Author's Notes: Jessica McCaffery is actually Jessica McClintock from Ranger Scrolls. Appearently there is a real Jessica McClintock who is a designer. My apologies to her, I just made it up. So any references to Jessica or Stephanie McCaffery are references to their characters Jessica and Stephanie McClintock in Ranger Scrolls.
Power Rangers: Legacy
“All Apologies”
Carri wondered out of her bedroom early Sunday morning. She headed out into the kitchen and saw Kim sitting at the table drinking a cup of coffee. Carri went to fix her own cup before sitting down next to her.
“Shit.” Carri said as she collapsed in the chair. Kim gave her a look. “I forgot the sugar.” she said as she looked over toward the kitchen counter. She saw the packets of sweetener and floated one toward her, grabbing it when it got close and ripping the top off, putting it in her coffee.
“Lazy.” Kim accused with a smile
“Practicing.” was Carri’s one word defense. Kim grinned and had nothing else to say as she practiced her abilities as well. Carri had more than once come out into the living room and caught her levitating over the couch while she was watching tv.
“Any plans for today?” Kim asked glancing over at her friend
Carri shook her head no. “I’m all caught up.” she replied. After spending Thursday afternoon and most of Friday dealing with Callisto and Rhianna’s return and having to get new powers, Carri had spent most of Friday night and all of Saturday locked up in her office at home doing work. Some stuff had to get done and she figured at least spending her weekend locked up at home was better than spending it locked up in her office in the building where they produced her show.
Kim nodded as she clicked her nails on the table. There were things that happened recently that neither had addressed, mainly because Carri was concentrating on work and Kim wanted to wait until they could really talk. She sighed and looked up at her friend as she posed the question. “So, what are we going to do with Tommy and Rocky?”
Carri let out a long sigh of her own as she thought about the answer. They had managed not to address the question yesterday, but today it couldn’t be avoided. “Honestly? I don’t know. We need to make amends somehow though. Jason’s right, if we’re going to be a team we’re going to have to act like it or else we’ll get ourselves killed.”
They had done alright with the first mission to retrieve their Turbo powers, but Kim and Carri tried their hardest to pretend Tommy and Rocky weren’t even there. And when they did have to speak to or deal with them, they had found it more than a little awkward. Who knows how long it’s going to take to defeat Callisto and Rhianna, and they didn’t want to spend all of their missions like that.
“Maybe we should talk to them.” Kim suggested. “At least I know I should go talk to Tommy.” she added
“Yeah I need to talk to Rocky. It’s just, I have no clue where we stand.” she said as she took a sip of coffee
“Do you still love him?” Kim asked
Carri gave her a look as she sipped her coffee before setting the cup down. “Do you still love Tommy?” she asked, answering Kim’s question with one of her own
Kim nodded, the point gotten. Through everything that happened in the four years while they were gone they both still had feelings for the men they left behind. Whether or not either would be able to forgive and forget, be able to let them back in, was another story entirely. At the very least they wanted to be friends again, and Kim figured that the boys would give them that, if not for themselves then for the team.
“I’m going to go see him.” Kim said simply
“Today?” Carri questioned looking over at her friend
Kim nodded. “I’m going to get dressed and then I’ll take a cab to Reefside.” Kim was going to have to go online to find Tommy’s address and directions to his place, but she didn’t think it would be that difficult. Then she would go pay him a visit so they could air everything out. He should be home on a Sunday afternoon.
Carri shook her head no. “Take my car.”
“I can’t. Unless you’re planning on locking yourself inside all day.” Kim said. She was gracious for the offer but she couldn’t take her friend’s car and leave her with no means of transportation.
“I’m just going to go talk to Rocky.” she said as she smiled at Kim
“See you’ll need your car.” Kim pointed out
“You’re taking it and that’s final.” Carri said, the tone of her voice suggesting she wasn’t taking no for an answer. “The cab fare to Rocky’s apartment in Angel Grove is going to be much cheaper than you trying to take a cab all the way to Reefside.”
“At least let me pay for the cab.” Kim felt bad that her friend was going to take a cab when she had a perfectly good car. Kim was excited about starting work tomorrow. Eventually she would be able to get a car and a place of her own and pay Carri back for the generosity she’d shown her over the past six weeks.
“How about this. You pay for the gas you used and we’ll call it even.” Carri said smiling at her. She knew Kim didn’t have a whole lot of money, only what her father had sent to help her out until she could get back on her feet. She felt horrible about taking any from her, but she knew Kim hated feeling like she was taking advantage of their friendship by using her car and staying in her house. That was far from the truth, Carri loved having Kim around and she had enough money that she could care less if she ever saw a dime from her. But if it would make Kim feel better by reimbursing her somehow, she would let her.
“Deal.” Kim said, glad that Carri had caved on something. Kim took the last sip of her coffee and put the cup down. “I’m going to get ready.” she said as she stood. She walked the cup to the sink and headed back to her bedroom for a shower.
Carri pushed a few loose strands of hair out of her face as she watched Kim walk away. She clicked her nails against her coffee cup and stared down at it’s contents as if it could tell her something. She shook her head at herself. In the last four years she had done so much that could be considered new and exhilarating, even dangerous and yet the thought of going to talk to Rocky made her more nervous than any of that ever had. She sighed as she finished her cup of coffee before heading into her bedroom, leaving the kitchen quiet.
An hour later Carri found herself stepping out of a taxi and in front of a small apartment complex in a quieter area of Angel Grove. She paid the driver and stood as he pulled off, leaving her there alone. Crossing her arms, Carri forced herself to take a few deep breaths as she stared at the building. “It’s now or never.” she said to herself
It was another awkward minute standing in front of the building before she could actually put one foot in front of the other and move toward it. She walked to the side of the building and up the stairs, searching for apartment K. Finally she came across his unit and stood in front of the door. When she felt like she was ready, she knocked.
She heard the sounds of someone walking too the door, pausing for a second before opening it. “Carri?” Rocky questioned, genuinely surprised to see her standing there. He wasn’t sure what was up between them after their mission.
