*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Chapter 4: Healing Miracle

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Kimberly slowly opened her eyes, groaning as a sharp pain shot through her body, wincing away from the bright light outside.  She felt a warm hand on her forehead pulling her pain away, and she sighed gratefully.  Opening her eyes, she smiled at her companion.  “Good morning, Tommy.”

“Hi.  So I hear you ran back into a burning building to save your daughter.”  Tommy smiled as he helped Kimberly sit up, joining the petite brunette on her bed.  “You can take those bandages off.”

“Huh?  Oh.”  Kimberly’s fingers found the gauze on her face, carefully removing them and feeling the skin underneath.  “How did I heal so fast?  I know I was more burned than this.  My hands are fine, too.  Wow.  Is this part of . . . our past?”

Tommy nodded, recognizing the need for secrecy, no matter that they seemed to be alone.  “I think so.  We were both burned up pretty bad, and I had a pretty bruised leg, but that is all healed now.”

“What about Shana?”

“She wasn’t hurt except for a little smoke,” Tommy assured the mother.  “She’s a beautiful little girl, Kimberly.  She looks just like you.”  He took her hands; dark brown eyes serious.  “I hope that her father treated you right.”

“He always did,” Kimberly whispered, reaching up to wipe away her tears.  “Um, Tommy, about the letter . . . it was Steve, Kat’s cousin on her father’s side.  When he found out that I was pregnant in March, he offered to marry me and take me back to Australia with him after the Pan-Globals.  We went to the Winter Olympics, but I couldn’t go to the Summer Games.”

“I hear you got gold in the Pan-Globals and the Winter Olympics.  Congratulations.  Have you done any gymnastics since then?”

Kimberly shook her head.  “Not really.  I practice a little and I’ve been teaching Shana, but I never really got into teaching gymnastics.  I have a license and all, but I never really used it.”

“I thought that was your dream, though.”

“It was, once,” she whispered.  “Long ago, I had a lot of dreams.  Now . . . have you achieved all of your goals, Tommy?  Are you finished doing what you wanted to do with your life?”

“No, of course not.  Rocky, Jason, and I bought that dojo we wanted but we’re only just now showing some good profits.  We have some good students and their parents send their children to learn discipline and honor, even if they aren’t really all that interested in the martial arts.  I still want to get married, have a family, own my own house, maybe go and spend some time with my brother David on the reservation and learn more about my past and my people.  I still have a lot to do.”

“I don’t,” she whispered.  “I’m not sure if I ever want to teach, but I’ve done everything else.  I have my gold medals, I had my time in the spotlight.  I got married, I had a child, I visited foreign countries . . . there’s nothing left for me, Tommy.  I had a dream a few nights ago where Jason came to me and said that he was arranging a reunion of the Power Rangers and that I would be welcome here in Angel Grove.  I wasn’t going to come, but then I looked out at Steve’s grave and realized that I had nothing left in Australia.  That house, that land, belonged to Steve, and Shana and I needed to leave.  Angel Grove seemed as good a place as any to go, and as soon as all the details of the will are worked out, I’ll rent the land to Rob so he can keep his livestock there and I can keep living off Steve’s home.”

“Will you stay here?”

“I might.  I’ve missed California, but I was able to bury my loneliness for five years.”

“Is that why you created your Ann persona?”

“Yeah.  Ann Hilliard was Steve’s wife, the nice young woman he brought home from the Pan-Global Games and the mother of his child.  She was a housewife—I think we’re called “home-makers” now—and volunteered in the community.  She had a gorgeous garden and a sweet little girl and worked with rehabilitating injured animals in the area.  But when I came here, she vanished.  I tried to bring her back when you came to my hotel room, but there are so many memories here that I couldn’t find her.  With the fire . . . I never got to thank you, Tommy, for saving my daughter.  She’s all that I have.”

“I’d do anything for you, Kimberly, and I hope you know that.”

“I do, Tommy.  I really do.  Where . . . where is Shana?”

“The nurse told me earlier that Shana was checked out and she was perfectly fine.  She found that a little strange, and so did I, but she was kept in a room in the children’s ward overnight for observation.  Maybe she inherited some of your immunities from our past.”

“I hope not.  I wanted her to be normal, Tommy.  I didn’t want her to face the danger we faced.  I hoped we could escape all of this strangeness in Australia, and it worked.  She has lived a happy, healthy life without monsters and Rita and Zedd . . . I didn’t want her to go through what I went through, Tommy.”

“You did wonderfully, Kimberly, much better than you give yourself credit for.  Shana is a beautiful little girl.  She looks just like her mother.”

“She looks like her father,” Kimberly murmured, turning away from her former boyfriend.  “When are they going to let us out?  I . . . I really want to see the other guys.  I’m not sure if they’ll still want to see me, but . . .”

Tommy smiled.  “They want to see you, Kimberly.  I know I am glad that you’re back.  If they didn’t want to see you, would all of them have come to your aid?”

Kimberly smiled, pausing as her memories of the fire and the subsequent rescue returned to her.  “How did you know, Tommy?  You weren’t there when I ran back in and the policemen had no idea who I was when I broke free.”

“I just knew.”  Any further conversation was stilled by a nurse entering the room, clipboard in hand.  Kimberly had no idea who she was, but Tommy recognized the mousy woman as Laura, the nurse from the ambulance the previous night.  The woman wasn’t much taller than Kimberly, her frame almost as petite, the fire in her ice blue eyes just as strong.  Her light eyes contrasted sharply with her black hair, pulled into a bun to be out of her way.

