant, the light of day also brought with
it other feelings. Excitement, awe, and a profound new respect for the wonders
of the female body filled her with hope. Maybe, just maybe, this was also meant
to be, just like her and Tommy’s reunion, and she was fairly certain he would
see it that way, too.
“Mornin’,” he answered, then planted a kiss on her hand. “You seem happy today.”
“I feel much better.” She replied sitting down next to him. She decided not to
tell him that she had just been sick. There was no reason to worry him. “Sorry I
passed out on you last night. That wasn’t exactly how I pictured our first night
living together to go.”
“Shhhh…don’t worry about that. I’m just glad you’re OK. Besides, the others are
just downstairs. We’re not very good at being discreet anyway. We have forever
from now on.” As soon as he said it, Tommy seized up. It wasn’t his intention to
put that kind of pressure on her by using the ‘f’ word, but the glow that spread
across her face instantly put him at ease.
“Forever, huh? Do you mean that?”
“I wouldn’t have said it otherwise. It feels so right having you here,” Tommy
said sincerely.
“It does, doesn’t it? Why don’t you go get cleaned up. I’ll go downstairs and
start breakfast for everyone,” Kim offered. She wasn’t so uneasy about telling
Tommy about the baby anymore, but right now was not the time. It had to be a
special moment.
---------------------
Elsa and Zeltrax stood before Mesogog in the ‘throne room’ of his lair. Neither
of them knew why he summoned them, but Elsa had a sneaking suspicion she was in
trouble. She tried not to visibly tremble, but the disapproving look on the
gruesome dinosaur-man’s face was so terrifying, she couldn’t help it.
Zeltrax could feel the fear rolling off of Elsa in droves. It pleased him to no
end. Just recently, he had gotten over the hopeless crush he used to have on
her. She was smitten with Tommy Oliver, so instead of trying to win her
affection, he thought it more productive to focus that energy on destroying the
Black Ranger, thus getting him back for everything he stole from him and at the
same time, advancing his career within Mesogog’s organization. Elsa’s last two
lame ideas failed miserably. She certainly had more potential, but her secret
desire for Tommy prevented her from making a major effort to nail him. Zeltrax
held no such reservations, and since revealing his aggressive plan to his master
last night, he could tell that he not only gained Mesogog’s favor, but also his
respect. Things were obviously not looking so bright for Elsa, however.
“Elsa…” Mesogog began in his raspy growl of a voice. “You have disappointed me.
So far, you’ve failed to gain the trust of Dr. Oliver or capture the Dino gems
like you promised. I don’t like failure, and I’m not very understanding when a
member of my staff repeatedly doesn’t accomplish what I ask of them. You have
not used the powers I granted you wisely and I sense in you conflict over your
assignment. My resources are unfortunately not unlimited until I get my hands on
those gems, so I cannot afford to waste them on a useless servant.” He nodded to
a pair of Tyrannodrone guards who immediately came forward and seized Elsa. She
struggled violently, but even with her enhanced strength, her female frame was
no match for the brutal lizard-creatures.
The sinister-looking chair in the center of the room resembled a dentist’s
chair. For some people, that would be frightening enough, but not even a dentist
had the kind of evil instrumentation that Mesogog did. There was a creepy
drill-like ray gun thing pointing down at the unlucky victim’s head, and thick
leather straps to keep them securely imprisoned. Elsa had seen Tommy, Trent, and
Yellow Ranger Kira held captive in the chair, but she never thought she’d be the
guest of honor herself. She was wrong.
She was still fighting, but the Tyrannodrones easily belted the newly-fired
henchwoman into the reclined seat. As she laid there staring up at the
terrifying apparatus above her, for the first time, she felt some empathy for
the Rangers and some remorse for what she attempted to do to them. Whatever plan
Zeltrax concocted must be pretty good for Mesogog to decide he didn’t need her
anymore. But the one thing she knew for sure was that it was borne out of his
intense anger, jealousy and hatred of Tommy Oliver, not out of smarts. Elsa had
always been the brains of the duo. Her curiosity was killing her, and before
they did whatever it was they were going to do to her, she wanted to find out
exactly what the idea was. “Hey, Zeltrax…”
The cyborg sauntered up to the tied-down woman. “What is it Elsa? Do you wish to
beg for your job back, or better yet, beg for mercy?”
You wish. “My, my… such an ego,” Elsa began, initially to egg him on, then
realized that his over-inflated ego just might be the key to getting the
information. “I’ll just bet you came up with something really good to nail
Oliver this time.”
“Yes, Elsa. I have the perfect plan,” he answered, noticeably letting his guard
down a little. Thank God Mesogog wasn’t paying attention at the moment.
