Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or situations presented here and am not making any profit off of them whatsoever.
Story Title: Eternity
Rated: PG-13
Word Count: 7,336
Romance: Kim x Jason
Notes: This takes place before, during, and after the Power Rangers Turbo movie. Comments and criticism gratefully accepted.
Summary: Jason comes to see Kim to arrange their mutual return to Angel Grove. But Piranatrons, Divatox, and Murianthus are all going to get in the way before something special can be said.

Jason yawned deeply, trying to fight off the jet lag that was doing it's level best to tackle him and pull him down into sleep. He knew that he needed it, but he had to get to Kim first and talk to her. You'd probably be more coherent if you slept first. His conscience niggled at him. He ignored it; he wanted to make certain he didn't waste any time. He wasn't all that sure just how much time she had left, after all. She could be planning to leave at any minute.

He glanced down at the note in his hand, then checked the room numbers carefully. Yeah, there it was. Room seventeen. He tapped politely on the door, and heard a familiar voice on the other side. "Hold on a second, I'm coming, I'm coming."

The door swung open and there she was, just as small and petite and perky as ever: Kimberly Ann Hart. As she realized who it was that was standing before her, her eyes went wide and happy. "Jason! What are you doing here!?"

"Well, if you don't want me, I can always go away." The burly teen teased, and Kim swatted him on the arm.

"You get in here! And answer the question, what are you doing three thousand miles away from Angel Grove?"

He grinned as he came into the room. Kim really hadn't changed, and likely enough never would. "Well, I came to see you, really."

"Me?"

Jason nodded. "I think you should come back to Angel Grove for a while."

Kim looked just a little wary. "This isn't some scheme to try and get me together with Tommy again, is it?"

He blinked a little; that thought had never even occurred to him. "Why would I do that? He's perfectly happy and has moved on, and you're happy with whoever you're dating, I don't go around breaking up perfectly good relationships. I had something else in mind."

"Oh." Kim bit her lip a little, then smiled perkily at him. "So what else did you have in mind?"

"The Little Angel's Haven is in serious need of some money," Jason told her. "It's going to close down if they don't get some."

Kim sank down onto the bed; she'd never known anyone personally who had lived in the children's shelter, but she also knew that it was the only place some of the kids had to stay. "So what can we do?"

"There's a National Championship being held in Angel Grove, with a prize of twenty-five thousand dollars to be granted to the charity of the winner's choice. Tommy, Rocky, and Adam are going to be competing in it. I think they could use some moral support." Jason gave her a firm look. "I'm not trying to get you back with Tommy, but I think you do owe him an apology for that letter. That was kind of cold."

She glanced down to her fingers briefly, then shrugged. "I know. It was kind of silly. I wound up breaking up with the guy anyway so it wasn't even worth a letter. So much for 'finding someone I really belong with'." She snorted just a little, and Jason sat down beside her.

"You broke up with him?"

Kim nodded. "Yeah. It was about three months after I sent it. I guess it was silly to even fall for him, I knew he was going back home soon, but it just happened. He decided gymnastics meant more to him than anything else, including me, so he went on to train for the Olympics."

Jason placed one hand on hers comfortingly. "So why didn't you say anything to anyone back home? I know you're still talking to them, you talked to me while I was there, remember? Late night phone call that lasted till about three a.m.?"

"I remember." There was no way that she could forget. That phone call had been one of her better memories for quite a while. The breakup with Glen hadn't really been harsh, it had just been painful, and for a long time she'd felt like a fool. "I didn't say anything because I...well, I wasn't scared of what anyone would say, but I had a feeling that Tommy was moving on already, and I didn't want to stop that, because no matter what, I really didn't and don't love him anymore. Not like that. If he knew I was single again, he'd want to comfort me, that's just what he's like. I didn't want that."

Jason nodded slowly; Kim knew Tommy just as well as he did, if not better, or at least differently. "Well, we don't need to spend all our time talking about your love life."

"Yeah, we can talk about yours." Kim poked him in the ribs and grinned. "How are you and Emily doing? Last time I heard, you guys were really close."

