Chapter A/N: I really enjoyed writing this chapter, and the upcoming flashback. It took a while to refit the Timeline and my notes, but it worked out. A lot of stuff came up as I was writing which were never in my notes. I'm throwing this in although I seriously doubt that any of you don't already know about this, but there are spoilers for Forever Red in this chapter.

Thanks to everyone who left a review or followed the story. I appreciate it.

Chapter 6: Once a Ranger

Over the years, Tanya had earned a fair bit of money, most of which went to charity, but that didn't mean that she didn't trade up her dingy apartment for something more comfortable. Neither Tanya nor Adam particularly cared for luxuries, but there was little else to describe the mansion which Katherine stepped into. When Katherine pointed this out to her friend, Tanya winced, "Part of it is about publicity, but I wasn't too fond of the old apartment either… And it's more than just a… mansion." Tanya seemed uncomfortable referring to her home as a mansion.

The first thing that Katherine noticed was that despite the grandeur of the exterior, the first floor was… plain. The walls of the first floor were painted an almost blinding white, which blended easily into the cold marble floor. The hallway was lined with valuable looking vases and figures, which Katherine eyed as she followed Tanya. There was a large living area, with a bar in the far corner. The couch that stood at the center of the room was of an oriental design, with intricate carvings of solid wood, with cushions laid on it. It didn't look particularly comfortable to sit in at all. A coffee table sat atop a brown, earthen rug. A large, flat television screen was mounted on the wall opposite the couch. Spaced evenly around the room were figures that Katherine assumed that Tanya's archeologist parents brought back, and on the wall, hung a few paintings. Katherine eyed the room as they passed. Everything was… too neat. It wasn't that she was implying that Tanya lived like a slob, but as someone who knew Tanya as well as she did, this was… impersonal.

"This is actually your first time seeing my place, isn't it?" Tanya asked.

Katherine nodded in reply, "Yeah, I haven't been back in California since…" Katherine faltered for a moment before continuing, "Since that island blew up." Tanya winced slightly, remembering that the last time Katherine had been in the country, things hadn't been going well for her best friend. It wasn't exactly a forbidden topic, but Tanya knew that the incident had hurt Katherine deeply. "Construction was only completed… late last year, wasn't it? I got the invitation, but I really couldn't get time off."

"I was really sorry to hear that you weren't coming. But you got promoted to principal around that time, weren't you?" Tanya received a nod of confirmation. "That was an incredible achievement, Kat. I mean… You got promoted to principal in three years. Most only get there after… Eight years, I think."

"I guess when you've saved the world countless times over, that doesn't sound so impressive," Katherine joked as they made their way up the stairs. As they stepped through the door at the top of the stairs, Katherine visibly relaxed as the colour scheme changed completely. Instead, the walls of the hallway were painted a comforting yellow. The actual living area was painted a light green. This living area was just as large, but it looked more like a living room. Three leather couches were scattered around the area, and a huge screen was mounted on the far wall. Each of the couches had a large coffee table at the center, with what seemed to be 60 inch screens facing each couch.

Katherine plopped herself on the couch closest to the kitchen counter, "This, is what I call a 'living room'." Katherine remarked as she leaned back against the soft leather seats. "Do you entertain a lot of people up here?"

"Yeah. I had a house warming last year. Practically all the Ranger teams up till Wild Force were here." Tanya replied as she set the tea down on the table.

Katherine raised her eyebrows, "You had a Ranger gathering? Really? The house still looks… intact." She had intended it to be a joke, but Tanya had suddenly found something very interesting about the armrest.

Katherine noticed that Tanya wasn't meeting her eyes, "Yeah… the house is pretty sturdy." Tanya replied evasively.

Katherine frowned, "Tanya…" her tone was disapproving. "There's something you're not telling me."

Tanya raised her hands in surrender. She hadn't been subtle, but she knew that this was a can of worms she had to open sooner or later. "I'm not going to lie to you, Kat. The house was designed as a staging platform for Ranger operations. All these screens? Intended for mission briefings. The tables are hologram capable. It's a great place for a party, but this is also a briefing room."

Katherine leaned back against the headrest, her eyes closed. She let out a loud sigh before speaking. "You could have told me, you know." She said quietly. "Just because I wanted to try and have a more… normal life, doesn't mean that you have to keep things like this from me."