“Hey.” she said softly, making quick eye contact and flashing him a smile. “I was hoping you had some time to talk.”
“Yeah, sure. Come on in.” he said as he opened the door and gestured for her to enter
Carri walked in and looked around the apartment. It was a bit smaller than the one they shared together so many years ago but it was nice. She recognized some of the furniture as belonging to them, such as the dining room table and chairs that was their first purchase together for their apartment. She was glad to see that he had kept some of their things. What was solely hers had been given to her parents when he moved, and thrown into a storage unit in Angel Grove until she got back. Some of what used to be hers she had kept, but most of it she’d sold in a yard sale shortly after she got the house, putting the money back into new furniture and other house items. It was nice to see some of their old stuff was still getting some use.
“Have a seat.” Rocky said as he nodded over toward the couch. He went into the kitchen and watched as she took a seat on the end of the couch. “Do you want anything to drink?” he asked opening up the fridge. “I’ve got some soda and some beer and some juice in here.”
“No thanks.” Carri replied although a beer might be what she needed to take some of the edge off. However being Sunday morning she figured it was a bit too early to toss one back.
“Are you sure.” he questioned grabbing a soda for himself
“Positive.” she replied
“Alright.” he said as he shut the door to the refrigerator and walked over to the couch, sitting on the opposite end as Carri. He smiled at her and waited for her to speak, he was curious as to what she wanted. She took a deep breath and didn’t say anything. “So...” he said trying to get her talking
“So...” she replied flashing him a smile. “I wanted to come by because the other day was kind of weird. And if we’re going to be working together again there’s a lot about the last four years that needs to be said.”
Rocky smiled and nodded. He couldn’t agree more. “We used to have something amazing, I hate for us to be weird around each other.” He hated for them to not be with each other, but that was something for another time.
“About what happened, me leaving, I’m sorry.” she said. Rocky started to open his mouth but she held a finger up stopping him. “I’m not sorry about trying to stop Callisto. But from the day I left I was sorry about leaving you.”
“It’s alright. I was never mad at you.” he assured her. Carri looked at him strangely as she couldn’t believe that he didn’t hate her for leaving him for four years like she did. Rocky smiled at her. “Did you ever see the tape?”
“What tape?” she asked giving him a more curious look than she had before
“The one that Zhane left with Billy before you guys took off.” he replied. She shook her head no and he continued. “I talked to Billy after you left, I wanted to know what he knew, and what exactly was anything going on. He showed me the tape with the information on it that Zhane collected, the entire reason he came to Earth in the first place.”
Carri had only heard from Zhane bits and pieces of the information he had. Where Callisto was concerned, it didn’t take much for Carri to want to find her and kill her. She had never seen any of what he brought with him and she had never cared.
Rocky took her silence as a no and continued. “Callisto was trying to perfect an army to come after you. She made it known in the evil realm that she was going to kill everyone and everything that ever meant anything to you while you watched, starting with me and then the rest of the team before going after your family and causal friends, and finishing by destroying the planet and finally you. I knew you wanted to get her before she came back here after everyone. But after seeing what Billy showed me I realized you felt like you had to do it to save us. Yes it hurt everyday to know that you were lightyears away, but I knew there was stuff more important than us out there.”
Carri looked up at the ceiling for a moment. She didn’t know what to say, she never really knew if Rocky understood why she did what she did. To know that he did made her feel worse about being gone so long. “I never meant to be gone four years.” she said finally glancing back down at him. “We couldn’t find her. I spent a year looking for her, then I took a year training on KO-35 to help me in my search. I’m a black belt now.” she said with a smile before she continued. “It took me another year after that to finally get a valid lead. That’s when I met up with Kim.”
“So that’s when you found powers and joined up with other rangers to fight Callisto?” he asked when she paused
“Something like that.” she replied giving him a smile. “In all actuality the powers found us. Kim, Zhane and I are Planetary Rangers, part of the most powerful ranger team in the galaxy. Kim leads as the Red Fire Ranger, and I’m second as the White Lightning Ranger. The other teams of rangers we worked with came to us to help us in our fight. Kim led the entire group of us. It was amazing what we did.” she paused as she shook her head. “We should’ve finished it then. We shouldn’t have assumed she was dead. Dammit I should have looked for body parts or something so we wouldn’t be here right now.”
Rocky was busy absorbing what she said about the powers she possessed. He couldn’t believe that his girlfriend was one of the most powerful rangers, second only to Kim, and was standing in the front of this huge attack. He could only assume that training on KO-35 and being the white ranger was what made her the woman sitting in front of him right now. The one who was blaming herself for Rhianna and Callisto being here on Earth.
Against his better judgement, Rocky scooted closer to her and put a hand on her arm. “Hey I’m glad you’re here.” he joked trying to get her to smile
She half smiled as she rolled her eyes. “That’s not what I mean and you know it.”
“There was no way you could’ve known. I wouldn’t worry about it, you’ve got us with you now we’ll take care of it.” he promised
She crossed her arms over her chest and sighed. “Yeah I suppose.” she replied. It was hard for her feeling like there was something she should’ve done better six weeks ago. “Anyway enough about me. How have you been?”
“Good.” he said flashing her a smile. “I got this apartment. I’ve opened two more schools, one in LA near our old hangouts and one in Stone Canyon. The Angel Grove one is still my pride and joy though. Although thanks to the rangers I may have to get someone to take over the rest of my classes. I’ll just stick to running them.”
“You didn’t have to get involved you know.” she told him. She felt bad, as though he was giving up his dreams to be a ranger again. There were plenty of other former rangers there, one of them would have volunteered.
“You needed help. There’s no way I would’ve said no.” he replied
She glanced over at him and caught his eyes with hers. She could feel her heart flutter as she remembered that his eyes were one of her favorite things about him. Quickly she turned her gaze so she wouldn’t be tempted to do something stupid.
“What about you? How have you been doing since you got back?” Rocky asked. He was trying to restrain himself and continue to make small talk but it was hard.
