DISCLAIMER: The Power Rangers in any incarnation are not mine. I'm just borrowing them for an idea that came to mind.
SUMMARY: This would take place during the episode 'Wormhole'. It's my take on what might have happened if two long time Rangers had been sent to help Tommy, the Dino Rangers and SPD during the battle.
A/N: This could get a little weird. It uses a lot of flashbacks and might actually explain a few things. Please bear with me. JD's forcing me to write this one.
The SPD Rangers and the Dino Thunder Rangers were in a circle and surrounded by Tyranodrones and Krybots. They had started shouting, "No one gets into our circle!" when Tommy felt the rush of someone teleporting in behind him. He didn't look. He didn't have to after one of the two spoke.
"Does that include us, bro?"
"Welcome to the party, Jason." Tommy didn't address the other person standing in the circle. He didn't have to. She knew that he was aware of her presence. He had always known when she was around.
She was right. He knew she was there. He could feel her doe eyes on him. He could also feel the pain she was radiating when he didn't acknowledge her. Jason stepped up next to Tommy while Kim stepped into a space made for her between Kira and Syd. 'Maybe we can talk later. I have to explain to him,' she thought, blinking back tears.
And so the fight was joined. Syd had paired off with Kim. Tommy had caught only one glimpse of the two of them fighting side by side as the battle raged. Their fighting styles were so similar that he almost could have sworn that they were one and the same.
When it was all over, Jason looked around. He didn't see Kim anywhere. He powered down. "Kim! Kim!"
"She's over here!" came a stranger's voice. Jason ran over to find Kim unconscious and demorphed. "She took a major hit. She hasn't moved since." There was a rising panic in the Pink Ranger's voice. She powered down right in front Jason and he knew immediately who he was looking at.
He couldn't worry about that right now though. He had to take care of Kim. He had promised the nine-year-old in Florida that her mother would come home safely.
Kneeling over his fallen friend, Jason reached to check for her pulse. When he found it, he breathed a sigh of relief. She was alive. Unfortunately, he had to get her out of there before he blew up at Tommy.
Jason knew why Kim had taken the hit. He had seen it happen. She had been covering Syd. She knew exactly who Sydney Drew really was.
He gathered his friend up in his arms. "She'll be alright, Syd. I promise." Sydney nodded.
"I have to go, Uncle Jason. Take care of her." Jason nodded and walked away as the young Pink Ranger bowed her head with tears in her eyes. He turned just once as he left to notice that the Green Ranger had come up beside her to offer her comfort. He knew that she would be alright.
"Jase!" Tommy hollered out, running up. "Is she okay?"
Jason bit down. He had to remind himself that Kim was the one who sent the letter, against his better advice. But he also knew that Kim and Tommy were destined to be. "I don't know, man. The other Pink said that she had taken a major hit and hadn't moved since. She's alive but I don't know how bad it is."
"Let's take her to my place. I have a medical bay at the base."
Jason nodded and followed his friend as he left the battlefield.
As they walked into the Dino Thunder lair, Jason thought about how much he had wanted to give Tommy a piece of his mind all those years ago. He remembered the day that Kim had called him and told him that she had to quit the team.
FLASHBACK JANUARY 1996
"Hello?" Jason said groggily as he turned on the light beside his bed.
"Jason? I'm sorry. I forgot about the time difference. Were you sleeping?" Kim's teary voice had Jason awake in a heartbeat.
"I was. Kim, what's wrong?" He was now sitting bolt upright on the edge of the bed.
"I lost my place on the team." Kim was almost fully in tears now. "I did something stupid when I went home for Christmas."
"Calm down, Kim. Just tell me what happened." Jason had a feeling he was going to want to kill someone for hurting his baby sister.
"I'm pregnant. The coach found out and I lost my place on the team. He said that I couldn't compete pregnant and that if I really wanted this, I had to get an abortion."
"What did you tell him?"
"I didn't say anything. I can't kill this baby. It's all I have left of Tommy."
"What do you mean? Kim, what have you done?"
"I broke up with him. I couldn't tell him that I was pregnant. I sent him a letter telling him that I had found someone else." Kim sobbed brokenly into the phone. "Jason, what am I going to do?"
"I'm going to come down there and we'll see what we can do together. I won't let you go through this alone. I promise, sis."
"Jason, you're great. But I couldn't ask you to give up the conference."
"Sis, don't. You're family. Besides, I was going to be leaving the conference in a couple of days anyway. It's over. Trini, Zack and I will be there as soon as we can." He gentled his voice even farther. "Try to rest as much as possible. And don't worry. We'll make sure that everything's all right."
END FLASHBACK
By the time Jason, Trini and Zack had arrived in Florida and gotten a house set up so that Kim had somewhere to live, Tommy had moved on with his life. Billy had kept Jason up to date on what was going on in Angel Grove. Jason had told Billy and sworn him to secrecy. The only one Billy told was Zordon who had immediately contacted Ninjor and Dulcea who both promised to keep an eye on the lonely Kimberly.