"Not anymore." Jason shook his head, remembering the last time that he'd been with the blonde. "We broke up about a week or so after I gave the Gold powers back to Trey. It just wasn't working out all that well."

Kim squeezed his hand gently and comfortingly. She had known Jason since they were both five years old, and Emily had been the first serious relationship that he'd ever had. She knew that he'd dated Trini briefly while they were in both in Switzerland; but other than that, and a few other brief flings during their early days as Rangers, his dating life was almost nil. Too much the leader. She had never forgotten the small crush that she'd had on him before they joined the fight against Rita. He's still as gorgeous as he's always been. Maybe more.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to bring up any bad memories." Kim apologized quietly, and he smiled at her.

"You didn't. It was a decent breakup, I guess. We don't hate each other or anything." He grinned a little more. "So, are you going to come back to Angel Grove with me? You're done here, you know that."

Kim glanced around the small room and nodded. He's right. The Pan Globals finished up last week, and I've just been marking time here. She'd let herself go just a little since the end of the games, letting herself sleep in and eat extremely non-healthy food. That first cheeseburger had tasted so good. "But what then?"

"Huh?"

"What do we do after we've saved the shelter?" Kim wondered. "Graduation's in a couple of weeks. I've applied to a couple of colleges, but I haven't made up my mind just where I want to go."

Jason was a bit surprised that Kim had already been making college plans, but on a bit of reflection, she had planned for her future for years. Granted, it had been a future with a strong emphasis on gymnastics, but plans were plans. "I've gotten a few acceptances myself but I don't know either. I think I'll probably wind up going to business school. Helps to know how to run a dojo properly."

"I've been thinking about studying horticulture." Kim glanced at the small row of plants growing in the window box. "Maybe starting up my own flower shop or garden or something."

She stood up suddenly and headed to the closet, pulling out a suitcase. "We can decide that later. You're right, I do need to go back and get things straightened with Tommy. Besides, I miss Ernie's cooking."

"He's gotten even better," Jason told her as he started to help her pack. "I bet he'd fix up something special for you once you're back there."

Kim's eyes danced with amusement as she shot a look at him. "You really think so?" She folded clothes carefully as she tucked them into the suitcase, and he nodded firmly at her. She already knew he was right; Ernie went out of his way to do things like that for them. "But eating by myself would be kind of boring."

Jason grinned. "Who said you'd be by yourself?"

There was silence between them suddenly, descending as unexpectedly as doom. Kim stood, a pile of clothes in her arms, twisted around to look at him. Their eyes met and remained locked, neither moving or seeming to breathe.

The mood, whatever it was, was broken when Kim smiled softly, a faint blush tingeing her cheeks, and nodded quietly. "You're right. No one said that. So what do you think would be the best thing for us to order? Ernie's probably changed his whole menu around since the last time I was there."

"Not that much." Jason grinned at her. "I think he still has most of your old favorites."

The two of them chatted about things like the menu and the flight back and things of that nature. Before too long, however, the jet lag that had been hovering in the back of Jason's mind wasn't able to be ignored any longer. He yawned, nearly splitting his face apart as he did so, and Kim frowned.

"You haven't slept since you left Angel Grove, have you?" She put her hands on her hips and glared at him harshly. He ducked his head, looking quite ashamed of himself. "And why not? I wasn't going anywhere, you could've gotten a room and taken a nap!"

"Well, I didn't know if you had any plans, and I didn't want to miss you." Jason protested. Kim rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"I'll just chalk that up to the jet lag and side effects from giving up the Power, otherwise you'd know that all you would have had to do is call me before you left Angel Grove in the first place."

Jason blinked slowly, then turned a very deep shade of red. Why didn't I think of that?

* * *

"Everything still looks the same." Kim stared out the plane window longingly to the clear spread of blue water that sparkled beneath them. "Like I never left at all."

Jason grinned from beside her. "Angel Grove doesn't change all that much, you know. And when it does, it's pretty dramatic."

"I've noticed." Kim looked back at the water as they passed over it, memories of all the times that they'd had fun together in the clear surf washing back into her. "What time is it?"

