SquidgeWorld Archive

Forever Blush
By Dan Harbison
Cobalt-Blue@rocketmail.com

It was nearly dark when Jason got home. The only sound was ticking of the old grandfather clock his mother had given him right after they'd bought the house. Slipping his shoes off, so as not to disturb anyone, he walked silently up the stairs. Stopping first at the nursery, he quietly walked over to the crib. The late day sun's rays were casting shadows on the far wall of the room.

At first, Jason had wanted the crib in the bedroom where one of them could get up in the middle of the night to check on her regularly. However calmer heads had prevailed and he finally realized that little Trini Ann would be better off not sleeping in the same room as her parents. It had been pointed out to him that she had to learn to become what the pediatrician had called a "self-soothing baby".Looking down at her, he realized just how right the decision had been. She wasn't asleep but was very quietly and very stubbornly trying to stuff her entire foot into her mouth. Seeing her father enter the room, she smiled and cooed loudly, her midnight eyes suddenly bright with the joy of recognition. His heart melted at the sight of her, and the day's unpleasant business was banished. Reaching down he gently picked his daughter up- his daughter, that in itself was such a miracle. His family didn't have the best of luck when it came to reproductive health, his mother's own condition prevented her from having a second child. That combined with other aspects of his life topped off what had happened to him after he lost the power of the Gold Ranger, left Jason where he never really expected to have children of his own. But where there was a will there was a way, and Jason very quickly found out that there were some wills even stronger than his own. Not the least of which was his mother's and her rather strenuous insistence on grandchildren- no matter what the circumstances. Not that Jason minded. He always wanted children, and when this was suggested to him, it took very little to twist his arm.

Now looking over at the angelic face staring up at him from behind the strands of blonde hair, he knew himself to blessed beyond any right to be. "Hi there, little one," he cooed softly to her.

"Is the world safe again?"

He nodded and looked up, his heart felt like it was going to burst from the love he felt for the figure standing there at the door, combined with what he felt for their daughter. "As safe as it's going to be until the next baddie decides to attack." Smiling down at the small bundle of energy in his arms again, he thought about the miracle that brought her into being. "She's got your hair," he softly muttered as Trini grabbed his finger. "You do good work."

A soft chuckle was his answer, "And your eyes," he felt a smaller set of arms wrap around both him and their daughter. "She's as much you as she is me. That's the beauty of it. She comes from both of us." He could feel a gradual tensing in those arms, "Did you see Tommy?"

Jason nodded, ashamed to admit that he'd failed to relay the message. "I saw him."

"Did you invite them to Trini's and Zack's for the weekend?"

Jason felt himself blush with shame. "No," he muttered softly. "I didn't get a chance to. He left before we could talk."

"Jason Lee Scott, you're impossible," was the exasperated reply. He felt a brief hint of fear as those arms unwrapped themselves from around him and their daughter. "It looks like I'm going to have to make some phone calls myself. Somebody has to talk some sense into you and Tommy, and I think I know just the person."

Kimberly Oliver was irritable as a badger with a sore paw. She was hot, she was fat, and the baby had started tap dancing on her bladder. She was also the happiest she'd been since she won the gold at the Pan Global Games. Looking up she checked the time on the digital clock on the wall. Where was Tommy? He should have been back by now. Just how long did it take to save the world?

Then just how ludicrous that thought sounded hit her and she burst out giggling, as the front door opened and the former Green, White, and sometimes Red Ranger came through the front door. The scowl on his face drained the joy right out of her mood. "What's wrong?" She suddenly had images of the mission to the moon going much worse than she expected it to.

"Jason is what's wrong," Tommy growled.

"You knew he might not show up when you called him," Kim tried to sooth her husband's mood.

Tossing the keys to the jeep on the table, he growled, "Oh, he showed up all right- LATE," he spat out the word, "Then he proceeded to act like General Patton on review."

Kimberly put her hands on her widening hips, "Tommy Oliver, you of all people have no right to complain about other people being late."

Kim could see the anger begin to drain from his face as he suddenly came back to the reality of their home. Sighing, he enfolded her into a gentle embrace and kissed the top of her head, "I'm sorry. I guess, he still irritates me."

Pulling back from the embrace, Kimberly looked up into his deep chocolate eyes, "There was a time when you two didn't fight like this."

Tommy sighed, "Yeah, but that was before what happened with Bill." She could see the frustration grow in his eyes again. "Damn it Kim! I had a lot on my mind. I didn't realize what I was doing. God knows I'd never hurt Bill on purpose." Kimberly could hear the old pain, and self-recrimination in his voice as he threw himself down in a recliner.

Kim went over to her husband and gently sat in his lap, "God knows, Tommy. I know, and even Bill knows." She kissed him on the forehead and told him, "and deep down, I think Jase knows too."

"Then why won't he let it go?" Tommy asked.

"Did Jason say something about it to you?" Kimberly would be surprised if he had.

Tommy shook his head, "No, but I could see it in his eyes. I could hear it in his tone." She could see the frustration in his eyes, "I wanted to ask how Bill was, but was afraid if I did it would set off another fight, and right then we didn't need to air all my mistakes in front of the other Red Rangers." Kimberly wondered how much Tommy was reading into it as an excuse for beating himself up.