“I have a house, a car, a company.” she paused watching as he raised an eyebrow. “I own Ausus Productions. It’s a branch off of dad’s company. We’re working on a pilot for a travel show and hopefully it’s going to get picked up.” Carri stretched her arm out as she spoke, accidentally grazing his leg with her fingertips.
“Carri that’s amazing.” Rocky replied putting his hand on her knee without thinking about it
Carri glanced at his hand then looked up at him and smiled. “Yeah it is pretty cool. It’s a lot of work, I’m doing some production and some hosting, but I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.” She adjusted herself, unintentionally moving a bit closer to him.
“I can’t wait to see the final product.” he replied smiling back at her
“Maybe I can give you and advanced viewing when it’s done.” she said leaning a bit closer to him
“Maybe.” he replied. He glanced into her eyes and realized that they were now only inches apart. Against all his better judgement he leaned in and pressed his lips against hers. A few seconds later he jolted back. “I’m sorry I shouldn’t be doing this. I don’t know what came over me.”
Carri focused on his face, which was still close to hers, before she pulled him in and they locked lips once again. For a few seconds she was oblivious to everything around her and she felt as though everything was back to normal. That was until she heard the front door slam.
“What the hell is this?” a woman’s voice yelled
The pair quickly jumped apart as Carri spun to see who was yelling at them. Her jaw dropped as she realized she recognized the woman. She was older than the last time she saw her, but there was no denying that it was Jessica McCaffery standing in front of her.
“I came to surprise you and I find you locking lips with that bitch?” Jessica questioned seething. “The same bitch that broke your heart four years ago because some stupid worldwide journey was more important than you?”
Carri didn’t know what she had gotten herself into as she jumped up off the couch and stood in front of Jessica. What she did know was that in about three seconds she had gone from blissful to defenses up and ready to go. “Look I don’t know what’s going on here. I just got back in town and I wanted to see Rocky but obviously this was a mistake.”
“You want to know what was a mistake? Him being with you.” Jessica said and watched as Carri’s jaw tightened. “Over the last two years I’ve treated him better than you ever did.”
Carri’s fists clinched and she took a few deep breaths to keep from physically mauling the woman standing in front of her. “I’m leaving so you don’t have to worry about it.” she said. She briefly glanced over at Rocky who mouthed an apology. She wasn’t in any mood to hear it as she turned to walk off.
“Hey!” Jessica exclaimed grabbing her and shoving her back. Carri paused and looked up at her, then without warning Jessica took a swing at her, clipping her in the jaw. “Don’t you ever come near him again bitch.”
Carri stumbled back a little and put a hand to her face. She was past the point of being tired of the name calling and getting yelled at by Jessica. She stood strong and glared at her. “I didn’t know you were dating so I’m sorry.” she said harshly as she looked at her. She paused for a second before continuing. “I know you’re pissed, I would be too if I was in your shoes so I’ll give you that hit. But don’t ever raise a fist to me again.” she growled
Jessica cocked her head, taking Carri’s words as some sort of challenge. As Carri walked by, she went to hit her again. Carri blocked the shot and hit her square in the nose, watching as she fell to the floor with blood gushing everywhere. She stepped over her and headed out the door, slamming it behind her.
Quickly she headed down the stairs and toward the front of the building. When she was clear of his apartment she leaned against the wall for a moment. Part of her felt vindicated getting to punch Jessica after years of wanting to. There was a greater part that felt as though Jessica was getting the last laugh as the man whose arms Carri ached to be in was sitting up there comforting her.
Frustrated Carri decided she needed someone to talk to. With Kim in Reefside she turned toward the only other ranger she was close with, pulling out her phone and walking off toward some of the shopping areas near the complex.
The trek to Reefside wasn’t bad. Kim found it harder to find Tommy’s house in the middle of nowhere than the town itself. After driving around for a while she finally came upon his driveway. She pulled the car up and cut the engine off, and remained sitting there staring at the house.
She didn’t know what to expect by showing up on Tommy’s doorstep. She could only assume he would let her in as they were both working on the same team now. Tapping her fingers on the steering wheel she continued to glare at the front door. Finally she came to the conclusion that she wasn’t going to get anywhere by sitting in the car and staring.
Kim climbed out of the car and shut the door. She paused for a second as she waited for her legs to stop shaking. Taking a deep breath, she headed up the path and toward the house of the Red Turbo Ranger. Kim walked up to the front door and rang the bell, waiting for someone to answer. She knew Tommy was home as his black jeep sat in the driveway. Finally the door opened and he stood on the other side, giving her somewhat of a smile.
“Kim, hey, is something wrong?” he asked assuming that the only reason she would be standing on his doorstep would be because communications were down and she needed something ranger related
“No. At least, I don’t think so.” she said flashing him a quick smile. She’d know shortly if something was really wrong or not. “I just wanted to come by and visit.”
Tommy wasn’t sure what she meant by come by and visit, but he figured he’d play along and see what was up. “Great. Come on in.” he said opening the door wider and extending her an invitation
“Thanks.” she replied as she stepped into his home, watching as he shut the door behind her. She peered around his house checking it out. “This is a beautiful place you have here.”
“Would you like a tour?” he asked looking over at her. She smiled and nodded and he took her around the house, showing her all the rooms. They made small talk with her commenting on the decorating stiles and the way he set the house up.
As they finished the tour Kim smiled at him. “This is really nice.”
“You haven’t seen the best part yet.” Tommy replied, walking over to reveal a trap door in the floor. He led her downstairs and into his command center. He was very proud of it, especially after his entire team had helped him rebuild it once it was destroyed. “This was the center of operations for the Dino Thunder team.”
“Wow Tommy you did all this?” Kim asked
He shrugged. “I had some help.”
She knew that he was involved in the rangers still and had his own team, but as much of a ranger as he was it was hard to believe that Tommy Oliver had a complex command center for a basement. “You don’t need us you can sit down here and monitor for attacks.” she commented
“If I had time.” he mused. When his Dino Thunder team was active he constantly monitored for attacks with Hayley’s help. Now he was too busy and it was just as easy to let Billy’s more complex monitoring system do it.