The ex-Ranger glanced at his watch. "About seven in the afternoon, local time. Want to grab a nap before we meet up with the others?"

"Yeah." She grinned a bit sneakily at him. "Since they don't know we're coming, we can surprise them."

He rolled his eyes just a bit. "That was kind of the idea. Besides, the guys are probably getting in some late training right now and I don't want to distract them."

Kim nodded in agreement, then glanced up into his dark eyes. "Jason, I know this is kind of a weird question, but what would you think about doing a little scuba-diving?"

Jason looked surprised. They hadn't done that in quite a while, and Kim had never really been that much into it in the first place, not liking to get her hair in the salt water, but he had to admit it would feel nice to get back into a wetsuit. Diving was one of the joys of his life that being a Ranger hadn't changed or caused him to abandon. "I think we could. I've got a wetsuit in my house somewhere."

"I think I still have mine." Kim tried to remember where she'd put hers. "I think it might be a little late to try it, though."

"Yeah." Jason checked the time again, then nodded. "Let's have that nap and then dive in the morning? Just about sunrise?"

Kim made a face and smacked him on the arm. "You expect me to be awake at sunrise! Who is awake then?"

"You if you want to go diving." Jason told her. "So, what'll it be?"

Kim gave him a look, but there wasn't much she could really do about it. She'd wanted to dive, and since they both wanted to meet up with the others when they had a chance, sunrise was really probably the best way to do it if it were going to be done at all. "All right. Sunrise."

One of those companionable silences that often come between friends so well known to each other that they fill no need to fill up empty spaces with empty words fell. Kim felt a little apprehensive about this whole thing, if the truth were to be told. She knew part of the reason she'd asked to go scuba-diving was to delay actually meeting with the others: especially Tommy.

I was perfectly happy just letting the two of us go our own ways. She had to admit, though, that Jason had been right. Tommy deserved to know the whole truth, no matter what. She had talked to him a few more times since then, since she'd seen absolutely no reason to break off all contact with all of the people she cared about just because she'd broken her romantic relationship with one of them, but he hadn't told him of what else had happened. He hadn't asked, either, beyond wanting to know if she was happy.

Which, to be honest, she was. Ending things with Tommy had lifted a lot of stress off of her. Of course, it had also caused new stress because of what had happened later, but right now, she had never felt more content. There was something between her and Jason. It was more than the friendship that they'd shared for so long, but not quite something on the level of a relationship. At least, not yet. With the shy glances that they both exchanged every now and then, there was no doubt that one day, quite soon perhaps, that they'd get to that level. She liked the thought of it, too.

Once they had trooped off the plane and rescued their luggage from the baggage handlers, Jason glanced around. "Mom and Dad should be here soon. I told them that we were coming in around now."

"They don't mind me staying?" Kim knew that not every family would be too thrilled at the idea of two unrelated teenagers the same age, especially two who were good friends like they were, sleeping in the same house together.

Jason shook his head. "You're going to be in the guestroom." He didn't have to describe it; she knew it from the few times that she'd spent the night at his place, usually when her parents were fighting during the height of the acrimony that led to their divorce.

"Oh, my old room," she grinned teasingly at him, and he chuckled. It might as well have been hers; of all of them, she was the one who had spent the most time in there.

"Jason! Kimberly! Over here!"

Jason grinned at the sound of his parents and hurried over to give them a hug. "Mom, Dad!"

Once the obligatory family greetings had been taken care of, Mrs. Scott turned towards Kim and gave her a warm and friendly hug. "We've missed you, Kim. Things just weren't the same without all of you there."

"I missed you guys, too. Thanks for letting me stay with you. I don't really know what I would have done if you hadn't." Kim was honest; her friends would have been more than willing to help her out, but not all of them had the space to keep her for a few days, and she hated to be a burden. It had been uncomfortable enough staying with Aisha for those few months.