Tanya reached over to gently hold one of Katherine's hands. "I know that, Kat… Just… the last time you left-"

Kat's eyes snapped open, pulling away from her friend and fixing her with a pointed look. "I didn't leave because I didn't want to be a Ranger, Tanya, I left because I was lied to."

"Hmm?" Tanya was puzzled. "Wasn't that back on the mission to the moon?"

Katherine frowned, "Didn't Tommy say anything?"

"After you left, Tommy said that the two of you broke up because you wanted different things. When I called you, you told me exactly the same thing…" Tanya trailed off. Back when they had been a couple, Katherine and Tommy had always been affectionate in public, but both seemed to have an unspoken agreement of not airing each other's' dirty laundry, even among close friends. As a friend, she respected their privacy, but it was times like these when Tanya wished Katherine could have talked more about her relationship. "I… had a feeling there was more. Why would you break up with him right after his island exploded? There had to be a good reason. What was it?" Tanya asked, sighing in resignation.

Katherine remained silent, biting her lip. Tommy hadn't really lied to their friends, they had wanted different things, but that was only a part of it. "Tommy… He told me about some of the research he was doing, about creating some kind of cyborg dinosaurs… He told me about Anton's lab in an island somewhere, and at that time, I thought it made sense. If something went wrong, cyborg dinosaurs running wild around an island would limit the potential damage caused… And he did have his Zeonizer anyway… But Tommy didn't tell me about the Dino Gems." Katherine paused, the anger the memories awoken rising. "He told Jason, Trini and Zack. He told Billy who was in Aquitar. That girl who was doing her Masters with him in MIT? Hayley? She designed the Dino Morphers with Billy's help. But he didn't tell me."

"I… I had to get away." Katherine's anger had dissipated as quickly as it had come. The grudge she held should have been gone now, yet, it had surprised her at how quickly the bitterness returned. Katherine tried to keep her voice level, "Tommy lied to me, twice… It… It hurt." Katherine could feel the tears welling up as a three year old pain welled up within her.

"Tommy was wrong to keep something that huge from you, but when you ran, you left us behind too." Tanya shifted closer to Katherine, her tone softening. "You know, I would have dumped Adam's ass the first time he lied, never mind the second. You're a lot nicer than I am, Kat."

"Maybe just more foolish." Katherine chuckled mirthlessly. "But the past is the past. I… I don't regret where I am, Tanya. Tommy chose his path. I chose mine. In the end… I guess we just wanted different things. Ironic, isn't it? The thing that brought us together was also the very same thing that drove us apart in the end." Katherine sighed, "I don't want to be the first person to be called when there's an emergency that requires Rangers to intervene. But neither am I going to leave it to someone else when there's a problem right in front-"

"You don't have to explain yourself to me, Kat. I feel the same way." Tanya sighed. "When I bought the land after my big break, I just wanted to build a large house so that I could get the Rangers together every now and then. So that different teams could meet each other, exchange stories, let the older, more experienced Rangers pass down some experiences without being all so… formal. You remember the first time we met Lightspeed? At Jason and Trini's wedding back in 2001?" Tanya chuckled at the memories.

Even Katherine had to grin at that. "I remember that. It was my first vacation since I started at the company. Carter saluted Jason and Tommy. Their Pink… Dana, I think? She was practically in shock when I started talking to her."

"Kelsey was more star-struck than hero worship… That made it worse. She stared at me for awhile, then screamed 'TANYA SLOAN IS A YELLOW RANGER OH MY GOD' And this was back before my big break, so I was really surprised to have a… well, 'crazy fan'." Tanya motioned the inverted commas with her fingers. "Anyway… I talked about it with Ashely, who let it slip to Andros that I was building the equivalent of a mansion, and he got the bright idea of building an operations centre into the house. Once we reached that point… Well… It all snowballed from there. Tommy got involved, Billy set up electronic security from Aquitar, Lightspeed and Time Force helped with construction of the more special parts of the house."

"You said Tommy got involved?" Katherine asked, had Tommy been keeping yet something else from her?