“I think it’s great that you’ve still been involved with the rangers over the years.” she said casually. If anything that was the one thing she knew they still had in common.
“I’ve tried to keep up with everything that’s been going on around the galaxy, help out when I can.” Tommy said pausing for a moment. “I think with Callisto and Rhianna I’m about to get consumed by rangering again.”
Kim nodded. “She consumed the last for years of my life. It’s going to be a tough battle.”
“Anything in particular we need to worry about?” Tommy asked leaning against a console and looking over at her.
Kim took a seat on a stool before answering. “She’s worse than her parents combined and she still hasn’t gained her full powers. I don’t know what Callisto has in store for her or what she’s going to be capable of. That’s what worries me the most.”
“That one day her powers will erupt and we’ll have an enemy worse than all the ones we’ve faced combined.” Tommy finished. He sighed as she nodded. “I’d like to know what happened while you were gone. If we’re going to defeat them, I’m going to need to be on the same page as you.”
Kim nodded. He was the teams red ranger, and on that level he had every right to know the entire story with Callisto and Rhianna. Of course she also wanted to make amends with him, so on a personal level she wanted to disclose everything that happened in the past four years. “I guess it all started when I ran into Delphine on Earth. She spoke of Rita and Zedd’s daughter and came to warn us. I wanted to help search for her so I returned with Delphine to Aquitar. I spent a year searching with no luck. Then I got word from Dulcea that she wanted to see me, so it was off to Phaedos.”
“Was that how you knew about the animal spirits on Eltar?” Tommy asked. Bits and pieces were starting to make sense.
She nodded and continued. “Dulcea trained me. I learned a lot with her in a year before I returned to Aquitar. Then the search continued. Finally I found a real lead and that’s when I met up with Carri and Zhane. The three of us found Callisto, Rhianna and their crew on a distant planet. We used powers Dulcea had given me in order to try and fight against them. We became Planetary Rangers.”
“What?” Tommy questioned in disbelief. He had heard of those powers, and he also knew that they were very prestigious and much like the dino gems, the powers picked their owners not the other way around. He also knew that there was nothing in the galaxy to compare to these powers, which was probably why Kim was so concerned about the Turbo powers. “So are you the Pink Wind Ranger?”
Kim shook her head no as she had a smug smile on her face. “Actually I’m the Red Fire Ranger. Carri’s the White Lightning and Zhane’s the Green Terra.”
Tommy cocked his head and looked at her with a new sense of respect. Her being red made their entire mission on Eltar make sense. He couldn’t believe she had been tapped for those powers but he was proud of her for it. He always considered her a leader, a strong ranger, and she could certainly be a red. Now here she was not only a red, but probably the most important red in the galaxy. “So then the three of you took them on?”
“For a while. No matter how much power we had though, we couldn’t compete with them. We tried stealth tactics, which worked, but they weren’t going to take down their empire and we wanted to hit them hard and fast. That’s why we called for help. We had responses from all over the galaxy such as Trey, Phantom, the Aquitarian Rangers, the Nova Rangers...”
Tommy nodded as her voice trailed off. He had worked with Trey and the Aqitarian rangers, and knew a lot about other rangers in the galaxy. He knew that Phantom had played a part with their teams before the Zordon wave. And that the Nova’s were doing a lot more in space than the rangers of Earth would ever realize. “So did you lead everyone?” he asked, assuming that she did as the Red Fire Ranger
“Yeah.” she said simply. “We fought hard and ended it with one huge battle that lasted days. At the end everyone was destroyed and we came home.” she explained as she sighed. “Honestly I don’t know what happened. I had conformation from other rangers that it was over. I just assumed...” she paused and shook her head. “I should have never assumed. I should have done the final sweeps myself.”
“You guys did a hell of a job out there.”
“It wasn’t good enough.” Kim replied. “Now they’re here and they want revenge on us and our planet.”
“And we’ll stop them before they get too powerful. Let’s not forget that we did destroy all of Dark Specter’s forces.” Tommy reminded her
Kim frowned at him. “Let’s not forget that we had a little help with that.” If it weren’t for Andros’s destroying Zordon, there would have been no Zordon wave and no cremation or purification of all their enemies.
“We’ll do it.” Tommy replied firmly. If he could destroy Mesogog with a group of rookie rangers, he was confidant that they could destroy Callisto and Rhianna with master rangers. He looked over at Kim who had crossed her arms and was looking up at the ceiling. He knew there had to be more to this visit than a discussion about strategy. “Is that all we need to cover?” he asked
She froze for a second. He was giving her the opening, and she was going to have to say it. “I want to talk about us. The mission was awkward, and I think we have a lot to air out if we’re going to work together on a team.” she said, glancing over at him
Tommy nodded and made eye contact with her. “As reds we’re going to be working closely on this.”
“I’m sorry I left like that.” she said starting the conversation
Tommy snickered. “If you’re sorry than why did you do it in the first place.”
“Because... because it was hard being with you. It was all about school and your PhD, which was great for you but not as much for us. I think the last real date we had was when we were at USC together.” she said as she glanced around the command center. “Plus you had all this to get to. It worked out better, we both went on to our destinies.”
“We could have gone to our destinies together. We could have kept in touch. At the very least we could have gone on without me thinking that you left me.” Tommy replied his voice rising
“What in the world would give you the idea that I left you.” Kim said standing up and squaring her body with his
Tommy raised an eyebrow. “I believe it had something to do with the fact that the last time I talked to you all I heard was you had something to do and you’d be back soon.”
“I didn’t mean to be gone that long Tommy. I loved you and I never wanted to do that to you.” she said as she could feel tears forming. She tried hard to hold them back as she glared over at him.
“You loved me once before and remember how easy it was for you to send that damn letter.” Tommy growled
“It was never easy.” she snapped. “Neither time was easy. I’ve always done what had to be done for us. When I sent that letter I didn’t want you to feel guilty about Kat. And when I left I didn’t want to tell you that I was searching for Rita and Zedd’s daughter. You had too much going on between Mercer and your PhD to worry about their offspring.”