Mr. Scott gave her a polite handshake. "It's no problem at all. I know you two kids will behave yourselves. Come on, you've had a long flight, you must be exhausted." He started to guide them towards his car, and she didn't protest at all. Everything that had been going on just seemed to be wanting to pile up on her at once, and the only thing she could conceivably think of was getting some sleep to let it all sink in and let herself adjust to it.

It wasn't too late by the time they got everything taken into the Scotts' house, and Mrs. Scott was perfectly willing to cook something for them, since everyone knew just how bad airline food was.

"No, thank you, please." Kim told them with a weak smile. "I just want to get some sleep."

"All right." The older woman agreed. "But tomorrow, I'm going to stuff you two senseless!"

Kim grinned; Mrs. Scott had always been more 'motherly' to her than her own mom had been sometimes. She and her mom got along, but there were differences between them that just made things strained. Kim didn't worry herself about those things right now, though. All she wanted was that sleep.

She got it, too: several hours of deep, dreamless, wonderfully reviving sleep that was broken by Jason knocking on the door in the predawn looking far more cheery than had to be legal. It was with great effort that she stopped herself from throwing a shoe at him.

"Come on, scuba-diving at sunrise, then we can run into the others for lunch," Jason grinned at her. "Sound good to you?"

"I suppose." Kim yawned as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "I'll be ready in a few minutes."

There were still stars sprinkling the sky by the time they made it down to the ocean, where a rubber raft with a motor attached was tied up to a small stake. Kim hefted up the bag she'd brought with her and looked at it. "Okay, let's get 'em on."

In a very few minutes they were both in their wetsuits, each helping the other to zip it where it was just a bit out of reach. Once everything was properly on, they tromped onto the raft and Jason undid the bindings, then started to guide it out to the deeper reaches of the ocean.

Kim watched to the east as the sky began to pale and the stars faded away, replaced by streaks of pink and gold. It had been a very long time since she'd watched the sunrise, and this looked absolutely amazing. She sighed quietly as she watched it all, remembering other sunrises and sunsets that she'd seen, over this ocean and over one three thousand miles away. It seemed as if her life had always had them in it, somehow.

"It looks great, doesn't it, Kim?" Jason murmured in her ear, and she nodded quietly. "Let's go. You've got your flashlight, right?" She nodded again, and together the two of them slipped into the water.

It was dark underneath the waves, where the sun hadn't yet touched for the day. Fish of all kinds swished here and there, startled by the intrusion of these odd things into their silent world. Kim enjoyed swimming, looking here and there at all the wonders that this place held.

Seeing all the fish made her think about Billy. He'd been so scared of them at one time, and now he was on Aquitar. I don't think he'll be there for long, though. She was fairly sure that he'd wind up coming back to Earth eventually. Maybe she'd drop in on the Command Center or whatever it was these days and see if she could give him a call.

Jason was thinking more about his companion than he was about old friends. He could see Kim just a little off to one side, the light from her flashlight whisking here and there. She looked fantastic in a wetsuit, he had to admit. Not that he'd ever had a doubt. She's beautiful.

He could hardly believe that they had been together almost constantly for two days already. It was real, though, and they even had something that could almost be called a date. Maybe if we have a good time, we can go on a real date later. The thought of it sent happy chills all throughout him.

Just ahead of them, he caught sight of something that he thought might be interesting; a beautiful collection of underwater plants and shells. He paused in his swimming, noting Kimberly doing the same thing, and was about to reach over to point her to it when he felt something seizing onto his airpipe. He twisted around, trying to see what was going on, and managed to catch sight of something that very strongly reminded him of a humanoid fish tackling Kimberly.

Jason was a very strong fighter, but that was on land. He was no match for these things, who were in their natural element under the ocean, especially since he was weighted down with all the gear of scuba-diving. He struggled as hard as he could, but the lack of air from where they'd pinched his line was getting to him. Far too soon, he was limp in the water, and the creatures started to tow him away.

Kim couldn't put up much more of a fight than her friend could, but being smaller, she was able to twist around just a little more. She felt a small thrill of success as she slammed one knee into one of the things, but it just seemed to make them angrier instead of anything more useful. Then her airline was pinched as well, and all the squirming that she did ate up more air than she might otherwise have used, and she, too, was carried away, out like a light.

