Unexpected

By

Sailor Miaka

Author's note: This story was inspired by a Sailor Moon story I read a long time ago, while the basis is the same, the plot is different so those of you who are SM fans as well may recognize it. When I was actually looking for it (I think Tommy's memory is rubbing off on me) I couldn't remember the name so that wasn't helping my search any. However the question of "What would Tommy do?" did cross my mind. This is the answer. Set right before "The Wedding."

Dedication: This story is dedicated to everyone who has reviewed for As Long As You're Mine. I really really appreciate you all and thank youfrom the bottom of my heart.

Warnings: its not too bad, mushiness, a few implied comments. That's about it.

Disclaimer: I don't own MMPR etc. If I did…well lets just say the fan base would be happier.

Unexpected

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"Tommy?"

Kim's voice sounded in concern as he tried to shift aside his heavy burden and continue walking at the same time. Not exactly the easiest task in the world. Especially when his

girlfriend had decided to take her whole wardrobe with her.

"Kim?" he said as he felt one bag slipping and his knees began to buckle. "A little help?"

"Oh! No problem," she said with a grin.

She grabbed the sliding bag, which left Tommy with two huge rolling suitcases, a duffel bag, a garment bag and his own rolling suitcase. Kim stood with her purse and her rolling carry on. He smiled weakly, just this once wishing he wasn't so damn chivalrous. However as he saw Rocky behind him, he suddenly didn't feel so bad. It looked like Aisha had at least grabbed one of her larger suitcases before leaving the rest for Rocky to carry.

No, Tommy thought with a wry grin. Aisha had the whole load and Rocky being the 'good friend' offered to take them for her. That's how she wound up with the big case. Poor guy, all the work of a boyfriend and none of the perks.

He watched as Rocky and Aisha joined their small group in the airport terminal. Adam and Billy were there already and Tommy looked at them in envy. They had one bag a piece. As they waited for their flight to be called the teens talked amongst themselves. Aisha laughed as Rocky told a joke and Kimberly noticed that Rocky had his arm around the back of Aisha's chair. Kim and Tommy had long ago decided there was more to Rocky and Aisha's relationship than met the eye, but they kept quiet not wanting to intrude. However, that didn't stop her from prying into Aisha at sleepovers but she had never gotten anything out of her best friend. It all remained a mystery.

"Who's ready for Australia?" Aisha said as their flight number was announced over the PA system.

They cheered among themselves and proceeded to the gate for check in. Check in went smoothly and they were seated quicker than they had thought they would be. Take off went smoothly as well and soon they were cruising at a respectable altitude and moving about the plane. The food carts came and went and soon the movie was getting ready to start. Kim was bored and idly began to run her fingers up and down Tommy's arm as she snuggled against it, trying to sleep. Tommy leaned over to her, kissed her softly on the top of her head before whispering into her ear.

"Miss the Firebird?"

Kim smiled as she nodded.

"We would have been there by now," she replied with a mock pout.

"Go to sleep, it'll make the trip go by faster," he said with a smile. "We'll be there soon."

"Ok," she answered with a sigh as she cuddled back down against his arm.

20 minutes later, Kim was still awake. She knew what was wrong.

"Tommy?" she said pitifully. "Can you reach up and get Peaches for me? He's in my carry on."

"Sure, Kim"

Tommy looked fondly at his girlfriend as he rose to get into the overhead bin. As he stood, he glanced behind them. Adam was asleep against the window, snoring softly. Aisha was asleep also, but her head rested against Rocky's shoulder. She had a contented smile across her face. A smile that was mirrored by Rocky, as he too snored on, his head resting atop hers.

"Check this out Kim," Tommy whispered, motioning to Rocky and Aisha.

"That's so cute," Kim said as she sat back down. "They need to quit dancing around each other and just get together already."

"I hear that," Tommy said as he finally located Kim's ugly as sin pink tapestry pilot case.

He unzipped the case and grabbed what he thought was the ear of the stuffed animal. Instead his hand came out with the silky sleeve and Maribu feather trimmed cuff of Kimberly's robe. Now Tommy had seen this robe many a time at the group sleep-overs they all had, but it didn't stop his cheeks from pinking and odd thoughts from running through his mind.