“You have a strange way of showing love.” Tommy pointed out. He saw her eyes starting to blur and he tried hard not to work up tears of his own. “For a year I thought you’d left me. That was the worst feeling in the world. It wasn’t until I ran into Zack who had heard from Billy that I found out where you actually went. And you know I was kind of proud of you for going on that mission. I just wish you would have respected me enough to tell me what was going on so I wouldn’t think there was something wrong with me, that I wasn’t meant for a relationship.”
After a two weeks had gone by with no word from Kim, Tommy was convinced that she’d left him again. He felt as though he had given his heart to her twice and had it stomped on both times. Since then he hadn’t had a serious girlfriend. He had been on a date here and there, but refused to let anybody in.
Kim looked at him and the realization of how much she had hurt him started to hit her. She never wanted him to feel that way. She loved him, she always had and she always will. Tears started streaming down her face and she turned to look away from Tommy. “I’m so sorry.” she whispered
Seeing her cry was enough for a few stray tears of his own to form. “I am too.” he said as he walked up behind her and gave her a hug. He was sorry he didn’t pay more attention to her after she moved in with him, and he was sorry that things had gone the way they had.
Kim took a deep breath and the crying finally came to a halt. She brushed the remaining tears off of her face as she felt Tommy let go and walk away. After she felt like she had pulled herself back together she turned to face him. “So now what?” she asked calmly as she made eye contact with him
It was good that things were finally aired out, that both parties knew where the other was coming from. That meant that there was one place they could go from there. “Friends?” he questioned. He still loved her, there was no doubting that. After everything that had happened, he wasn’t sure that he could ever let her in again.
Kim sighed. She loved him and had wanted to be with him again but she couldn’t expect to drive out here and make four years of anger disappear in a couple of hours. All she could hope for was that he would start to forgive her and that they would be friends again. She smiled at him as she realized at least she was getting part of that. “Friends.” she replied
Tommy extended his arms to her. “Do friends get hugs?”
“Small hugs.” Kim replied as she grinned and walked into his open arms. They hugged briefly and as Kim got a whiff of his cologne it reminded her of the good old days. She found herself quickly pulling back and smiled at him. “I guess I should get going.”
“Well you did drive all the way up here. I was going to make sandwiches for lunch, would you care to join me?” he asked as he gestured toward the top of the stairs
“Sure why not.” Kim replied. She walked upstairs and headed toward the kitchen as Tommy followed. Sandwiches with her ex was certainly better than nothing.
Jason leaned against his bike and glanced down the sidewalk looking for Carri. He had been waiting in front of the coffee shop for about fifteen minutes. Not that he particularly cared for coffee shops, but it was where she wanted to met. “Where’s your car?” he asked as she finally came into view
“I walked.” Carri replied as she approached
He raised an eyebrow. “From your place?”
“From Rocky’s.” she said nonchalantly
“Car you should’ve said something. I would’ve picked you up.” he said glaring at her. That was a bit of a walk, even for someone in as good a shape as she was.
She shrugged her shoulders. “I needed to walk off some steam.”
“That bad?” he questioned as he stood up and walked toward her
Carri gave him a look as she walked over toward the entrance of the coffee house. He followed and the duo went in and ordered drinks. A few minutes later her frappuccino and his coffee were ready and they went out back, finding a small table near the fountain.
“So you went to talk to him today?” Jason questioned. He was thrilled to hear that she was trying to mend ties, if not for herself than at least for the team. She glanced over at him and nodded slowly. “And?” he asked waiting for her to continue. There was a reason she asked him to meet her out here and it wasn’t for the coffee.
“And I think he wants to get into my pants.” she replied
Jason grinned and raised his eyebrow. “So that’s a bad thing?” he questioned. He had gotten the impression that she still cared about him.
“No.” she said before quickly changing her mind. “I mean yes. Why didn’t you tell me he had a girlfriend?” she asked as she swatted at him
Jason was quick to grab her hand and set it on the table. “If I had known I would have told you. I haven’t exactly kept up with the social lives of the former rangers.”
Carri glared at him. “Oh you’re going to love this then. Not only is he dating, but he’s dating one Jessica McCaffery.”
Jason almost spit out his coffee. “No shit?” he asked trying hard not to laugh at a subject that had to be very touchy for Carri.
“Oh yes. And we kissed and she walked in and I think I broke her nose.” Carri said her temper flaring at the memory
Jason couldn’t help himself, the thought of Carri breaking Jessica’s nose was enough to make him burst out laughing. She shot him a dirty look and he threw his hands up in the air. “Sorry but I think you’ve been wanting to do that for eight years now and to hear that you finally did, well it’s kind of funny.”
“Well whatever. I wish he had told me. I can’t believe he was dating her.” she said rather harshly
“Come on Carri. You can’t expect that after not hearing from you for so many years he still thought you were waiting for him.” Jason pointed out
She shook her head no. “It’s not that. I mean I wasn’t exactly faithful. It’s just.... it’s Jessica. God that makes me want to strangle something.”
“Back up one second.” Jason said looking at her curiously. “What do you mean you weren’t exactly faithful?”
“Well you know,” she started as she shrugged, “you’re trapped in a ship with someone. You work closely with someone. You think you’re developing feelings for someone.”
“What? You and Zhane?” Jason questioned. He couldn’t believe that they would have been in a relationship together.
“Yeah. For a few months. Until we realized that although the sex was great, there was nothing more between us than friendship. He wanted to try again with Karone and I missed Rocky so I think we channeled some of that into each other.” she explained
Jason was surprised how casual she was acting about it. Usually rangers didn’t sleep with other rangers without it being made a big deal of. Zack and Aisha ran into each other in Boston and had a fling. It was nothing, but it had gotten back to Jason through Billy and Trini rather quickly. Of course one would have to imagine that not many people would know about a fling in space unless both parties were sharing. “Does Kim know?” he asked out of curiosity
“About me and Zhane?” Carri questioned as though he was crazy. Jason nodded. “Of course she knows. But that’s it. You and Kim. And I’d like to keep it that way.”