* * *

This had to be one of the most disgusting places that she'd ever seen in her life. Of all the places to be held hostage, why did it have to be here? Kim kicked at the standing water and even though she knew it was stupid, she felt a little offended at being stuck in the bilge.

This Divatox has no idea what she's getting herself into. Kim told herself. It was one of the few consolations she had at the moment. The two of them had recovered from their temporary blackout once they'd gotten the air they needed for a while. A couple of Piranatrons had dropped in and had them remove their wetsuits, which they'd taken away. Kim had no idea what they'd wanted them for, and she was pretty sure she didn't want to know. They probably just dumped the rest of our scuba gear somewhere. Great.

During her career as a Ranger, the only time that Kim had ever been taken hostage was when Zedd and Rita had been holding her Power Coin, and she'd spent that time unconscious in a cave. This was her first 'awake' captivity, and she was bored out of her mind. "The least they could do is drop us some magazines or something." She grumbled late in the afternoon.

"I'd rather they didn't." Jason poked at the squishy package they'd been given that was supposed to feed them. "Look at this stuff. I don't think they have any idea what people like us are supposed to eat."

"Do I have to look at it? It's bad enough we're here in the first place, but do we have to inspect everything?"

Jason rolled his eyes slightly, then considered lifting up one of the grayish brown slabs that could have been either bread or meat and seeing just what was under it. On second thought, thinking back to the food they'd had on the plane, maybe that wasn't such a great idea. I wonder if Divatox shops at the same place the airlines do. The resemblance between the airline meal and this package was definitely unmistakable. To make matters worse, they hadn't been given anything that resembled water. Apparently they were supposed to make do with the salty bilgewater that lapped about their ankles.

Kim leaned over so that her head was resting against his shoulder and sighed. "You know the Rangers are going to get us out of this sooner or later."

"Yeah. It's what they do." Jason grinned and then wrapped an arm around her gently. It felt good to have her there, as if she had always belonged in just that spot. For several minutes the two of them stayed like that, perfectly quiet and peaceful, content to relax in each other's presence.

Kim looked up at him quietly, feeling comfortable in a way she couldn't ever remember being before. She had always felt safe with Jason, knowing that as long as she was around him, nothing would ever hurt her. He had been the one who had given her the few martial arts lessons she'd ever had. Even Tommy had never taught her that. I think he kind of liked being the brave white knight.

Being a princess who got rescued by a knight was all well and good, she had to admit, but you couldn't always let it happen. Jason always helped me stand up for myself when I needed to. Jason was the kind of person who would hold out his hand to help her, not take care of it all for himself. That was what I needed and wanted then. But it isn't what I need or want now.

"You're staring at me, Kim." He murmured in his deep, rich voice. She couldn't ever remember him having the squeaky voice of a teen. It was always like this, as long as she could remember. It was as if he'd skipped gawky adolescence entirely, shifting from small child to nearly full grown adult in a heartbeat.

She blushed as the sense of what he was saying sank into her mind. "I wasn't doing it on purpose. It's just been so long since we were this close."

"I know." Jason's arm tightened just a little around her shoulders. "Kim, I'm not going to be cheesy and say I missed you way more than any of the others when I left or that I was ever jealous of Tommy because he was dating you or anything like that."

"Good. Because I'm not going to say anything like I missed you more than anyone when you three left. I missed Trini, if you really want to know. You and Zack were friends, but she was my best friend. We'd grown up together, and believe me, there's things between two girls that just aren't between a guy and a girl." Kim told him bluntly. It was true, too. She'd liked having Aisha around, and they had bonded swiftly, but it wasn't quite the same.

"I will say that I'm glad I decided to come see you. When I thought about getting some help for the moral support thing, the first person I thought about was you. It wasn't just because of your history with Tommy...well, that was part of it, but not all of it. But when it comes to cheering people on, you're definitely the best."

"Of course I am." Kim grinned. "I am a cheerleader, you know."

"You're the one who should deserve cheers." Jason retorted. "You've done things none of us ever had."