“Well, let’s see how my newest patients are doing.”  She stopped dead at the sight that greeted her eyes.  She vividly remembered the vicious burns covering the young woman, but Ann Hilliard’s face and arms were perfectly healed, no indication that they had ever been injured.  Tommy Oliver was also bandage-free.  What amazed the young nurse the most was their hair.  After such an ordeal, their hair had been singed, dry, and fairly brittle.  But now their hair was movie-star perfect, shiny and silky, free even of soot.  It was completely impossible, and Laura jotted down all of her observations for Arissa’s use.  She made a private wager that Oliver’s bruised leg was perfectly fine and Hilliard’s fractured right leg was healed, no scar tissue on the bone or anything.  “Um, I need to examine the two of you after last night’s ordeal.”

“Of course.”  Tommy returned to his own bed as Laura closed the curtain, Kat Hilliard’s arguments to keep the pair in the same room ringing in her head.  Tommy had been a little delirious, but his body fought all sedatives and he refused to be put in a separate room.  Laura’s perfunctory examination of Ann Hilliard proved her theory correct, and she noted on the log that there was no reason to keep the woman any longer unless the doctor argued against her release.  Oliver also proved to be in perfect health, both even breathing perfectly well.  Shaking her head, Laura left the pair and promised to send some food.

“I just realized something, Tommy.”

“What?”

“Won’t they find it strange how quickly we healed?  I never thought about it . . . before, but our past changed us more than any of us could guess, even Billy.  You don’t think that someone might figure it out?”

“Don’t worry, Beautiful,” Tommy smiled, never noticing that he had automatically called Kimberly by his old nickname for his girlfriend.  “A person would have to suspect the truth before they began to investigate it, and no one has any idea.”

“What about his reunion of Jason’s?  There will be more than—what, fifteen?—people that share our past right here in Angel Grove.  It might get a little suspicious.”

“Don’t fret, Kimberly.  Jason’s smart; he’ll keep our secret.  He was one of you originals; you all remember that oath better than the rest of us.”

“You’re telling me.  Sometimes I wonder what my life would have been like if It never happened.”  Kimberly shook her head, banishing the past, a smile on her lips.  “Never mind.  By the way, my hotel kind of burned to the ground so I don’t really have any where to stay.  Actually, except for the singed clothes I was wearing yesterday, I don’t own anything in this hemisphere.  Do you know somewhere I can stay?”

“Jason, Rocky, and I each have our own apartment above the dojo with a common living area and kitchen; I’m sure I can crash on Jase’s couch and let you and Shana have my room.  Or we can ask one of the girls, if you would be more comfortable with them.”

Tommy’s eagerness amused the mother, and she reached up to caress his cheek without thinking about it.  “Thank you, Tommy.  Thank you for still caring.”

“I never stopped.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Riss, you don’t understand.  They have the most amazing healing ability . . . I’ve never seen it before!  It reminds me of some strange reports I’ve read previously.”

“Like?”

Laura shrugged, sipping her tea.  “A couple of years ago, Rocky DeSantos came in with a neck injury from some martial arts move he hadn’t quite mastered or something like that.  I’m not sure why, but his doctor didn’t report anything unusual about his recovery.  I read the report and remember being shocked that DeSantos had even survived, let alone made a full recovery.  Injuries like his have killed and paralyzed other people; he was the first I ever read about recovering.  Seeing him now you would never guess that he was hurt.”

“Wasn’t DeSantos one of the men that helped save Hilliard?”

Laura nodded.  “There are others.  Every one of the eleven men and women that was at that fire has a file in the hospital and I glanced at each of them.  None of them have given blood, but we have some blood samples from the ones who have been more seriously injured which I can’t get to without some effort.  But, without fail, all of them were released from the hospital early than expected, no matter why they were there.”

“How strange is that, Laura?”

“If they were all complete strangers in different states or even just different cities, I would say that nothing is wrong.  However, these eleven—as you saw very clearly last night and as I saw on the late-night news—are very close friends and will instantly go to each other’s aid no matter the situation.  I don’t know very much about Tanya Sloan or Katherine Hilliard, but Ann Hilliard, Scott, Kwan, Taylor, and Cranston are from Angel Grove originally.  Oliver, Park, Campbell, Sloan, Katherine Hilliard, and DeSantos moved here more recently, all since entering High School.  From what I can remember and determine from their other friends, the first five were a ‘group’ since they were little, and the others were kind of absorbed when they entered Angel Grove.”

“And they all have this unique healing ability?”

“Yes.”

“Maybe I should keep an eye on them for a while.  Do you know where they live?”

“Yes.  Is there anything else, Riss?”

Arissa stood up from the table in the small coffee house, kissing Laura on the cheek as she straightened her jacket and prepared to return to her job.  “Unless you can get a glance at those blood samples, not really.  Perhaps if you tell your superior what you told me, she might let you examine them . . . in the name of scientific advancement, I suppose.  Other than that, I should be home early tonight unless something happens.”

“Okay, Riss.  I’ll make some stir-fry.”

“Sounds great!  We’re out of soy sauce . . .”

Laura smiled as she paid for their drinks and followed the police sergeant out of the coffee house.  “Don’t worry; I’ll get some more.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Chapter 5: Part of the Family

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“I’m not sure, Tommy.  I don’t know if they even want to see me after all this time.”