Jason tried hard to hold in his laughter. “Then you may have told the wrong two rangers.”
“Shut up.” she said swatting at him again. “Besides you, Kim and I know a lot of things that noone else knows and they stayed between us.”
He smiled and nodded. She was right, they had spent so much time in college talking just the three of them. Jason heard secrets he wasn’t even sure if he wanted to know. And he loved and respected the girls too much to repeat them. He couldn’t help but smile. It was nice that they were back in town again and he could have these kind of conversations with them. And it was even nicer that they were all rangers again.
“So what about Kim?” Jason asked trying to switch the conversation. “Is she going to try and play nice with Tommy?”
Carri shrugged. “I don’t know. She went up there today so we’ll see what happens. I haven’t heard from her and hopefully that’s a good thing.”
“I’m sure if they’d killed each other we’ll know by now.” Jason replied with a smile
Carri thought for a moment. It had been a shitty day and she was done thinking about reviving her relationship and was moving on to thinking about someone who might actually have a chance. “You think they can work this all out?”
“Sure. Well since they’re both reds they’ll at least be diplomatic and work it out for the team.” Jason knew they could both be stubborn and was skeptical that they would do much more past that
“I know that. I mean like can they be Kim and Tommy again?” she asked
“That’s a good question.” Jason replied. He didn’t know how Tommy felt as they hadn’t really spoken in years. And Kim was kind of cryptic when he asked her about it so there was no help there. “Honestly I think it’s going to be kind of hard for them. At least right now.” he replied. The one thing he did know was that word got around that Tommy was more than a little angry with how Kim left things.
Carri took a huge gulp of her drink and sighed. She was hoping one of them could get their own storybook ending but she knew better. If she were to ever have kids she would only read them fairytales where real life won in the end. “I guess you’re right.”
“I know I’m right.” he said trying to get her to smile. “Hey I know what will cheer you up.”
“What?” she asked looking at him skeptically
“Let’s finish our drinks and I’ll take you for a ride.” he replied
She raised an eyebrow. “On your bike?” she questioned as he nodded. She had never gone for a ride on his bike but what the hell. “Alright you’re on.” she said smiling at him as she started quickly drinking her frappuccino
Two figures stood silently on the moon overseeing the construction. One in particular was agitated as she didn’t see what the other was trying to accomplish. “Tell me again why we’re doing this?” Callisto asked as she looked at Rhianna
“We’re rebuilding my parents palace. Only it will be my castle. And much more efficient than anything they ever had.” Rhianna replied
Callisto crossed her arms and glared at the other woman. “I don’t plan on this fight lasting long enough for your castle to matter.”
“My parents spent years on this battle. It’s better to be prepared.” Rhianna replied. She didn’t plan on making the same mistakes her parents made, and staying here for years with no results. But she did acknowledge that with the former team in power again this battle may last longer than she anticipated. And she wasn’t going to spend time living on that blasted ship.
Callisto didn’t have much of a response. She didn’t think it was going to take them that long to defeat the rangers. She had a feeling that this was more about Rhianna rebuilding her parents palace and making into a castle of her own than anything.
Rhianna took the goddess’s silences as more disapproval. “You’ll have better conditions for building Cirranadrones. They’ll come out faster and stronger.” she said trying to sway her
“I suppose.” Callisto replied although it was obvious she wasn’t convinced. However Rhianna was right, they would be able to get better results working out of the castle than in that little ship.
“We’ll be ready to attack when the castle is done.” Rhianna said staring at the work their minions were doing. “Hopefully the rangers won’t be too rested.”
“No we’ll have them right where we want them.” Callisto replied with a sly smile. “They’ll be relaxed, thinking we’re not a threat. Then when we attack, well maybe we can end this quickly.” Then Callisto would be able to give Rhianna a giant I told you so over the necessity of this castle. Of course the other benefit of waiting to attack until the castle was done was that Callisto would have time to hunt down an item for Rhianna. It was going to be a surprise, hopefully one that would give them an advantage over the rangers. Callisto smiled as she watched the work that was being done and thought about her future. Things were about to get very interesting.
Rocky leaned against his car on the unusually warm March afternoon, staring at a house several doors down from where he stood. He had a lot more to say to Carri and he didn’t have her number and she wasn’t listed. So after he left the hospital he found her home address and went there. Noone was there, so he stayed out of sight waiting for her to come home.
Knowing her she had probably taken off to blow off some steam. He couldn’t blame her, she had every right to be fuming. He should have told her, and now he was here to make things right. As he leaned against the car he heard a loud rumbling noise. Looking up, he saw a motorcycle coming from the opposite direction. It slowed down as it approached her house then stopped in the driveway.
Carri jumped off the back of the motorcycle and lifted her helmet off as Jason stayed seated and did the same. She secured hers to the back of Jason’s bike. “Thanks for the ride.” she said with a smile. He had taken her around Angel Grove on the back of his motorcycle that afternoon so she could get a feel for what it was like and get her mind off of other things.
“Anytime.” he replied smiling back. “Did you enjoy it?”
“It was a lot more fun that I thought it was going to be.” she told him
He laughed at her. “This coming from the woman who loves the wind in her face.”
She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. It’s a bit different in the car versus on your bike.”
Perhaps it was, but Jason certainly wasn’t going to tell her he agreed. “Well I’m going to take off.” he said flashing her a smile. “Call me if you need me. And tell Kim I want to know how it went.”
“Will do.” she replied leaning in to give a friend a hug. “Stay out of trouble.” she teased as she walked toward the house
“Funny I’m getting warnings from someone who’s running around breaking noses.” Jason replied. He watched as she turned and stuck her tongue out, before putting his helmet on and taking off.
Carri walked up to the door and dug for her keys, opening the lock and heading in. She pulled her phone from her pocket and tossed the keys and the phone on the small table near the entrance before collapsing on the couch. The first thing she did was throw her shoes off and rub her aching feet. Walking from Rocky’s was a good idea at the time, but she had been pissed and she hadn’t really thought about the fact that she wasn’t wearing walking shoes. Now her feet were paying the price.