"This was after that island exploded. Plans kept getting redrawn the more people were brought into it. Eventually I was just getting really pissed off. The land was mine, and it was sitting there, just… wasting away. The more construction was delayed, the more money I was wasting in rent. Don't get me wrong, I could afford it, but it was thousands of dollars that could have gone to helping Aisha's community in Africa or even the village where I came from. I put my foot down after three months of indecision." Tanya sounded oddly satisfied. "I yelled at Billy and four Reds that day. It's funny how the Reds are the leaders and all, but they just cower when one of us snaps."

Katherine nodded her agreement. Tommy may have been the leader, but their command structure had never been rigid. Many a stupid decision had been avoided when one of them had snapped at him.

Tanya decided that this was a good point to change the subject. "Kat… If you don't mind me asking, what exactly happened after that mission to the moon?" Tanya ventured carefully. Katherine had never told her exactly what had happened after the two times that Tommy hadn't mentioned a few choice secrets to her. Tanya hadn't pushed since the couple had worked things out back then, but now, it was obvious that Katherine had been hurting. The breakup with Tommy had been harder on Katherine that she was willing to admit, and Kat's wild changes in emotions were a testament to that.

Katherine shrugged, "Trini seemed fine with it once the rage was out of her system. And… Well, I figured it was Tommy being Tommy. If Andros asked him for help, there was no way that he would have said no."

"How exactly did you find out? I heard some of it from Trini, but I'd really like to hear it from you…" Tanya decided to take a chance to push Katherine into confiding. "I know you're still trying to get over Tommy. The two of you were devoted to each other for nearly half a decade. I've waited for a while, Kat. You've never really told me what happened."

Katherine hesitated, even though the incident had happened almost three years ago, the memory still remained fresh. In retrospect, it was the beginning of the end. She really should have seen that coming. Worst of all, Tanya wasn't wrong. They had spent a good year together before they had started a long-distance relationship in which Tommy had absolutely refused to let the factors that led to Kimberly breaking up with him affect their relationship.

It wasn't easy to forget that kind of devotion that they had to each other. Not even after two years after breaking up.

Katherine sighed, and Tanya knew that she had her victory, remaining silent even though her attention was focused entirely on Katherine's words. "I was back in Angel Grove…"

October 2002

It hadn't been easy for Katherine to get time off from work. Despite being one of the most junior within the company, she had moved up through the corps in under a year and was already being assigned minor solos. While Katherine was very grateful for the opportunity, she hadn't been home in nearly a year. It was fortunate that the roles had already been assigned for the Christmas season, so she would still dance with the Corps until after the New Year, where she would then be practicing solos in earnest. She had tried to push her vacation time back so that Tommy's semester would have ended so that they could spend more time together, but there was only so much she could delay her vacation, especially with Christmas fast approaching.

So, Katherine had three days in Angel Grove before Tommy was due back from MIT. It wasn't too bad, although she missed Tommy terribly. Katherine had spent the first day catching up with her parents. It had been nice to see them, although her mother seemed to continue treating her as if she was a teenager instead of the twenty-three year old that she was. Katherine felt a bit guilty that she had only really been home for barely two weeks since she had started working, but her parents had assured her that they were fine and proud of her accomplishments. It had lightened her heart to hear her parents say that they were proud of her.

On her second day in Angel Grove, Katherine had managed the drive up to Stone Canyon to catch up with Adam and Rocky. To her surprise and delight, Aisha had returned from Africa and was in the process of applying for college. Katherine hadn't been able to spend much time with them, however. Both Rocky and Adam had a dojo to run and classes to teach. With semesters possibly starting in January, Aisha was busy applying to college. Unable to help either, Katherine had said goodbye to them after a long lunch. The trio promised to come down to Angel Grove within the month to get together once Tanya, who was busy touring, was back in the California.

When Katherine returned to Angel Grove, it was just past four. It was a little too early to have dinner, and she wasn't feeling really hungry anyway. Katherine hadn't wanted to return home so early, but it seemed that she was out of things to do. Her closest friends were all out of the state. Tanya was probably somewhere in New York City, Zack was in Hollywood as a choreographer, and Jason… Katherine did a double take. Jason and Trini had gotten married last November and were staying in Angel Grove. That fact had completely slipped her mind earlier. If she had remembered, she probably would have visited them first before heading to Stone Canyon for a dinner with the others. Using her cell, Katherine dialed Jason's new home number.