“Tanya, Kat, Aisha, and Trini went to visit you, didn’t they?  They really miss you, Kimberly.”  Tommy fumbled for his key, unlocking the suite door and opening it so he brown-haired woman and her child could enter the apartment.  The lights were off, making Tommy wonder where Rocky and Jason could be.  Kimberly sensed his unease and she backed up, running into him as she attempted to retreat.  “It looks like no one else is home.  We can get the two of you moved in, then.”  He reached out and flipped on the lights.

“SURPRISE!!!!”

Kimberly jumped back as people exploded from their hiding places, streamers and confetti raining down.  She swayed slightly, feeling overwhelmed, but she gained control of her body and covered her mouth with her hands, shocked and overjoyed.  Jason, Billy, Zack, and Trini ambushed her, tears in even the men’s eyes.  Kimberly was pulled to the center of the room, Aisha, Adam, and Rocky pulling Kat and Tanya closer to greet the petite mother, too.  Then they moved back so the non-Ranger guests could greet the woman and meet her daughter.  Tommy pulled Jason and Rocky to one side as little Shana, easily as outgoing as her mother, joined Kimberly to meet her friends.

“You guys didn’t have to do this.  She was almost overwhelmed there for a second.”

“I’m surprised she didn’t faint,” Jason admitted.

“She’s too strong for that now.  At least she’s smiling.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“She looks just like you, Kimberly.”

“Steve always said so.  Kat, I don’t know how to thank you guys for coming to help at the fire.  I tried to save Shana myself, but I kind of forgot . . .”

“That you’re not a Ranger anymore?”  Kat placed a friendly hand on her cousin’s shoulder, smiling down at the sleeping child.  “For her, I would have run back into that building.  When we realized why Tommy ran into the building, we just moved without thinking.  It was like our Ranger days, all of us fighting as a team to save the people we love.  It was empowering.”

“Love?  You can’t mean me.”

“I do, Kimberly.  Aside from the fact that you’re my cousin, you’re family, Tommy still loves you and all of your friends love you.”

“Tommy doesn’t love me.”  Kimberly turned away, walking to the window and looking out over Angel Grove.  “He did, once.”

“He still does!  Kimberly, he ran into a building engulfed in flame to save you.  He never even thought about the consequences, he just ran.  Why can’t you see what we see?”

“But he dated you for a long time after I left.”

“We also broke up a long time ago.  We realized that he was just using me as a substitute for the woman he really loved.  It wasn’t fair to either of us.  Besides, I found the man I was really looking for.”  Kat held out her hand, a modest diamond sparkling from her ring finger.  Kimberly’s eyes widened as she reached out to examine the stone.

“It’s gorgeous!  I didn’t know you were engaged!”

“I didn’t know you were married,” Kat pointed out, her smile friendly.  “But we were really far apart.”

“Do I know him?”

“Since you were a little girl.”

Kimberly raised an eyebrow, confusion changing to shock.  “Jason,” she realized.  “Kat, that’s wonderful!  Congratulations!  When is the wedding?”

“In a couple of months.  We’re going to Australia so he can meet my family before the ceremony.  We might get married there since he plans to move back with me.”

“You’re going back to Australia?”

“I always planned to eventually, after I finished exploring the world and all.  Jason told me that he can just as easily teach martial arts in Queensland as California, so the move won’t bother him.”

“I liked Australia, but it was never really home for me.  Ann . . . it was Ann’s home.”

“And Shana?”

“I think she always knew that I wasn’t from there.  She was always talking about seeing my home someday.”

“Is that why you came back, Kimberly?”

The gymnast shook her head, finding that she shared the same bond of friendship with Kat that she forged with Trini and Aisha so long ago.  “I came back because I have nothing left there, now that Steve’s dead.  All I have is the land and the memories, but I can’t see my future there.  I don’t think I’ll ever be able to go back.  I guess I’m just trying to find where I belong.”

“You’ve always belonged here, Kim.  Even after you left there was this vibe, this sense that some bright light had been extinguished, in some way the team was less powerful, more fractured.  I’m really not explaining this very well, but they always looked for you.  In battle and out, all of them seemed to need you.  When your letter came . . .”  Kat shook her head, turning away.  “I’m sorry; you probably don’t want to hear this.”

“No, that’s alright.  I think, in a way, I need to hear this.”

“Okay.”  Gathering her thoughts, Kat turned back to her predecessor, tears sparkling in her pale blue eyes.  “Your letter broke Tommy’s heart.  I have never seen that man in so much pain.  He turned to me because he needed someone to lean on, someone who wouldn’t push him away.  Eventually, we tried dating because he wanted to fill the void you left.  But he wasn’t the only one.  Adam, poor Adam, is the one who read the letter, and he has never stopped blaming himself for at least part of his friend’s pain.  He can’t really say it, but he thinks that he did something to drive you away, to betray the bond he shared with you and Tommy, or maybe he didn’t do enough to keep you here.  Billy just wouldn’t believe that you wrote a letter like that; he was never as carefree after that, I think.  He could never truly believe in anything again.  We found Rocky later that day beating a punching bag into stuffing, alternating between wanting to kill whoever made you write that letter and needing to go see you, to know why you broke his friend’s heart.  Even Tanya, who never met you, couldn’t believe that the woman Tommy loved would do something like that.  At the time I was so obsessed with Tommy that for a moment I was relieved that you let him go, but later I cried for you, for the pain you must have been in to break up with him.  I wanted to help him heal so badly.  After you vanished, I would imagine you coming back and making him happy again.  When I found out that you married Steve, it felt like I had a second chance to make everything better.  You can’t leave Kimberly because we really do need you.”