“Well, don’t hold out on me. You’ve won. The least you could do is tell me about
the grand scheme that beat me out.” She kept her fingers crossed that he was
still mostly stupid.
“It’s simple, Elsa. I’m just going to take from Dr. Oliver exactly what he took
from me, plus a little bonus.”
Uh, that’s still too vague. “He took the job you wanted. You really want to take
his as a high school science teacher? Somehow, I don’t think the school board
will approve.”
“I’m not talking about his job. I mean his child. He destroyed my son. Now I’m
going to take his child from him, and in the process, the girl as well. It’s
important to give back a little more than you get, don’t you think?”
Elsa was struck momentarily speechless. Zeltrax’s plan was incredibly wicked. Of
course she wanted to destroy the Rangers, but that was because they were all
that stood between her master and his ultimate goal. Involving innocent
civilians, especially babies, need not enter the picture. That was taking things
way too far. Maybe that was her problem. Maybe she just didn’t have what it took
to be evil. It would explain the stray thoughts that had been running through
her mind about Tommy and a romantic future. She loved him. It was all so clear
now, but the terrifying sound of the ray gun powering up prevented her from
allowing the revelation to fully sink in. Without so much as a parting word, or
even a warning, Zeltrax fired. Lightening bolts of fiery electricity shot from
the end of the gun and through Elsa’s body, causing her to thrash against the
leather restraints and cry out in agony.
The pain was unbearable, and mercifully, it didn’t take long for Elsa to pass
out. Zeltrax towered over her, his foreboding stance conveying what seemed like
a resigning farewell to the woman he once desired for his own. The moment passed
quickly, however, and seconds later, he ordered the Tyrannodrones to un-strap
the captive woman. Above her, a glowing, green invisiportal appeared and in a
flash she was sucked through it, disappearing into thin air.
---------------------
A disorientated Elise Randall found herself on the rooftop of a high-rise
building in downtown Reefside. She had no idea how she got there, but before she
had time to think, a rush of vague memories flooded her foggy mind, and she had
to grab hold of her head because it felt like it was going to explode. The
images came in random, nonsensical order, much like some weird dream. Releasing
the white Dino gem from its hiding place, tagging along with Dr. Oliver’s class
on their field trip, fighting Kira in Mesogog’s lair, hatching the Dimetrozord
egg, planting lingerie in the Black Ranger’s living room, getting caught in the
school’s sprinklers, granting detention after detention to student after
student, Tommy’s genuine concern for “Principal Randall” after the Tyrannodrone
attack at the dig site…
Zeltrax’s plan.
“Oh my God!” Elise exclaimed to herself once she remembered what the cyborg’s
intentions were. She felt dizzy and confused, but she forced herself to clear
her mind. She had to warn Tommy. Stumbling towards the rooftop stairwell, she
got her bearings straight and started down, even if she didn’t know exactly how
she was going to get to his house.
---------------------
Kim descended the stairs to a living room that looked a lot like Jonestown, the
day after. Rocky lay sprawled across the floor between the coffee table and
where Trini slept on one end of the sofa. His face was smashed in a pillow and
there was drool hanging from the corner of his mouth. Trini’s arm hung down, the
back of her hand thrown across his face. Jason was snoring in the leather
recliner, sounding very much like a lawn mower that ran over a dead squirrel.
Billy was crashed on the other end of the sofa with Trini’s foot in his armpit.
His neck was arched backwards over the arm of the couch in a very unnatural
position that would ensure a raging headache once he woke up. It might not
matter, though, since the vast array of empty beer bottles scattered around
would be equally as responsible for everyone’s crappy morning.
It was still very early, so Kim let the gang sleep a little longer while she
made breakfast. Tommy had surprisingly stocked up on groceries in anticipation
of his houseguests, so there were plenty of fresh ingredients available to
really put out a spread. Rocky was the professional chef in the group, but he
wasn’t sure she’d trust him with knives in his current condition. Besides, this
was her home now, and that made them her guests, too. She would make them French
toast, eggs, bacon and freshly squeezed orange juice. It was the least she could
do to thank them for everything they’ve done for her.
Trini was the first to appear in the kitchen only a few minutes later, rumpled
and disheveled. The delicious smell wafting into the living room woke her from a
sound sleep, with half of her loving the aroma, but the other half reminding her
of the excessive amount of alcohol consumption she indulged in the night before.
Lucky for her, Kim had a fresh pot of Starbucks already brewed, and with a
cheery “good morning”, she handed Trini a cup.
She took the mug gratefully, nodding her thanks to Kim. “You must be feeling
better this morning,” Trini said, noting the various skillets, pots and pans on
the stove.
“Well, I got sick as soon as I opened my eyes, but then, I was fine. The
question is: how are you feeling? Looks like I missed quite a party last night.”