"Trini here."

"Trini! It's Katherine."

"Oh hey Kat! What's up?"

"I'm about five minutes away from your place, actually. I was back in Angel Grove and was thinking of visiting friends. I've already been up to Stone Canyon and was wondering if you and Jason had any dinner plans?"

"Jason's not around, actually. He left me a note in the morning, said he went fishing with Tommy."

"… Excuse me?" Katherine stared at her phone in disbelief. "Tommy's flight isn't due until tomorrow."

There was a very pregnant silence on the phone, Katherine swore she could almost hear Trini frowning. "Let's work it out when you get here."

It took less than five minutes to complete the rest of the journey, and Trini was waiting at the door with her arms folded, a cordless phone held to her ear very annoyed. Trini barely acknowledged Kat as she entered the house. "Their cells are going straight to voicemail." Trini glowered at the phone. "And they aren't answering their communicators."

Katherine remained slightly disconcerted. This was Tommy they were talking about. He was absent minded enough that she wouldn't be too surprised if he actually missed his flight, but lying outright? That… That just wasn't possible.

Then again, Katherine would have said the same thing of Jason. It may have been a few years since their Zeo days, but Jason had been the best second-in-command that they could ask for. Besides, lying to Trini? Did Jason have a death wish?

A voice from the television interrupted her, "We interrupt your regular programming to bring you this special report. NASA has observed a huge explosion on the moon. On the screen right now is a photo that NASA has sent us, and as you can see, there's a huge cloud of dust-"

Katherine's mouth dropped open, turning to look at Trini, who had halted the feed to freeze the image on screen. Her eyes were narrowed, a grim look on her face. There was something on the screen that Trini recognized, something that scared her. But on the other hand, Katherine could also see that Trini was livid.

"Trini…?" Katherine asked timidly, she could literally feel the anger radiating off the first Yellow Ranger. "Erm… What is it?"

"Between the fire and moon, if you look closely, do you see a faint shadow?" Trini growled.

Katherine squinted, moving closer to the TV screen to get a closer look. All she saw was a huge cloud of grey dust and fire. "Erm… Trini? What am I supposed to be looking for?"

"Nevermind the fact that fires usually burn out really quickly in a vacuum unless there's a lot of fuel or oxygen to be consumed… There's only one thing on the moon that required that much fuel." Trini walked up to the screen and pointed. And right there, the bright red fire camouflaging most of the green, was a grey coloured claw. "Serpentera."

Trini looked at Katherine expectantly, waiting for a reaction, however, Katherine only stared blankly. "Erm… Trini? I still have no idea what you're talking about. Is that Serpent-whatsis supposed to mean something to me?"

Trini rolled her eyes, realizing her mistake. "Sorry, I forgot that you weren't around for that. Serpentera was Lord Zedd's personal Zord. Last time I heard about it being seen was when it was sent down to Earth after I left for the Peace Conference. It hasn't been seen since…"

"You think Tommy and Jason are up there? On the moon?" Katherine asked. Surely this was just Trini being paranoid. They weren't Rangers anymore, and if the current team… Wild Force, needed help, surely Wes and Eric from Time Force would have responded. And if they still couldn't handle it, Carter would have sent out a call to all active Rangers to request assistance… Right?

"Where else would they be?" Trini growled. "I'm calling Kelsey."

Katherine had met all of the Rangers up till Lightspeed Rescue. As far as she knew, four of the Time Force Rangers had returned to the year 3000, she had heard about a budding romance between Wes and Jen, and it made her feel a lot better knowing that Tommy and her were only separated by distance, and not time.

Kelsey answered her phone on the fifth ring, and Trini was incredibly careful with her choice of words to ensure that Kelsey would be very forthcoming with information. "Hey Kelsey! I was just wondering if you've got any ETA for my fiance's return?"

"Yeah! Carter sent us a message just now, actually. They're due back at the NASADA base in two hours." Kelsey replied. Katherine was getting more and more tense by the second. Tommy… had lied to her?

"Well, the mission seemed to go well, who else was up there?" Trini asked in her falsely bright tone.