Kim rolled her eyes. "We all did things no one else ever did, Jason."

"That's not quite what I was talking about." He turned slightly and looked into her eyes. "Kim, you set a goal for your life and you followed it through from the moment you did. You decided at the age of four that you were going to the Pan Globals and winning the gold and you did. None of the rest of us did anything quite like that."

"I just got lucky, that's all." Kim shrugged. "I put in effort and had the right breaks. It could've happened to anyone."

"But it did happen to you." Jason pointed out. He gently reached up to cup the side of her face. "You're amazing, Kimberly. Just...amazing."

For a long moment the two of them stayed like that, his huge warm hand caressing her, her eyes watching him, luminous in the dim light. Jason leaned closer to her, everything silent and still around them, as if all around was trying to make this a perfect moment. Their lips hovered just barely touching, close enough for each to feel the other's breath on their lips.

"Rygog, you idiot!!" The shrill voice of Divatox split the air, and the two of them both jumped apart instinctively as the grille over the bilge was yanked away. "They're human, they have to have real water, not that cruddy bilgewater!" There was the sound of someone being kicked very hard, and a yelp that sounded as if it were that thing that had dropped the food to them, the one with the big blue shell on it's back and the red eyes.

"I'm sorry, my queen!" the thing stuttered. "I didn't know!"

"Yeah, I'll just bet you didn't." Divatox peered down into the hold and saw her two captives staring back up at her. "Stupid humans." She dropped two small items down towards them and glared. "You can drink that, it's clean water. I need you two in tiptop shape when you're fed to my darling Maligore." There was a look on her face that clearly said she'd much rather torture, starve, and dehydrate them, but didn't dare at the moment.

"You can keep us in tiptop shape by letting us out of here, Divatox!" Kim yelled up at her. The pirate queen sneered down.

"You have got to be joking. Take good care of yourselves, kiddies. We don't want to give my sweetie indigestion, now do we?"

"Maybe you don't, but I don't care one way or the other." Kim snapped back. "All I care about is getting out of here and going home!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. You wish, little pinky." Divatox smirked at them, then eyed Jason a bit appraisingly for a moment, finally shaking her head. "Nope. You're just too human for my taste."

Neither of them really wanted to know just what she meant by that. As the grille was slammed back over, and the sounds of conversation faded away, Jason sighed. "Was that a mood-killer or what?"

"Definitely a mood-killer." Kim watched as Jason picked up the two flasks and took the one he handed to her. A careful sniff and taste revealed that it really was clean water, and they both drank gratefully. Neither one of them wanted to find out what Divatox might do if they didn't eat and drink, no matter how disgusting the food itself was, so they split the squishy things between them, and had something that at least filled them up, even if they didn't like how it tasted going down.

Once it was all taken care of, Kim leaned back against the wall, her eyes on the grille above. It didn't look as if it were held on that well. Maybe they could somehow get up there. It wouldn't be easy; it was higher than the two of them together were tall, but maybe she could jump or something. They couldn't just sit here and let themselves be fed to that creature. If Divatox and Maligore actually got married, they'd unleash something that was even worse than Hell on Earth. I don't even know what Maligore looks like, but I never met one of those evil females who had a scrap of good taste in their boyfriends.

But even as she began to make plans, her mind kept going back to that almost-kiss, and just how sweet it would've been if it had been completed. She smiled faintly to herself. It wouldn't have been her first kiss with Jason, that was for sure. They had been each other's first kiss, back when they were kids, long before they were Rangers.

We were ten, actually. Five years before we had any idea there was something more to the world than fun and games and life and death. It had been just a little game between them, to call themselves boyfriend and girlfriend. Neither of them had known what it really meant, just that they saw older kids going around holding hands and kissing and things like that. So one day while they'd been playing together, Kim had playfully kissed Jason on the lips. It had been fun, and they'd both laughed, though Jason had made the obligatory 'oohh, girls have cooties!!!' remarks.

Thinking back, even though it hadn't really meant anything serious, it had still been sweet and memorable. Maybe she'd had the right idea when she was a kid. Kissing Jason was fun.