"I wonder if Kim's underwear is in here…"

He snuck a quick glance down to his girlfriend, who was currently yawning and sneaking glances at Rocky and Aisha. Tommy opened the case a little wider to find the rabbit, and was met with the pastel interior of Kim's suitcase.

This is normal, he told himself as more odd little thoughts fluttered in his imagination. I'm just a teenage boy, who is obsessed with my girlfriend's underwear. This is perfectly normal. Perfectly normal, Oh my GOD.

Tommy finally located the rabbit, pulled it out and found himself staring into the seat of a pair of white bikini cut panties.

He blushed to the roots of his hair.

Itisn'tmyfaultitwaswrappedaroundtherabbitIsweartoGod!

"Tommy? Did you find him? I didn't forget to pack him, did I?" Kim's worried voice cut threw Tommy's thoughts.

"Yeah," he croaked out.

Tommy had exactly two seconds to decide what to do. He wasn't sure how Kim would react to him going through her underwear, but he wasn't sure he wanted to find out. As leader of the Power Rangers he was used to making life or death situations everyday. So Tommy did what any battle hardened, experienced teenager would do.

He crumpled the panties up in his hand and shoved them into his pocket as he sat down.

Kim, who instantly began cooing over her rabbit, noticed nothing. She thanked him prettily, and leaned up to kiss his cheek before she snuggled against him once again and quickly drifted off to sleep. Tommy sighed in relief. He could feel his prize burning a whole in his pocket and blushed a little more. He wasn't exactly sure how he was going to get them back to Kim, but he'd think of something, he was sure. He sighed again before cuddling into Kim and drifting off to sleep himself.

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The Outback Hilton

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All Tommy wanted was a hot shower and a bed. He was cranky and stiff from the plane. Kimberly was the same. She was extremely short tempered and was going off at the smallest thing. Finally they were all settled into their rooms. Kim and Aisha had their own room, and the boys had one down the hall a bit. Tommy didn't exactly care for the distance between himself and Kimberly but at the moment he was too tired to do anything but glare at the doors in between their rooms. As the boys entered the room, Rocky and Adam immediately fell to a bed and went to sleep. Tommy checked the clock. It was nearly 1 am Sydney time. Billy had grabbed the remote and was examining the Australian programs. Tommy made a beeline for the bathroom, well more specifically for the shower. Halfway through his shower he remembered just exactly what was in his left jacket pocket. He finished in record time and quickly dressed himself. Almost reverently he pulled the small white garment from his pocket and unfolded it.

He wished to God right then that he never had.

There, staring back at him from the front panel of Kimberly's underwear was a cartoon image.

Of the Red Ranger.

Rocky's a dead man.

All sorts of images began to race through Tommy's head. Kim and Rocky walking by the lake in the park, shopping at the mall, and fighting side by side in battle. Tommy's normally controlled temper began to boil. Then another thought popped up. One that chilled Tommy to the bone. Kimberly and Jason. Suddenly all he could think of was Kimberly breaking up with him for one of the Red Rangers. He finished dressing sullenly, using all of his will power not to go and pummel the sleeping and now snoring Rocky into oblivion. Billy had fallen asleep with the TV on, so Tommy was left to his own thoughts. They weren't nice ones.

Why does Kimberly have Red Ranger underwear?

Alight knock at the door commanded his attention. His dark mood was not exactly welcoming the thought of company, and he flung the door open in a temper.

"What!" he snapped.

Kim stood there in her pajamas, covered by the sheer pink robe trimmed in Maribu feathers that had started this whole mess to begin with. Her eyes watered slightly, startled by her boyfriend's rudeness.

"I just wanted to tell you Good Night," she said softly, her lip trembling.

Tommy felt like a jackass.

"Come here, Beautiful," he said, his tone and mood lightening considerably as they embraced.

"You wanna go for a walk?" he asked softly.

"Sure!" she answered brightly.

Ever the gentleman, Tommy escorted her down to her room and in a record breaking 5 minute change Kimberly was back out in the hall with him. She was wearing a pink tank top with a light jacket over it. Her loose jeans completed the out fit; a small bit of white underwear peaking out over the waist band caught his attention and reminded him of his discovery.