Kimberly was shaking from the power of Kat’s words, tears streaking her cheek, unable to find anything to say.  Kat stepped forward and embraced the brunette, holding her while she cried, all of the pain and loneliness and the secrets she had to keep for the last five years pouring out of her in her silent sobs.  They stood like that for a long time, until Kimberly regained her composure and pulled away, wiping the last tears off her cheeks.  “Thank you,” she whispered.  “I’m so sorry . . . I didn’t . . . it was the only thing I could think of and I cried for so long . . . I had to vanish, to create Ann and marry Steve so that the pain would go away.  I don’t know if I can ever fix it.”

“Love really can heal all wounds, if you try, Kimberly.  Why did you write that letter?  Was it because of Steve?”

“It was because of Shana,” she whispered.  “She changed my life and I couldn’t ever come back.  So I thought that I should . . .”  She trailed off, unable to say anything else, and Kat smiled, opening the door and holding out her hand.

“It’s okay.  When you’re ready, we’ll be here.  Come back out to your party, Kim.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Laura groaned and sat back, closing her eyes for a moment.  She was so tired of looking at blood samples!  “Laura?  Laura, are you here?”

“Yeah, Justin.  What is it?”

The youngest nurse, Justin Mulligan, poked his red head into the lab.  “I have the results you wanted.  Are you sure these samples come from human blood?”

“Positive; why?”

“The reading are very odd.  There are unusually high levels of antibodies and white blood cells.  I would imagine that the specimen this blood came from would be unable to get a disease.”

“Strange.  What antibodies are present?”  Laura took the slides and stared at them under the microscope, noting many irregularities.

“Every antibody that I’ve ever seen is in there somewhere.  I don’t even recognize most of them.  I imagine that this person is immune to everything except the common cold.  We also did some tests on the other DNA samples, UV tests, and we couldn’t mutate the DNA.  We couldn’t kill any of the cells and we couldn’t even give this person cancer.”

That caught Laura’s attention.  “What?”

“We cultured some of the cells and introduced cancerous ones.  Less than five hours later when we checked again, they were gone.”

“The normal cells?  Did the cancer wipe them out?”

“No.  The normal cells eradicated the cancerous ones.  The other three cultures from the different specimens did the exact same thing.”

“Are you saying that these people hold the cure for everything from the flu to cancer?”

“They just might.  But where would they get such immunity?”

“Where, indeed?”  <I can’t wait to tell Arissa!>

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Chapter 6: Little Eagle

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Arissa sipped her coffee as she scribbled on the pictures scattered across her desk, typing on her computer as she analyzed them.  Thanks to the sophistication of the equipment available to the Angle Grove police force, she was able to take random photos of the Power Rangers from different times and angles to determine the height of each of the Rangers, the change in the teams fairly obvious.  She was also able to make notes on build from the pictures, using short video and audio clips collected by the town over the years to note common moves used by the heroes and even voice types.  She could tell that the first Pink Ranger left and was replaced just from the drastic change in height and body shape, the same applying to the first and second Yellow Rangers.  The third Yellow Ranger was substantially taller than the second, about the same as the first.  There even seemed to be a change in Yellow Rangers when they were the Turbo Rangers.

The changes in the Red Ranger was just as easy to detect, but the change was more subtle.  All of the Red Rangers were tall, but the change in body structure was enough for her to identify five different men holding the red powers.  There were also four obvious Blue Rangers, ending with the Rangers that traveled to space and had only returned once in a while.  The Green Rangers were not so easy.  It was obvious just from height that the first Green Ranger that attacked the town in the early days of the Rangers and later joined the team until slowly disappearing was not the same as the Green Zeo Ranger.  But she couldn’t tell just from physical appearance if the second Green Ranger lasted until they went into space.  From her observations of the other Rangers, it seemed that the Green Ranger probably changed during the Turbo Powers.  She encountered the same problem with the Black Ranger, easily detecting the change in the early years, wondering if the same Black Ranger returned after the Zeo Powers.  Again, she doubted it.

There was also a short period of time when a completely different team of Rangers protected Angel Grove, but they only visited for a short period and then left, so she ignored them.  That only left the White Ranger from the early years and the Gold Ranger who appeared in the Zeo time period.  Sighing, Arissa leaned back and stared at her notes.  She knew somehow, deep inside, that only certain people could be Power Rangers, so how could there have possibly been more than twenty Rangers in six years?  It just didn’t seem very likely.  And they had to live in Angel Grove to always protect that town.  Unless . . . unless some of them wore different colors.  Bolting out of her seat, Arissa gathered the homemade videos and began to watch them, pad in hand, trying to determine which Rangers could have been the same person.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Most of the former Rangers have accepted my invitation.  Here’s the list.”

Kimberly took the paper and read the names, recognizing many of them but not all.  She noticed colored symbols beside the names, some names having two or three different ones.  Tommy’s name had four.  “What are the symbols for, Jase?”

“Team and color.  The moon is for the first set of powers, basically everything pre-Zeo.  The plus sign is Zeo, the squiggly line is Turbo, and the star is Space.  So the pink moon beside Kat’s name represents her time as the Pink Ninja Ranger.”

“Ok.  I don’t know a lot of these people.”