After a few moments she gave up on her feet and sunk into the couch. As she started to let herself relax a bit there was a knock at the door. Since Kim had a key that only left one person. Carri rolled her eyes wondering what Jason had that he could possibly haggle her with. She smiled as she went to open the door. Just as she was going to make a jab at Jason, she realized he was not the male ranger who was standing on her doorstep.
She went to shut the door in Rocky’s face when he stuck his hand out to catch it. “Wait we need to talk.”
“I think I pretty much got the gist of it at your apartment.” she pointed out shoving the door a little harder
Rocky pushed back a little bit. “No you didn’t. Please let me explain.”
Carri gripped the door handle tightly, her knuckles turning white as she thought about how angry she was with everything that happened that morning. “Fine.” she muttered through clenched teeth. She opened the door and took off, flopping back down on the couch.
She listened as the door shut. Rocky slowly made his way to the living room taking in the house as he went. He saw her sitting arms crossed on the end of the couch and took a seat on the opposite side. “I’m sorry about this morning.” he started
“About what? The fact that you didn’t tell me you were seeing someone before you kissed me? Or the fact that you’re in love with Jessica?” Carri asked. At the moment she wasn’t sure which fact ticked her off more. She felt like a fool when she found out he was seeing someone. But she was absolutely floored to find out that the someone else he was seeing was Jessica.
“First off I don’t love Jessica. We’ve been kind of seeing each other for the last two years. She started taking classes at one of my schools. She was still smitten with me and I was lonely so when she asked me out I said yes. But I never loved her, you were always in the back of my mind.”
Rocky paused looking for an answer but he didn’t get one. Silently Carri agreed with him as she knew what it felt like to be missing someone and be lonely. Rocky mistook her silence for more anger and he took a deep breath before continuing. “It’s just been a fun relationship that I think she took a lot more seriously than I did. I’ve never lied to her. She always knew I still cared deeply about you and that I didn’t want anything serious with her and she said she accepted that.”
Looking back Jessica probably figured that with enough time she could push Carri out of his mind and that he would learn to love her the way he loved Carri. But even if Carri never came back and Rocky finally decided that he was ready to really love someone else, it wouldn’t be Jessica. She was a fun girl to hang around with and to date some, but she wasn’t exactly the type of girl he would want to spend the rest of his life with.
“I guess she never really did though.” he continued after Carri still had nothing to say. “We were in the hospital. You did break her nose by the way.” he told her with a hint of amusement in his voice. He could tell Carri was trying hard not to smile but the corner of her mouth tweaked upwards slightly. “She said she couldn’t believe you were back in town and she said I had to completely cut you out of my life to be with her. Before I could say anything she made it absolutely clear that it was either you or her.” he said trying to get Carri to make eye contact with him or at least acknowledge him. She glanced at him briefly and he continued. “I chose you. Besides I think she would have been pissed if I chose her and still went to save the world with you.” he joked trying to get her to laugh or say something
Carri made an amused noise as she turned toward him. “So then I guess it’s ok that I smashed her face in?” she questioned with a smile
“Yeah.” he replied smiling back at her. “Look, I’m sorry. I feel like I cheated on your or something and...”
He stopped when Carri waved a hand at him, cutting him off. “After two years we both started getting a little lonely. There’s nothing to be sorry about it’s human nature.”
“You weren’t the one seeing someone else.” Rocky pointed out
Carri sighed heavily. “Just because I didn’t come home with a boyfriend doesn’t mean I didn’t see someone else.”
Rocky was a bit taken back. Who could she have possibly seen romantically in space. “Was it another ranger?” he questioned
Slowly she nodded her head yes. Rocky had been jealous of her relationships with male rangers in the past and she hated telling him this, but she wasn’t going to lie. “I was with Zhane.” she replied watching the hurt expression on his face. She didn’t feel bad, it hurt her just as much knowing he was with Jessica. “It didn’t last more than a few months. He wanted Karone to take him back and I loved you.”
Rocky stopped for a moment to try and absorb what she was saying. It was hard knowing she had been with another ranger. He took a deep breath and thought about what she just told him. “You said you loved me. Does that mean.... I mean now do you still care?”
“Of course I do. I missed you so much and when we came home I figured you were mad at me or had moved on, so I stayed away. God knows I thought about you everyday while I was up there.”
Rocky scooted toward her and put a hand on her face. “I’ve always loved you too you know.”
“Yeah?” she asked softly as she glanced into his eyes. She felt herself melt into his arms as she leaned in and gave him a kiss. He pulled back for a second and smiled at her, before wrapping both arms around her and bringing her body toward his, kissing her throughly.
Kim pulled Carri’s car into the driveway late Sunday afternoon. She paused to think briefly about how Carri would love to be able to use the garage if she ever got it cleaned out. Her friend had thrown things in there that she wanted for the house, and was planning on getting it all sorted out when she had time. Of course between work and rangering, Kim thought she was on schedule for never.
Walking in the front door she smiled to herself and shook her head as she tossed the keys down beside Carri’s things. She couldn’t help but think about her trip to Reefside as she drug herself to the couch. She almost tripped over Carri’s shoes as she sat down and reached over for the remote.
As she went to click on the tv, something at the end of the couch caught her eye. She was slightly amused to realize it was Carri’s shirt. With a little more investigation she found a mens shirt laying on the floor at the end of the couch.
Kim sighed. It must be nice to be able to make amends. Of course she didn’t know what she expected to happen when she went to see Tommy. She had already had her second chance and she blew it. There was the old three strikes rule, but she was afraid she had hurt him too much with strike two. And she couldn’t blame him for being so angry. She hadn’t thought clearly about it at the time, she just knew she needed to go on that mission for the sake of the universe.