"Let's go," she said a little breathlessly as she took his hand.

He gave her a tight smile as they quietly exited the hall, careful not to get caught by the chaperones. Together they walked around the hotel grounds and found a small garden park about two blocks away from their hotel. Kim was babbling happily about this or that, while Tommy responded with one syllable answers every once in a while. It wasn't that he wasn't listening to her; he just couldn't quit thinking about her damn underwear!

"Tommy, I've been talking for the last half an hour and you haven't heard a word I've said!"

Tommy turned to his girlfriend with a sheepish smile.

"I'm sorry Kim; I just got something on my mind?"

"Like what?" she asked.

"Like the fact that you have Red Ranger underwear."

"How do you know that?" Kim said in complete astonishment, her face flame red.

It was silent. Tommy continued to walk on as if nothing had happened. He stopped in his tracks as he realized that he had just said what he was thinking instead of keeping it to himself. He looked back to Kim and began to blush.

At least she's not denying it, he thought miserably.

"When I got Peaches on the airplane, they were caught around his ear," Tommy said, unable to look Kim in the eye. "I accidentally took them with me."

He managed to look up and saw the oddest look on Kimberly's face.

"Look, Kim, I understand if you want to break up with me and go after Rocky or Jason but—"

Tommy was cut off by a peal of hysterical laughter that had doubled Kim over. If it was possible he blushed harder.

"What's so funny?" he stammered out in confusion.

"You are," Kim said between laughs. "Break up? With you? For Rocky or Jason? Are you kidding me?"

Tommy couldn't help but smile.

"I don't know which is funnier," Kim gasped out as she collapsed on a nearby bench. "Me dating one of them or the fact that you seriously thought that!"

Finally Tommy couldn't hold back any longer and he joined her laughter.

"It was a pretty crazy idea," he said a bit defensively as he sat next to her.

"Look," she said seriously as she climbed into his lap, straddling his legs. "I love you. You. Thomas James Oliver. I will always love you. A pair of panties isn't going to change that."

She leaned over and kissed him hard on the lips. He met her lips with equal force and for a few precious moments they remained like that, forgetting everything around them. When the need to breathe finally forced them apart, Kim sighed happily hugging Tommy as she slid down to the bench.

"By the way, where are they?" she asked. "I couldn't find them when I unpacked."

"Oh, uh," Tommy said blushing yet again. "They're, uh, right here. Like I said, I shoved them into my pocket and took them with me."

He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the offensive garment, his eyes downward.

"Well at least you didn't burn them!" she cracked as she accepted the panties and put them in her own pocket.

"I thought of it," he admitted. He caught her hand. "Kim, look, I have to know. Why in the world do you have these?"

"Oh," she said, blushing a pretty pink. "They came in a two pack."

"A two pack?" Tommy said, his doubts fading. "Who was on the other one? The Pink Ranger?"

"I'll show you."

Before Tommy could process her words, Kim had pulled her pants down to her hips to display the front panel. His heart stopped beating as he saw the Ranger there.

The White Ranger. Him.

Tommy felt his blood run the by now familiar path to his cheeks and other regions of his anatomy. A few seconds on unabashed staring later, Kim finally pulled her jeans back up and resumed her seat beside him, her own color high.

"I saw them in a store at the air port and just couldn't pass them up. I wasn't keeping the other pair, they were a gift."

"To who?" Tommy asked, still not exactly coherent.

"Aisha."

Tommy snorted.

That settles that, he thought

"Kim, I'm sorry for bringing this up…"

"And for stealing my underwear?" she asked sassily.

"And for stealing your underwear. I don't know what came over me."

Kim smiled at him and for several minutes thereafter the couple enjoyed the native flora and the twinkling lights of the stars above them. Well that's what they told their friends anyway.

Eventually they made their way back to the hotel and their rooms. Tommy dropped Kimberly off by her door, kissing her cheek.

"Night Tommy," she said softly.

"Night Kim," he replied. Sudden a thought pooped into his head and was out of his mouth before he could stop it. "Hey Kim!"

"Yes?"

"Does this mean I've been in your pants?"