“Okay.  When Tommy and the others gave up their Turbo Powers, Justin stayed on since he was still pretty young, and a new group took over.  T.J. became the Red Ranger, Carlos the green, Cassie the pink, and Ashley yellow.  Then Justin left, T.J. became the Blue Ranger, Carlos became the Black Ranger, and Andros from KO-35 became the Red Ranger.  They were the last group, since Zordon died.  Even Andros has agreed to come with his sister, Karone.”

“She was evil, too, wasn’t she?”

“A lot of us have been evil.”

“And most of us have done some things we regret.”  Kimberly turned away, wiping the faint tears off her cheeks, looking out into the dojo proper.  She and Jason were in his office while Tommy and Rocky led their classes through their lessons.  Little Shana sat on the sidelines, dark eyes constantly locked on Tommy, memorizing his moves as she had been doing all week.  Kimberly had offered her something else to do, but the child didn’t want to do anything but watch Tommy.

“You have nothing to regret, Kim.  Your life has been a success.  You’ve done more in twenty-three years than most people can do in a hundred.  What do you have to regret?”

“I wish I never left, Jase.  I wish I never got back on that balance beam.”

“Kim, you can’t mean that.  You’re a gold medalist, one of the best gymnasts ever.  You have a beautiful daughter, you traveled the world, and you had a wonderful marriage.  Do you miss your husband?”

“No,” she whispered, head hung.  “I don’t.  I should, but I don’t.  I married him, I shared his bed for five years, I know he loved me, but I . . . he’s just a fond memory.  I don’t miss him at all.  What’s wrong with me, Jason?”

Jason wrapped his arms around Kim’s small waist and pulled her close.  “It’s alright not to love someone, Kimberly.  You can only have one true soulmate.  It’s fine if it wasn’t Steve; maybe you just haven’t met him yet.”

“Maybe I have,” she whispered, glancing at her daughter and former boyfriend.  “But maybe I just let him slip away.  I messed up, Jason, and I don’t know how to tell anybody what really happened.”

“Maybe you should talk to Trini or Aisha.”

“They won’t understand.”

“Kat?”

“Maybe . . . I’m so glad you two found each other, Jason.”  Kimberly turned away from her friend as a commotion in Tommy’s class caught her attention.  Apparently the former White Ranger had paired the children in his beginner class up to practice some of their moves and one of the little boys didn’t have a partner.  Shana was talking quietly with the teacher, her little brown eyes serious, and Tommy shrugged.  Shana faced off against the boy, bowing as they moved into fighting stances.  Kimberly jerked out of Jason’s arms and dashed for the mats, knowing that she would never make it in time.

Shana ducked the boy’s weak blow like an expert, her speed and agility a match for her mother’s any day.  Gracefully she flowed through the moves of a very complicated kata she could only have learned from watching Tommy, narrowly missing the boy with each motion.  He moved back, trying to escape, but a simple flip from her put him back in range.  Tommy, shocked, moved forward to separate the pair as Shana’s moves left sparks in the air, a strange presence seeming to engulf her.  Kimberly finally reached her daughter and scooped her into her arms, avoiding the child’s last move with ease.  She stared at Tommy, her eyes full of apology as she dashed off.  Tommy glanced at Jason and followed, leaving the first Red Ranger to finish the class.  He knew where Kimberly would go.

Outside the dojo, having glanced in as she headed for work, the police chief pondered the child as she resumed her trek.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Kimberly!  Wait!”

“I don’t want to talk to you, Tommy.”  Kimberly placed Shana on the ground and told her to go pick some flowers.  The brunette stopped by the pond’s edge and stared out across the water, wishing that he would just go away.

“I’m not leaving.  What was that?  How can she have power?”

“You know, the one thing we never asked Zordon was for a list of side-effects of the Power.  It changed us in ways we still don’t know about and can’t understand.  When I was younger, before the Rangers, I used to get sick pretty easily.  But I only remember getting sick once while I was a Power Ranger and twice in five years since then.  Does that seem normal?  And what about our incredible healing speed?  We shocked the nurse and the doctors, you know.”

“It’s not a bad side-effect, Kim.”

“No, but what about for Shana?  She can get a scrape and have it heal within an hour; she hasn’t been sick once in her life; she has skills and reflexes no five-year-old should possess; and she knows things, Tommy, things she shouldn’t know.  Why didn’t Zordon warn us about having children?”

“There’s nothing wrong with her, Kimberly.”

“Yes there is!”  Kimberly whirled around, fists clenched, tears in her bright eyes.  “She can’t be around normal children because that power always manifests itself!  Did you see that kata?  Tommy, she watched you once and knew it by heart, no problems!  She never has to practice them and she does them perfectly.  That’s not normal.  Power Rangers were never meant to have children.  I wish I’d had that stupid abortion.”

“Kimberly!”  Tommy stared at the woman, shocked, knowing that Kimberly was carrying more baggage than she could admit to.  “You can’t mean that.  What about Steve?  He loved Shana, didn’t he?  Did he want you to have an abortion?”

“I didn’t tell him until I was sure that I was keeping her.”

“Why . . . I don’t understand, Kim.  Did you hate her father that much?”

“No,” she whispered, crossing her arms over her chest.  “I loved him that much.”  Something in Kimberly’s tone froze Tommy as both turned to glance at Shana.  She was running through the flowers, arms outspread as she pretended to be the eagle on her necklace.  Kimberly smiled a little, and she shook her head.  “No, I’m glad I kept her.  No matter what secrets we have to hide, even if her life isn’t normal, I’m glad that I didn’t have the abortion.  I think it was her father that held me back.”