* * *

Watching Jason fight had always been a pure pleasure and a thing of beauty. The way he moved was always smooth and precise, with the kind of control that most people can only dream of. The only one who had ever been a match for him was Tommy, but Kim wasn't looking at her ex-boyfriend right now. She'd looked at him earlier, when the two of them had finally had a talk.

The gist of it was what any couple who had broken up like they had would have. She had apologized for the chilly letter, and had come clean about how she'd also lost the guy she'd broken up with him for. As always, all he wanted for her was her happiness, and she could tell he'd found his happiness with someone else already.

But now she was watching Jason, and he looked great as he fought for the pride of what he could do and for those who needed him. This is what he's really great at. Kim knew. He'd always preferred martial arts for the spiritual and mental aspects of it, for the good it could do, not just to beat people up with.

She wasn't at all surprised when the announcement came that the team from Angel Grove had won. With Tommy, Jason, and Adam there, how could they not? She cheered and clapped with the rest, running over to grab Jason's hands as he reached out for her.

All through their captivity on Divatox's Subcraft, right up until the half-aborted escape that had gotten her out of there, the two of them had tried very hard not to come as close as they had for that first semi-kiss. We wanted to, but with Divatox probably watching, I didn't think it was that good of an idea. Who knew what kind of insane schemes someone who dressed like an intergalactic slut could come up with?

That was all in the past, though. They hadn't yet had a chance to meet up with Jason's parents and explain why they'd suddenly vanished for two days, but they were both relatively certain that the Scotts would understand. They'd been putting up with unannounced and generally unexplained disappearances and other odd behavior from the teens for years now. I wonder if they know sometimes. It was a bit of an odd thought, to think about anyone adult being in on the Power Ranger secret.

She knew they couldn't get away without saying something, though. The Scotts were right there in the audience, a few rows behind her, and they had been cheering just as wildly as she herself had been for their son. We should probably get this out of the way.

As the auditorium started to clear out of spectators, and only family and friends remained to give the fighters a few extra congratulations, the Scotts came closer. "Jason, Kimberly, you two do have some explaining to do, you know." Mr. Scott eyed them both with that look that only a long time parent could fully master. Even after as long as she'd spent away from her own, the Look still awed her.

"Dad, it wasn't anything we planned, trust me. Things just kind of got away from us." Jason had learned quite early on that the best explanations were vague explanations.

Mrs. Scott didn't look as if she were buying it this time. "Jason, I know you haven't seen Kimberly in a while, but you two really should have let us know you were going...anywhere. You vanish out of your beds, not even a note...for all we knew, one of those disgusting space aliens that keep things stirred up around here had kidnapped you!"

It was all any of those who had been Rangers could do to keep their faces straight, but they managed. "Mrs. Scott, we went scuba-diving that morning. It was all my fault, I should've remembered to let you know, but it's just been so long since I was here and I wanted to do some nostalgia things like that. We've been hopping here and there ever since then!"

It was a little cheesy, but Kim didn't think she could say anything more and still look as if she were telling the truth. I think a strategic retreat is in order. She checked her watch a bit ostentatiously, then grabbed onto Jason's arms. "And we don't really have time to stay. Weren't we going to go for a walk on the beach, Jason?"

Jason looked a bit startled at this, but one quick look at his parents told him that this was probably the thing to do. "Yeah, you're right, we did. We'll see you guys later." The two of them waved a quick farewell, then headed out of there. "That was pretty quick thinking," he congratulated her once they were out of earshot. "We'll have to tell them something a little more concrete, like where we've been sleeping for the last two nights, when we get back, you know."

"I know." Kim agreed. "But we've got time to think up something plausible now. Billy was always the one who came up with believable spur of the moment excuses before, I'm no good at them."

"So, what now?" Jason glanced quickly behind them, and was quite glad to note no pursuit or overly curious parents of any kind. "Maybe really go on that walk?"

Kim smiled a little. "That would be nice. Maybe even kind of...romantic?"