"Well, Andros found the remnants of the Machine Empire who wanted to dig up Serpentera. He called Carter, who had to talk to NASADA about getting a squad of people up there. NASADA only wanted Reds." Kelsey scoffed in annoyance. "Idiots. Between Space, Lightspeed and Time Force, we could have had fourteen people mobilized within an hour, and instead, they spend a day gathering every single Red Ranger they could find."

Trini was barely keeping her voice level, "So… All the Red Rangers?"

Completely ignorant of the fact that Trini very much wanted to kill her fiancé at the moment, Kelsey replied innocently, "I heard that Andros had called every Red, even from Mirinoi and Aquitar… Except Rocky DeSantos. They couldn't contact him for some reason." The betrayal hit Katherine like a brick wall. Tommy had lied. The Machine Empire had been their primary enemy in their Zeo days. All of the Zeo Rangers had bones to pick with any remnants of the Machine Empire, and Tommy hadn't told any of them. Rocky definitely didn't know. If Tanya knew, she would have told both Adam and herself.

A gentle touch on her arm. "Kat? Are you okay?" Trini asked, concern in her eyes, belatedly Katherine realized that Trini had hung up.

"Just… he didn't tell me." Katherine was still in shock. Tommy had lied. There weren't supposed to be any secrets between them, and this was huge. How could he go on the mission without even telling her? What if he hadn't made it? What if the entire squad of Red Rangers-

Trini grabbed her by her shoulders and shook her, snapping her out of her trance. "Katherine. We're going to NASADA. I am going to kill my fiancé. You are going to kill your boyfriend." She directed Katherine out into the garage, grabbing her keys as she went.

Katherine was automatically guided to the passenger side seat as Trini opened the driver's side, about to get in. But Katherine held out her hand, shaking her head. The mental freak-out was over, and Katherine was back in control. "Keys."

Trini frowned, "Kat, this is my car."

"NASADA's a four hour drive away. If you want your chance to whip Jason in front of all the other Reds, I'm your best chance." Katherine argued

"Kat, I've modified this car extensively, I've basically overhauled the whole with blueprints form Billy. It's fast, and I know how to drive it." Trini did not want to give up her car. This was her masterpiece. Trini was a lawyer, but her passion for tinkering with technology had not waned over the years, this was her car.

"Faster than Wind Chaser?" Katherine challenged, ever her Turbo days, Katherine had a sense of how far she could push a vehicle. Katherine wondered if somehow, when she had created Wind Chaser, she had gained a certain understanding of vehicles. Along long roadtrips, she exceeded the speed limits by such a ridiculous amount that cops couldn't catch a glimpse of her number plates, much less catch her.

"It's a quarter past four, Trini, clock's ticking." Katherine knew she had her. Trini may have been impulsive, but she was a rational thinker. True to her prediction, Trini scowled, but tossed the keys over.

When Katherine inserted the keys and turned on the engines, it was as if the entire vehicle was just filled with a silent hum. The tiny vibrations in her seat rustled with silent power. Katherine grinned, this was definitely a car. "Alright, Kat, you'll want to accelerate gently just to get a hang-" Katherine barely heard her.

Katherine hit the accelerator, and performed a drift as they zoomed out of the garage. She barely noticed the horn of a car coming up behind her as it screeched to a stop, regarding it as unimportant. Now focused entirely on the road, Katherine whispered to herself, "Time to shift into Turbo." There was a high pitched noise coming from somewhere on her right, but Katherine didn't pay it any attention.

Katherine had a time limit. She intended to meet it.

Chapter A/N:

The Chapter title, "Once a Ranger" is named for how I think Rangers who have hung up their uniforms feel. Most don't want to be directly involved, as even Tommy is reluctant to get back into uniform in Dino Thunder, but neither are they going to stand by and do nothing if something needs to be done, as evidenced by every team up production in existence. Of course, there are different extents of this. Katherine and Tanya aren't as... enthusiastic as Tommy.

As I mentioned, this was fun to write. My inner fanboy was going crazy when I read that Katherine was supposed to meet Tommy at NASADA base as his wife. But instead, I'm taking this in a different direction. Katherine's going to be there… But she's not going to be happy.