“It . . . Shana’s father . . . it wasn’t Steve, was it?”  Kimberly slowly shook her head, a slight tinge of fear in her brown eyes.  “Who . . . who was it?”  Kimberly pulled back, trying desperately to find her Ann persona, but Tommy’s gentle arms caught her.  He pulled her arms away from her chest and embraced her, lending the small woman strength.  “Tell me who Shana’s father is.  I think I deserve to know who you dumped me for, Kimberly.  Who was the other man?”

“Steve was,” she whispered, “but he wasn’t her father.  He thought he was, and I married him to protect her, but I never loved him.  I couldn’t.  She knows who her real father is, and she’s always known.  Steve never figured it out.”  Kimberly took a deep breath and rested her head on Tommy’s chest, closing her eyes, her voice so quiet that Tommy felt the vibrations more than heard her.  “Do you . . . do you remember that Christmas and our little private party in your room that involved a bottle of wine your parents had lying around?”  Tommy nodded, smiling fondly.  “Remember how I said the doctor was trying me on a new birth control pill and that I was between them at the time?”

“Sure I remember.”

“Oh, Tommy!  Every single one of those sex-ed classes told us to use condoms!  Why didn’t we listen?!!”

Tommy turned white, barely able to support himself.  “Oh god . . . you don’t mean . . . Kimberly, she can’t be . . .”

“She is,” Kimberly whispered, pulling away, feeling strangely relieved now that her biggest secret was revealed.  “Shana is your daughter.”  She turned away, ready for the worst, as she plunged forward with her explanation.  “I knew that I should be only a few days from my period, but I thought it was closer to a week.  When I was two weeks late, I made an appointment with my gynecologist.  Of course the first thing she asked was if I had sex in the past month, and I told her that I had.  The first test was inconclusive, so she had me come back a week later.  By that time it had been a month and I had missed an entire cycle.  I hadn’t been feeling so good and I was bloated and my morning sickness was atrocious.  When she told me I was pregnant I fainted.  I was so happy, Tommy; I wanted more than anything to come home to you and live with you forever and have your children and be your wife.  I even came back to tell you, but I saw the team in the Youth Center before I got a chance to go to your house.  I stopped to greet them when you came in and I saw how Kat greeted you, how the team kind of surrounded you.  At that moment I realized that I couldn’t tell you, that I had to let you go.”

“Kimberly, why?  I’m her *father*; I deserved to know!”

“You were also a Power Ranger, the leader of the team, protector of Earth.  How could I come to you and give you two people to protect above everyone else?  You would have sacrificed the world for us, and I couldn’t let you.  Besides, none of the new enemies even knew who I was, that you once had a girlfriend named Kimberly Hart, or that you had once almost served Lord Zedd to save her.  If I had come back, even for a little while, they would have known and they could have used me to get to you.  Worse, they would have used Shana or even killed her.  I had to protect her, Tommy.  I saw how much Kat was smitten with you; I knew that she would be there for you.  So I left without saying a thing to anyone.  I’ll admit that I was feeling pretty miserable and I ended up in my room, crying.  Steve was one of my closest friends; he knew all about you and he was always there for me when I needed it.  When he saw how upset I was all he wanted to do was make me feel better.  He ended up kissing me—he didn’t mean to, but that’s what happened—and I let it go much further than it should of.  We had sex, no protection, no worries, and I realized that he could protect you and me from each other.  If I told you that there was someone else, you would stay away and stay safe.”

“Kimberly . . . I had no idea . . .”

“Let me finish,” she whispered.  “I wrote you that letter, sending it to the Youth Center so everyone would know, so you couldn’t hide what happened, so you wouldn’t be tempted to come to Florida, so that the others would be there for you and make it easier.  I know that you and Kat got together, just like I planned.  About two weeks after I had sex with Steve, I told him that I was pregnant.  I never said that she was his, but he assumed that she had to be, so he offered to marry me and take me back to Australia with him after the Games.  He was so sweet, so kind, so I accepted.  His family paid for everything, though my mother insisted on buying my dress, and we got married before my pregnancy was too obvious.  I never planned on being eighteen and pregnant, but Shana was so small that the birth was easy.  Steve always wanted me to come back and see my friends, but I knew that I would see you.  Shana looks just like you, Tommy, and I know Steve could see that she looked nothing like him.  He never asked.”

“You’ve carried this secret for five years?  Kimberly . . . you know I would have been there for you, no matter what?”

Kimberly faced Tommy again, head still hung, hearing only support and love in his voice.  There was none of the anger and bitterness she expected, none of the accusation and bitterness.  “I know.”

“And so would we.”  Kimberly did look up at that, finding all of her friends standing behind Tommy, love and support the only emotion in their eyes.  Kat stepped forward, blue eyes suspiciously moist, and held out her arms.  “After all, Power Rangers are always there for each other.  You can’t get rid of us, mate.”

Kimberly took a step forward, having lost control of her own body as she jumped into Kat’s arms, smiling as the other ex-Rangers joined the group hug, their energy amusing the other park visitors.  Tommy stepped back, watching as his friends accepted Kimberly and her past without reserve or care, feeling a tiny hand slip into his.  “I wondered if she would ever tell you.”

“I never imagined she would leave me because I got her pregnant.  We should have been more careful.”

Shana tugged on Tommy’s hand and pulled him down to her level, neither noticing that the group silenced.  Her intense brown eyes bored into his, gold flecks sparkling in the light.  “What about me?  Would I be here if you were careful?”