“Oh…yeah. The boys were finishing up some guy movie when I came down. When it
was over, we just sat around, drinking and talking, getting stupid. Rocky and
Jason passed out first, then Tommy went to bed, too. It was just Billy and me
after that…” Trini’s voice trailed off, as if there was more to the story.
Kim picked up on it right away. “And...?” She asked with anticipation.
“And what?” Trini answered evasively, but she couldn’t look Kim in the eye.
“Come on, Trini. Spill it. You have the same dreamy look on your face as you did
in eighth grade when we played ‘spin the bottle’ and you got to kiss John Meyers
in Zack’s basement.”
“Oh, Kim, I don’t know what happened. One minute we were just talking, and the
next, we were sharing the most incredible kiss of my life. Jason and Rocky were
right there, so it didn’t go any further, but I wanted to. God help me, but I
really, really wanted to.”
“So how did it end up? Did you talk about it?”
“No, we didn’t, but at least we realized we’d better not fall asleep lying all
over each other. It was awkward. I think this morning is going to be even worse.
What if it was the alcohol? I mean, I’ve always had a connection to Billy, but
it wasn’t until we were adults that I found myself attracted to him. I hope we
didn’t ruin our friendship.” The worry in Trini’s voice was obvious.
“That’s exactly how I felt when I woke up naked next to Tommy that first
morning. I think he felt it too, but we got over it by assuring one another that
we didn’t think it was a mistake. You two have been friends for a long time. I
doubt one make out session could screw that up. Give yourself some credit. Maybe
this was meant to be, just like Tommy and I.”
“Well, we’ll see, I suppose. Shhh… I hear stirring in the living room,” Trini
whispered just as Jason and Tommy walked into the kitchen.
Kim poured both of them mugs of coffee. “Good morning, guys,” she said as she
kissed Tommy lightly and gave Jason a brotherly hug. “Breakfast is almost
ready.”
“Smells great.” Jason considered himself pretty lucky, since he didn’t suffer
from bad hangovers like most people. Despite having a cotton-mouth, he felt
fine. “Shouldn’t we wake up Billy and Rocky first?”
“I’m up…” Rocky growled, stumbling through the door. He took the coffee Kim
offered him and plopped himself down at the table. His skin tone had a definite
greenish cast to it. “Got any aspirin, Tommy, and a bottle of Pepto-Bismol?”
“Yeah, in the medicine cabinet in my bathroom. I could use some too. It’s been a
long time since I drank that much.” And Tommy left to get the bottle of Tylenol.
“Trini, why don’t you go wake Billy? Then I’ll serve breakfast,” Kim suggested
to Trini with a distinctive ‘hint-hint’ in her voice.
“Yeah, good idea…” And she hurried out of the kitchen.
“What the hell’s taking them so long?” Rocky complained after Trini had been
gone almost twenty minutes. He would have gone in there after them, but he was
still in agony while waiting for the Tylenol to kick in.
“Here we are. Billy didn’t want to get up,” Trini said as she dragged Billy
behind her. They both took seats at the table just as Kim set down a platter of
scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese, jalapenos and a dish of salsa. Next came the
cinnamon French toast with butter and real maple syrup, the thick, crispy bacon,
and the fresh orange juice.
Everyone ate hungrily, all of them knowing that the combination of grease,
sugar, and cholesterol was the best hangover cure available. Trini sat next to
Billy, but there was a definite change in their relationship. Kim planned to
make sure they talked soon.
---------------------
After breakfast, they all sat around trying to decide what they were going to do
on their last full day together. Everyone was scheduled to catch flights back to
their respective cities sometime Monday. It would still be a couple of months
before summer vacation for Tommy when he could throw the party, so they wanted
to make today count. After some deliberation, they settled on having a barbeque
in the back yard. The guys would set up a volleyball net, and they could play a
game of softball. Before the picnic could begin, however, supplies were
necessary.
Kim and Trini volunteered to make a grocery run to the Super Wal-Mart to pick up
hamburger meat, hot dogs, buns, and the like. They also needed to load up on
cases of bottled water and soda, since it was going to be hot day, and no one
wanted to even mention the word ‘beer’. While they were there, the boys planned
to dig the net out of Tommy’s garage and clean up the grill and the patio
furniture out on the deck, as none of it had been used in a very long time.
Kim had already showered, so she was ready to go, but the others still had to
clean up. Trini took Kim’s bathroom, while the men took turns with three-minute
showers downstairs. Once everyone was dressed, Billy quietly slipped Trini his
credit card to pay for the stuff, then the girls grabbed the keys to the Durango
and took off.