She still didn’t regret going. She did regret how she handled Tommy, but it was impossible to change the past. Well she knew for a fact that it wasn’t impossible, but she also knew that it was highly frowned upon. If she changed one simple thing, such as her phone call to Tommy, she could inadvertently change her future, Carri’s future, Callisto and Rhianna’s future... cutting ties with Tommy may have been what she needed to lead that mission. If she was too busy thinking about being with him back home, they could have all died on that planet and Callisto and Rhianna could be ruling Earth by now.
Everything happened for a reason, she just wasn’t sure what that reason was. Perhaps it was simply their destinies to go on different paths. Either way she was sitting here now bored and lonely while her best friend was apparently getting it on in the other room. She wanted desperately to have been able to easily fall back into Tommy’s arms, but she would have to settle for being just friends.
At least being a ranger and working at her new job would keep her busy, too busy to worry about the fact that she may have blown it with Tommy and that she may not ever find a man she could love like that.
Kim leaned into the couch and resigned herself to flipping through the channels. Anything was better than sitting here worrying over Tommy. She paused on a rerun of CSI as she heard the bedroom door open. A few seconds later, Carri emerged wearing her jeans and a bra.
“Have you seen my”
Kim cut her off by throwing her the shirt, giving her a smile as she watched her put it on. “Ok I want details.” she said. Well some details. The talking that led up to the bedroom kind of details.
“Later.” Carri mouthed as she heard Rocky walking out
“Babe I can’t find my,” he stared as he walked shirtless into the livingroom. “Kim, hi, what are you doing here?”
“I live here. Kind of.” she replied flashing him a smile. “And I think your shirt is on the floor.”
Rocky picked it up and quickly put it back on. He felt embarrassed. He wasn’t completely sure why. It wasn’t like Kim hadn’t seen him with his shirt off before. And it wasn’t like she didn’t know what he and Carri had been up to before. It was just weird walking out with her sitting there. Rocky tried to shake the feeling as he turned toward Carri. “Can we talk for a minute?” he asked
“Sure.” she replied as she led him around to the deck. They walked outside and he closed the door behind them. She sat on the table and smiled at him as he took in the view.
The deck was huge and she had picked out beautiful furniture. She also had a great view of the lake from where she lived. Rocky walked over to the edge of the deck and looked out, noticing the flowers and the trees that had been planted. “You did a great job with the yard.” he said rather impressed
Carri snorted. “Please my thumb is far from green.” she reminded him as she turned toward him. Any plants she had been left in charge of in college or while living with Rocky had died in a matter of days. “I just payed for the stuff. Kim took care of the front and backyards. She said it was her way of contributing.” Kim had been into botany in high school and told Carri she would love to help her fix up the yard, that it was the least she could do.
Rocky nodded as he turned back toward her, leaning against the railing. “About that,” he started gesturing toward the bedroom, “not that I regret it, but maybe we should slow down. We still have a lot to talk about before we’re back on solid ground again.”
“Agreed.” she replied nodding her head. She didn’t exactly plan on having sex with Rocky, it was sort of a heat of the moment thing. She didn’t regret it either, but a lot had changed with them in four years and there were still a lot of things that had remained unsaid that day.
“How about I pick you up one night this week for dinner?” he suggested. Dinner would be good, it would give them each a chance to figure out who the other person has become over the last few years.
“Dinner is good. How about Tuesday?” she asked. That may end up being the only night she didn’t have to work late.
“Tuesday’s good.” he replied. He walked over and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “I do need to get going. I have to start preparing things for my schools.”
“That’s fine. Would you like me to walk you do the door?” she asked flashing him a smile
Rocky pointed toward the side of the house. “I’ll just head around.” he replied. He smiled back at her before heading down the stairs.
Carri watched him walk until he was out of her view, then turned and went back inside. Upon shutting the porch door, she walked over and had a seat beside Kim on the couch. “Ok you have to tell me everything.” she said turning toward her friend
Kim raised an eyebrow. “Since you were the one in the bedroom, you first.”
“Fine.” Carri said with a smile. She proceeded to tell Kim about her morning and her conversation with Rocky, followed by the kiss and the Jessica incident. Kim couldn’t believe that Rocky was dating Jessica, and she’d found it more unbelievable that Carri actually broke her nose.
Carri went on to tell her about the conversation they’d had in the house before they slept together, and the conversation they’d had after. Kim couldn’t help but feel a bit jealous as she started to tell her story, as she wanted hers to end something like that. She told her about his house and command center, about their conversations and emotions, and about how she missed him but knew that it was hopeless at the moment. Carri felt bad, she really wanted Kim and Tommy to have another chance. She knew that there was no way their story was over just yet.
“At least that’s over with and we know we can function as a team.” Carri said as she sunk into the couch
Kim nodded. “That’s the most important thing.” she replied. She knew that they would have to be strong together to hold off Callisto and Rhianna. She hoped their teamwork would be enough.
“You think we can pull this off?” Carri asked turning toward her friend. The last time it took dozens of rangers to even come close to defeating them. One of the thoughts that had been crossing her mind a lot lately was how the hell were they going to do this.
“I don’t know.” Kim said honestly. They would have to see what happened. They could always call the other rangers back to help. Of course she’d heard that there had been some turmoil brewing on Aquitar, and that the Nova’s just started their own battle in space.
Without warning Carri pulled the remote out of Kim’s hand and hit the power button. “Let’s go shopping.” she said
“Carri....”
“Tomorrow is your first day at work. You need a new outfit.” Carri cut her off before she could make up an excuse. They used to have so much fun shopping. Granted a lot has changed since they were college kids, but there was a lot on both of their minds that they needed to try and push aside, if only for a few hours.
Kim sighed and Carri knew she was giving in. “Fine. We’ll go. But I can’t promise I’m not going to be distracted by Tommy or Callisto and Rhianna.”
Carri grinned at her. “Trust me, I’m going to keep you occupied.” With that she jumped up and grabbed Kim’s hand, pulling her up as well. She grabbed her shoes then pulled Kim to the front door, only pausing long enough to grab her keys and phone. They headed out locking the door behind them, before jumping in the car and heading to the mall.
The End