"Lay her down here," Tommy instructed as he set up some diagnostics.
"I see that you're not quite as helpless when it comes to technology anymore," Jason ribbed.
"True. But that's thanks to Billy and Hayley." He looked up at his friend who had raised an eyebrow at Hayley's name. "Hayley's a woman who went to college with me. She's been the Dino Thunder tech advisor. My Billy, so to speak."
Jason nodded. He lay Kim down on the table and Tommy ran his diagnostic. "She doesn't seem to be injured too badly. Her back is the worst of it. Any idea where all this scar tissue came from?"
Jason winced. Billy had told him that Tommy didn't remember what he had done during the time that he had believed himself to be king of the Machine Empire. He just didn't want to remember how he had found Kimberly in the dungeons of the Moon Palace.
FLASHBACK LATE NOVEMBER 1996
Kim was still weak from the birth of her daughter. There had been complications during the birth and it had almost killed the Crane. But Sydney Anne Hart had come through with flying colors. Without Ninjor, Trini and Zack, Jason was sure they would have lost Kim.
So when she had been captured by the Machine Empire, she had no strength left to fight with. Jason had been called in Angel Grove where he was currently the Gold Ranger. With Zordon's and Billy's help, Jason managed to get into the Moon Palace where they had found Kimberly's bio signature. What he found there still haunted his dreams.
Kimberly had been chained to a wall standing up. She was naked from the waist up. But it was her back that tore the agonized scream from Jason's throat. She had been beaten brutally. Her back, to be completely honest, looked like hamburger. She was unconscious, which was a blessing when Jason unchained her and gently wrapped her in a blanket before teleporting her back to the Power Chamber. She was immediately spirited off into deeper chambers where Alpha, Zordon and Billy worked tirelessly to save the original Pink Ranger.
It was almost two months before Kim's back had healed enough to let her go home to her daughter. During that time, Jason had fought himself to keep from marching Tommy down there and showing him what he had done to Kimberly. Of course he had known that if he did that, he'd end up telling him about Sydney and Kim didn't want that.
He'd kept his mouth shut and he knew that it would come back to haunt him.
END FLASHBACK
"That's something Kim's going to have to tell you. She made me swear not to tell you." He looked at Tommy and something in his eyes told Tommy that the story was not a pretty one.
"Jase, tell me. What happened to Kimberly?"
"I can't, man.She made me swear. After everything that's happened to her, I owe her that much at least." Jason picked Kimberly back up and turned to leave. "I need to get her home."
"At least, stay until she wakes up. Please, Jase."
Jason turned to look back at his friend. The raw emotion in his eyes decided Jason. He had to stay, give Kim the chance to tell Tommy about his daughter.
"Alright. I'll stay. Where can she rest?"
"She can have my bed. It'll be more comfortable for her." Jason just nodded and followed his friend.
Two days later, Jason had called Zack and Aisha to make sure that everything was okay. Kim still hadn't woken up but she was restless as if she were having nightmares.
The Dino Rangers had been told that Dr. O needed some time alone. He told them that he had received some bad news from home and needed some time to deal with it. They stayed away.
Jason hadn't left Kim's side for much of anything. He wanted to make sure that she was okay. After all, he had promised Syd that her mother would be safe.
On the third day after the battle, Jason had gone for a walk in the woods and Tommy had taken over sitting with Kim.
"Kim, beautiful, wake up. Please," Jason heard Tommy pleading with Kim as he approached the bedroom. "Please wake up. I really want you to know that I still love you. I still do. No matter what happened between us." Jason turned and walked away from the room, not wanting to hear the confessions that Tommy was making. He knew that Tommy's tune would change once he found out about Sydney and Kim was going to bear the brunt of that.
Tommy heard Jason walk away from the doorway. He bolted up and followed his old friend. "Jason, please. If you know why she sent that letter, you have to tell me." He knew he was begging and right now he really didn't care. "Tell me something, man. If we were ever friends, tell me what happened."
Jason had had enough. For three days, Tommy had been trying to cajole the story out of the first Red Ranger and he snapped. "Gee, Tommy, where should I start? How about asking you about the fact that Kim came home for Christmas in 1995 and went back to Florida pregnant? Or maybe telling you about the night she called me in tears telling me that she lost her place on the team because she wouldn't abort your child? That's right. She sent you that letter because she didn't think you needed a baby stroller in your life right then! She wanted you to have your dreams and figured that you wouldn't be able to have that with a baby stroller in tow! She figured that if she told you, you'd have one of three reactions. The first was her dream come true; that you would tell her it didn't matter, take her back and raise the baby with her. The second was a nightmare for her; that you would try to take the baby from her. After all, she had no job and no real prospects at the time. The third reaction was the most plausible but still painful; that you'd sue for joint custody only having anything to do with her when it came to your daughter."
Suddenly, Jason was aware that he'd said too much. He shut his mouth and turned away from the man who'd been a brother to him for so long. "Or maybe I should just shut up now."