Tommy smiled as he picked Shana up, kissing her forehead.  “Of course you would,” he whispered.  “Your mother and I planned on having children.  You just wouldn’t be so old now and I would have been there to see you grow up.  Nothing we did was wrong, we just did it a little too early.  Trust me, Shana; you would be here no matter what.”

“Would she be, Tommy?  Would she, really?”

Tommy faced Kimberly, reaching out and cupping her cheek in his hand, shifting Shana slightly.  “She would.”  Kimberly smiled, some of her old light returning to her eyes as Tommy’s tone conveyed more than his simple words ever could.  Silently, she took her daughter and let the group envelop her again, the young men and women heading for the dojo for a much-deserved drink.  Kimberly was smiling, no more doubt and fear weighing her down, a spring in her step she hadn’t known in five years.  Tommy gently slipped an arm around her waist like he used to do when they were young and dating and so much in love, and she smiled, saying nothing.

The same woman who had peeked into the dojo on the way to work was standing beside a nearby tree waiting for two of her lieutenants who had radioed her before she reached the station.  She watched the group leave in such high spirits, memories from years earlier teasing the edge of her mind.  She knew them, knew that walk and that pose, that playful jump, the fighting stances she had witnessed from the dojo.  But those thoughts led her to the most impossible conclusion ever.  They just couldn’t be . . . they were only a bunch of kids.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Chapter 7: Falcon and Crane

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“No, they weren’t the same.  Look at this.”  Arissa pushed the papers to Laura’s side of the table.  “The Power Rangers who revealed themselves, the last team, none of them were from any earlier than Turbo Rangers, and only some of them were even Turbo.  I think that the Blue Space Ranger was the second Red Turbo Ranger, the Black Turbo Ranger was the second green Turbo Ranger, the Pink Space Ranger was the second Pink Turbo Ranger, and the Yellow Space Ranger was the second Yellow Turbo Ranger.  But none of them were from the first Turbo Team, and certainly not from any earlier.”

Laura shook her head.  “I don’t know why you’re so determined to find out who the Power Rangers were.  That’s all over now.”

“It’s a mystery lefty unsolved for too long.  From the pictures and videos I have been studying, I have determined that there were eighteen Power Rangers, including the Red and Silver Space Rangers and the Gold Ranger who fought with them for a while.  It looks like the Green Ranger from the early days lost or gave up his green powers and returned as the White Ranger later, continuing on to become the White Ninja Ranger and the Red Zeo and first Red Turbo Ranger.  Here’s my list.”

“What’s this list of names here at the bottom?  Tommy Oliver, Kimberly Ann Hart Hilliard, Kat Hilliard, Billy Cranston . . . these were the people at the fire.”

“Not just the fire, Laura, but everywhere.  If you can find one, the others are not far away.  They’re a team.  At one time or another, they formed seven different teams.”

“The Power Rangers,” Laura breathed, the papers falling from her hand.  “Riss . . . you can’t be serious!  They were just kids back then—fifteen, sixteen, seventeen years old!  How could they possibly have saved the world so many times?”

“If called into action, anyone can be a hero.  Besides, that’s the only explanation for their strange immunities, the problems you had matching their blood types, their incredible healing abilities, and the powers that little girl, Shana Hilliard, has.  They have to be the Power Rangers.  There are many instances of one or more of these teens going to school with minor injuries, bruises, sprained wrists or ankles, fractured bones . . . but nothing serious.  They seemed fine a day or so later.  Considering all of the monsters the Power Rangers fought, they’re lucky that they all made it to school every day.”

Laura shook her head, pushing the pile of papers back to Arissa’s side of the table.  “Riss, you know I love you, but I think you’re obsessed.  You’re the police chief of Angel Grove; you shouldn’t be chasing the Power Rangers.  Let it drop, okay?  If they wanted the world to know who they are, they would have revealed their own identities.  They have lived in secrecy for so long; let them be.”

Arissa shook her head.  “Maybe I will, Laura.  But I’m so close . . .”

“Riss, I can guarantee that you don’t want to disturb them.  Let them be.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Kimberly stared into her cup, watching the tiny ripples created by her breath dance across the surface of the cooling coffee.  She briefly considered getting a snack, but her muscles protested any movement.  Sighing, she returned to her contemplation.

“What are you thinking about, Kim?”

“You.”  Kimberly gestured for Tommy to join her at the table in the small kitchen.  “I was wondering what would have happened if I had come to you five years ago.”

“Quite possibly, we’d all be dead.”  Kimberly looked up sharply, and Tommy shrugged.  “You were right, Beautiful.  We all made sacrifices to save the world, yours was just the biggest.  You chose to protect the world and your daughter; your heart was the casualty.  It doesn’t matter what happened to me, just that you and Shana were safe in Australia.”

“But still, Tommy.  Kat told me what happened when you got my letter.  I should have sent it to your house or called you or something.  I’m so sorry.”

Tommy reached across the small table and cupped Kimberly’s chin in his hand.  “Shh,” he whispered.  “Years ago, when we were in battle or one of us was on pain, we could . . . almost . . . hear each other’s thoughts, feel each other’s emotions.  Quiet your thoughts, open your mind, and listen.”