The two of them exchanged a soft, tender look, and Kim slid her small hand inside of his larger one. It felt so very right there, and she felt a thrill as he squeezed it gently. "Yeah," he smiled down at her. "Very romantic."

Both of them knew Angel Grove well enough to take the nearest shortcut to the beach from where they were, so before too long that's where they were. A long stretch of gleaming white sand was spread out before them, with a few glittering shells here and there, along with some random beach trash tossed up by the waves that caressed the sand with regular care. Kim smiled warmly; it had been a very long time since she'd been here and felt half as good as she did now. All her ghosts and all her fears had been laid to rest, and the only thing that concerned her was the same thing that would concern any other normal seventeen year old girl: where she was going to go to college and just what she was going to do about that gorgeous guy she was with.

The thoughts that were going through Jason's mind were much the same, and he felt it was finally something he had earned. He knew that the Rangers would be a part of his life forever. Zordon had mentioned something about how every Ranger always carried a little part of any power they had ever used with them, no matter what. Guess that means a part of me will always be the Red Ranger and the Gold Ranger. That was a good feeling.

It was entirely possible that if it weren't for the Rangers that so much in his life that was good would never have happened. The first thing that immediately came to mind was Kimberly. I always knew her, I know, but she just got so much better by being a Ranger. Saving the world had given her depth, to put it succinctly, a depth and a seriousness far beyond the usual California Valley girl.

He couldn't say he loved her. They had went through too much for him to be certain of his emotions this soon, but he knew that he was looking forward to spending a lot more time with her than he had before. Starting with getting Ernie to make that dinner for her I suggested. Maybe something romantic for two, not just a regular dinner. The thought of spending several more romantic dinners with Kim was really beginning to grow on him. I want this to be right. Not just a rebound for either of us.

This wasn't the first time that either of them had walked down this beach, and neither of them could help but think about other times they'd been here, with friends and with those who had been more than friends. But there was something about this walk that meant more to both of them than anything else did. Something special that sang between them in a melodic tone only they could hear, in the deepest part of one's self.

His mind replayed the last few days as they walked. He had been glad at first that she had escaped, but then when he saw her again, held captive by the island-dwellers, he'd almost panicked. The thought of what those savages could have done to her was...unthinkable. Then we went through all of that with Maligore. Remembering what it felt like to have all that evil surging through him, he fought back a shudder. He knew it hadn't been his fault, but it was still fairly terrifying.

Though for 'bonding experiences' between two people in their particular situation, you sure couldn't beat having been twisted into evil by something like that.

They didn't do a lot of talking as they strolled, occasional comments about the weather or what had been going on sufficed. Both of them came to a mutual stop as the colors of light around them slowly started to fade into sunset. They'd walked for half the afternoon already, and they were the only ones in sight right now.

"It's so beautiful." Kim murmured as they watched the light splashing blood-red onto the water. "Like...liquid rubies or something."

"Sunset always looks great here." Jason glanced over at her slightly, and smiled to see her entire body caressed by the fading light. She looked amazing.

Almost as if she felt his eyes on her, she turned to look at him, and as they had once before, their eyes met. A kind of sacred silence fell, one they knew with all their hearts would not be interrupted. Slowly he leaned downward and brushed his lips on hers. He was hesitant at first, but she leaned up to him, increasing the strength and depth of the kiss, and pulling him closer to him, wrapping her small arms around his neck.

When they finally broke apart, both of them were panting for air a little. "That was incredible, Kimberly," Jason finally managed to say something coherent after a couple of false starts. He wanted to say something else, but nothing really seemed capable of doing that kiss justice.

"You're right." She burrowed her way under his arm and stayed there, both of them feeling how right it was that she be there. It was a great feeling. "I've been wanting to kiss you again for a while, you know."

"Again? Oh, yeah, when we were kids." Jason thought about that little kiss and grinned. "Still got girl-cooties?"

"Why, do you want some more?"

Jason's grin widened. "Maybe." He laughed and she smacked his arm once more, and together they headed down the beach in the last rays of the day, towards whatever adventures and whatever romance the future could hold for them.

The End