Tommy was shocked. He couldn't believe this. Jason had just told him that he was a father. Tommy collapsed onto the couch. "I'm a father?"
"That wasn't the optimal way to tell you. Kim made me promise that I wouldn't do that." Jason sighed as he sat down in the chair across from the couch. "I just couldn't stand the badgering anymore."
"I'm sorry, Jase. I didn't mean to make you break your promise to Kim." He looked at his old friend. "I really have a daughter?" Jason just nodded. "Do – do you have a picture of her?"
Jason pulled out his wallet. He flipped it to the picture of Kim and Syd and handed it to Tommy. "You'd be so proud of her Tommy. She's so much like her mother." Jason smiled like the proud uncle he was.
"She's beautiful. At least she got her looks from her mother." Tommy smiled weakly. "How old is she now?"
"Nine. And we can already tell that she's got both her mother and father's attitudes. She's been doing both martial arts and gymnastics since she was five and getting better all the time."
Jason got serious. "Since I've already broken my promise to not tell you about Syd, maybe I should just tell you the whole story."
"Would you?" Tommy looked hopeful. Jason nodded.
"Parts of it aren't pretty. I'll warn you of that much up front." Tommy nodded and Jason started the story. "You know that Sydney was born. What I didn't tell you was that the birth nearly killed Kim. She started bleeding out. It was almost as if she had given up as soon as Syd was safe. The doctors had been telling us throughout the pregnancy that Kim's health wasn't the best for carrying a baby. She had been underweight to begin with and didn't gain much weight while she was pregnant. We had to fight with her to get her to eat at times and she spent most of the pregnancy anemic. Her blood sugar was wildly erratic and she was always weak. The doctors weren't even sure if Sydney was going to make it at one point. The doctors managed to save Kim but she was weak for a long time after that."
Tommy looked almost heartbroken at what Jase was telling him. He had almost lost both the love of his life and his daughter. "Go on. Even though something tells me that this next part is going to piss me off."
"You're not wrong. Only two months after Syd was born, Kim was out shopping when she was captured by the Machine Empire. I was in Angel Grove at the time as the Gold Ranger. Zack called me because Trini just couldn't stop crying. I talked to Zordon and Billy and they helped me to locate her bio signature at the Moon Palace. I fought my way inside alone and found her. She had been chained to a wall, naked from the waist up and beaten. Her back looked like hamburger. I found out that the one who handled the whip was the person who had loved her more than anything. It was you, man. Prince Gasket encountered me at one point and told me just how viciously you had whipped her. He seemed thrilled. He ran from me but I was more worried about getting Kim out of there. I wrapped her in a blanket and had her teleported to the Power Chamber where Billy took her down to some deeper chambers where she was taken care of. I had to bite my tongue a lot during the two months that she was there. Billy had told me and had to remind me often that you didn't remember anything you had done while under Prince Gasket's brain drain device."
"I caused that kind of damage to Kim?" Tommy was crushed. He didn't think he could have ever hurt Kim. Let alone do that to her. He bowed his head.
"Should I stop there?" Jason didn't want to hurt his friend any more than he had but he knew that Tommy deserved the truth.
As Tommy shook his head, they both heard a voice from the doorway. "You should have never started Jason." They looked up to see Kim leaning against the doorway.
"Kim, are you alright?" Tommy looked away as Jason asked the question. He couldn't look in her eyes, knowing what he had done.
"I don't think I can walk any further." Kim felt the tears gathering in her eyes again. Tommy had looked away. He had to hate the sight of her now. After all, she had kept his daughter from him for nine years.
Jason got up to help her only to find Tommy there already. He picked her up and carried her to the couch. Jason decided that now was a good time to bail out.
"Kim, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't question the letter. I should have known that something was wrong when it came to the Youth Center. I should have tried to call you. I was just so upset that you had actually sent it. I couldn't think straight." Tommy sat next to her.
"I shouldn't have hidden Sydney from you. I should be the one saying I'm sorry. I should have told you the truth. I – I just wanted one of us to be able to reach their dreams and since I knew it wouldn't be me, I had to let it be you."
"Kim, you got scared. I can understand that. I'm scared right now. I'm so scared that you want nothing to do with me. I mean, after everything I've done to you, how could you even want to be around me?"
Both of them had tears running down their faces. "I guess we're both scared. We've both made mistakes in this relationship. Do you think we could try to work something out?" Kim sounded so hopeful. Maybe there was a chance for them after all.
"You don't hate me for letting you go? For the beating?"
"I could never hate you, Tommy. Not even for that. You had been brainwashed and you don't remember doing that to me. I know that."
"I'd like to think that there's still something there after all these years." Tommy wrapped an arm around Kim who simply leaned into him and smiled.
"There's always something there between us." She sounded sleepy and Tommy smiled. He stretched out on the couch and nestled Kim in between his legs with her head on his chest. The two of them drifted off just laying there each with a smile on their face. They had come home.