---------------------
The guys got to work in the back yard right away, with Jason and Tommy scrubbing
the grill and Rocky and Billy tackling the furniture. At one point, Jason went
back in the house to fill his bucket with hot water and cleanser when he heard
someone desperately knocking on the front door. He went to answer it, figuring
it must be one, or maybe all of the Rangers, but was very surprised to find a
woman about his own age with long dark hair and exotic, but extremely beautiful
features standing nervously on the doorstep. She looked shocked when someone
other than Tommy opened the door. “Um… I’m sorry. I… I was looking for Dr.
Oliver,” she stuttered.
Jason paused for a moment, confused. She referred to Tommy by his title, but she
was clearly too old to be one of his students. He also knew this wasn’t Haley,
since he had met her a few times when visiting Tommy at the University. There
was obviously something wrong, though, and he had a sneaking suspicion that it
had something to do with Mesogog. “Come in. I’m Jason Scott, an old friend of
Tommy’s. He’s out back.”
They two of them walked through the house and out onto the back deck. Tommy was
on his hands and knees scrubbing the grill clean. He looked up when he heard
footsteps, and was immediately stunned when he saw the woman standing beside
Jason. She was vaguely familiar, yet he couldn’t place her. He must have had an
inquisitive look on his face, because Rocky and Billy immediately took notice
and moved to stand beside him. Finally, she spoke.
“Dr. Oliver… uhh… Tommy, it’s me... Elise Randall… Elsa.” She paused for a moment to
let the revelation sink in.
“What? But you’re… different. Wait a minute… Elsa?” Tommy’s guard instinctively
went up at the thought of Mesogog’s henchwoman standing in his yard, directly
above the Ranger command center.
“Yes, I’m…or I was, Elsa. Mesogog stripped me of my powers. I thought he was
going to kill me, but he just dumped me off downtown. I’m so lost and confused.
I hardly remember who I am or where I came from, but I had to come here and warn
you.”
Tommy was naturally suspicious, but he was also curious. He sensed no danger or
evil intentions in the woman, and her appearance certainly suggested a positive
change. “Warn me? Of what?” he asked, wary but clearly concerned.
“Zeltrax… he’s after your girlfriend… and your baby.” She didn’t know if Tommy
knew yet about the pregnancy yet, but there was no time to waste on skirting
around the issue.
“Baby? What the hell are you talking about?” Tommy charged forward towards
Elise, stopping only a foot in front of her, his body language obviously
conveying that he wasn’t fooling around.
“Your girlfriend, Kim, is pregnant. Zeltrax plans to capture her, and kill her
and the baby as revenge for you destroying his son, that awful gold creature. Is
she here?”
If this was a ruse, Elsa was doing a very good job. Tommy was scared as hell,
but he still didn’t fully trust the woman. It could be a trap, and that
possibility was the only thing keeping Tommy sane. “Pregnant? How do you know
all this? How do I know this isn’t a set-up?” he questioned angrily. Inside, he
was panicking, but he couldn’t let that show. The other former Rangers stood
valiantly at his side in a silent show of support. They made a formidable line
that only the stupidest and most arrogant would try to cross.
“Come on. I can prove it.” Elise quietly turned and started back in the house.
The men naturally followed, all of them terrified by now.
Elise led them upstairs to Kim’s bathroom. Without a word, she opened the
cabinet under the sink and pulled out a Walgreen’s bag. Reaching inside, she
removed the remnants of a home pregnancy test and showed the test stick to
Tommy. The positive line was still visible.
Tommy swallowed hard, his head spinning from the news. Kim…pregnant…Zeltrax was
after her…Oh God, I have to find her now! He ran from the bathroom and back down
the stairs. Just as he was about to pull the dinosaur jaw to release the command
center trap door, Jason, Rocky, and Billy ran up behind him.
“We’re going with you,” Jason stated rather than asked. It was non-negotiable.
They were downstairs monitoring the Ranger surveillance equipment in seconds,
searching for any sign of Kim or Zeltrax.
---------------------
Trini pushed the full shopping card through the Wal-Mart parking lot, with Kim
following along side. They reached the Durango, and as they were loading the
groceries into the back, Kim heard an odd, swishing sound, and then an evil,
distorted voice spoke.
“If it isn’t Tommy’s little woman,” Zeltrax began, taunting Kimberly.
The girls spun around, both of them automatically adopting a defensive posture.
It had been thirteen-plus years since they had been Rangers, but the reflexes
were still intact. “Who are you?” Kim demanded, not showing any fear.
“I’m the hand that will destroy Tommy Oliver,” Zeltrax replied before with
lightening-fast speed, he grabbed the petite Kimberly and disappeared through an
invisiportal, leaving Trini standing in the parking lot, paralyzed with dread.
On to Part Five.....
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