Kimberly nodded, her doe eyes fluttering closed as she blocked out everything—the warmth from her cooling coffee, the whispery night sounds of a slumbering city, the creaking in the room next door, the whine of the refrigerator, the hardness of the chair she was using—and let her thoughts focus on the warmth of Tommy’s hand.  She let her own thoughts vanish, feeling a warm, calm sensation fill her mind, carrying her away from her pain and worries and despair.  She was floating, free, wings of the palest pink carrying her on the winds of time as Tommy carried her back to one memory, one insignificant second, of his life.  She settled to a resting stop as Angel Grove Park came into focus, the green grass more vibrant than its dull fall color.  Spring flowers eagerly reached for the sun, whispering as a tall man with long mahogany hair knelt in the grass, a necklace in his hand, a pink quartz figure on the end.  The image wavered as Kimberly realized that he was holding the necklace she had found less than a month ago.

A white-morph plains Peregrine Falcon landed in the grass beside Tommy, hissing his agreement as a tiny fire sprung to life inside a circle of white stones.  Tommy held his hands over the fire, dark eyes closed, whispering what sounded like an ancient Native American chant.  The bird fluffed its feathers as Tommy opened his eyes, smiling.  “Kimberly, Beautiful, wherever you are, please know that I love you and that I’ll always love you.  If you come back, I won’t try to win your heart, take you away from the life you have chosen, but I will never hesitate to be your friend.  You healed my heart when my pain was the greatest, you supported me when I lost my powers, and I am so sorry that I let my job keep me from seeing the pain and suffering you went through when you lost your powers.  Please understand that you never lost me, you never lost us.  If you ever find what you went looking for and return to Angel Grove, we love you and we will be here for you.  Please try to come back eventually.  Fly home, little Crane, my beautiful pink angel.  Good luck.”  Tommy opened his hands and tossed the charm into the air, watching as the Falcon by his side leapt into flight and caught it in his sharp talons, taking the necklace far, far away.

Kimberly’s eyes shot open, and she stared at Tommy, shocked.  “You sent me that necklace.  How did the falcon know where I was?”

Tommy shrugged.  “I have no idea.  He just came and took the necklace.”

“You told me to fly home, to come back some day.  Did you mean it?”

Tommy leaned over and kissed Kimberly’s forehead.  “Of course I did.  I always meant to make a home with you someday.  I just wanted you to see that I realized long ago what happened, what I did to make you leave, and I let you go.  It’s up to you what happens next, Beautiful.  There’s no more Zedd, no more monsters attacking the Earth, no more Power Rangers.  You have nothing left to be afraid of.”

“I’m not afraid,” she whispered, feeling Tommy’s love and support wash over her, certain for the first time in her life of her choice.  “I want to stay in Angel Grove forever, with you as Shana’s father.  Years ago, you asked me if I would consider marrying you one day.  Now I ask you the same thing.”  Kimberly dug through her pockets, pulling out the other necklace she had found in her jewelry box that day.  A beautifully detailed white falcon hung from the silver chain, and she held it out, smiling.  “Will you marry me, Tommy Oliver?”

Stunned, Tommy reached out and touched the bird.  “I’d love to,” he whispered.

Cheers from nine men and women struggling to see into the kitchen stunned the pair, and Kimberly blushed a darker shade of pink than she had ever worn as a Power Ranger.  Tommy laughed and pulled Kimberly to her feet, slipping the necklace on.  The group of ex-Rangers surged forward, congratulating the pair.  “It took you long enough,” Zack pointed out for the benefit of the entire group.  “I still remember when Tommy was nervous about asking you out for the first time.  Now look at you.”

“The Falcon and the Crane,” Shana whispered, having appeared in the doorway without anyone noticing.  “They soared alone, silently screaming, knowing they were torn in half, but now they only fly together, now they are no longer single, there is no more pain, they will heal and create a new life, a better life, together.”

Tommy shook his head as he stepped forward and picked the sleepy girl up.  “Do you always talk like that?”

“Since she was little,” Kimberly grinned, joining her boyfriend and daughter.  “I think she was trying to get me to come home.”

“I’m glad it worked,” Tommy whispered, leaning down and kissing the small woman briefly.  “But you really need to go back to bed, Shana.  You don’t want to be grouchy in the morning.”

“What are we doing in the morning, Daddy?”

She sounded so young, so innocent, and Tommy froze at the last word.  Daddy.  She really was his daughter, the child he always wanted to have with Kimberly, his family.  “I’m going to take you and your Mommy shopping,” he whispered, his voice shaking almost as much as his hands as he tried to gain control of his emotions.  “We’re having a party in a few days for all of the ex-Power Rangers and our friends and allies, and I want both of you to look nice.”

“That sounds nice.  Okay, Daddy, I’m ready to go back to bed.”  Tommy nodded as he headed for the room he had given to Kimberly and Shana.  Rocky caught his arm, smiling at the little child.

“Shana, how would you like to sleep in Uncle Rocky’s room tonight?  I think your mother and father might want to catch up tonight.”  Shana nodded and held out her little arms, letting Tommy transfer her to Rocky’s arms.  The former Red Ranger glanced up at Jason and Kat, tilting his head towards his room.  “Can you two come and help me turn that small couch in my room into a little bed?”  The pair nodded and followed him out, the other ex-Rangers glancing at each other.  Billy pointed at the door, silently leading Aisha, Trini, Tanya, Adam, and Zack out of the apartment and back to their own apartments down the street.  Tommy held out his arm and smiled at the only person left in the room.

Kimberly blushed and took Tommy’s arm, nodding toward her room.  “I suppose we should go talk, like Rocky suggested.”  She paused at the doorway, holding out her hand.  “Welcome to my life, Tommy Oliver.”

“It’s good to be back, Kimberly Ann Hart Hilliard.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

To be Continued

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