With a great deal of effort she pulled her growing frame off her husband and sat in the floor next to him, wrapping her harms around his shoulders. "Did you really want to know, or were you just thinking of asking to be polite?"

"I want to know. I care about him too, Kim." Tommy told her, and her heart broke at the sight of his pleading with his eyes. "I never meant for him to get hurt."

Kim pulled her husband to her and held him. She knew what had happened after Billy lost his powers. How Billy became tech support for the team, and damn good at it at that. She'd talked to Kat about it on more than one occasion, and had slowly pieced together the whole story.

With the Machine Empire pushing harder and harder, the demands on the young engineer had grown. But, being quiet and unassuming nobody had noticed until it was almost too late just how much Bill had been pushing himself. Without the Ranger stamina, Bill just couldn't keep up with the job of maintaining and upgrading six `zords by himself. When he fell from Tommy's `zord because he'd passed out from exhaustion, the ex-Blue Ranger had almost died.

Tommy blamed himself for not seeing that Billy needed help. Tommy was that way- he was the original Mister Guilt- but so had Jason. The two had fought, and some very angry words had been exchanged, and one of the closest friendships the team had ever known had been pushed to the breaking point. At one point, Tommy had even told Jase, that if he was so concerned about Billy then why didn't he stick around and help, or better yet just marry him. That way he could always be there to take care of him, shoving into Jason's face the fact that he had always protected the Blue Ranger, even when Tommy thought it was too much. That of course set off a whole new fight between the two. Finally, Jason took Billy back to LA with him to recuperate, and Jason and Tommy had barely been civil with each other since. Jason had even missed hers and Tommy's wedding. She'd later had a long talk with Billy about it over dinner one night. Billy didn't blame Tommy. If anything, he blamed himself for not asking for help, and trying to do everything himself. So when it came down to it, everybody blamed themselves, and Tommy got a double load of guilt from Jase.

"If he didn't say anything about it, how do you know?" she was interrupted by the phone. Reaching out, she pulled the receiver from the table next to the chair. "Hello, Oliver residence,"

The voice on the phone was the last she'd expected to hear at this time, "Kim, it's Bill." She could hear something else in his voice, a worry and a strain she hadn't heard before. "Is Tom there?"

"Yes," she answered warily.

"Look could I talk to him?" Billy asked.

"Sure," she covered there mouthpiece with her hand, and indicated the phone, "It's Billy. He wants to talk to you."

She could see worry in her husband's eyes. "What does he want?"

"He didn't say. He just asked to speak with you," she handed him the phone and listened to her husband.

"Uh, hi Bill." Then he was quite for a few minutes.

"Yeah, I saw him," Kimberly guessed they were talking about Jason.

"No, I'm not mad at him. At least not like that," Again her husband listened to the voice a the other end of the line.

Tommy gave a wry smile, "No Bill, it's not like that. I thought?"

"You're kidding!" her husband sounded surprised. Finally after another long silence, "I thought he was mad at me, you know, about what happened with your accident."

Kimberly watched as a look of surprise, chagrin, and just a little amusement flashed across her husband's face as he pulled the phone away from his hear. Kimberly could hear Billy's voice get louder. "Finally, they both heard, "Put Kim on!"

Tommy handed Kimberly the phone and she put it to her ear carefully. She'd been on the receiving end of a few of Billy's rants in the past when he thought she was acting particularly air-
headed. "It's me Billy," she said carefully into the phone.

"Do you think that if we kill Tommy and Jason, Trini and Zack would help us hide the bodies?" her oldest friend in the world asked.

"I don't know. Maybe," she grinned up at her husband who looked amused.

She almost sense Billy thinking on the other end of the line. Finally, he said, "Look, Jason didn't mean anything by anything he might have said to Tommy. He's been really worried lately, and that call came at a really bad time," the ex-Blue Ranger explained. "Well not a bad time, just a difficult time, or maybe a hard time, I don't know how to explain it."

"Billy you're babbling," Kim told him. She'd never heard Billy at a loss for words before.

She heard him sigh deeply. "Okay. Look, Jason isn't angry with Tommy anymore. He was SUPPOSED," she heard Billy stress the word, "to ask you guys to come down to Zack and Trini's for a visit this weekend but couldn't figure out how. He's got something important he wants to share, but those two lunkheads have been acting angry with each other so long that they've forgotten how to talk. So it looks like it's up to you and me to get them together."

"Billy, I don't know. I mean If those two are going to fight?," Kim really did want to see Jason and Billy again, but she didn't want anymore stress on their friendships.

"Why do you think we're meeting at Zack and Trini's? Those two need a referee, six of us!" Billy asked. His voice dropped to something serious, "Look Kim. This is important. Whether it's Jase or not, I," he stressed the word, "want to see you. Both of you." His voice was almost begging, "Please. I promise you won't be sorry."

"Okay, I think we can make it." She looked up at the scowl on her husband's face and decided that Billy was right. If they had to lock those two in a room, they were going to get them to talk it out. "Zack and Trini's, right? What time?"

"I knew I could talk you into it," she could almost see Billy grin. His voice suddenly got serious, "Adam is supposed to be there, so is Kat. Is that going to be a problem?" Billy teased her about Tommy's reputation for going through Pink Rangers.

"Only if it's a problem for her," Kim hoped she didn't sound bitter about her former rival. Actually, she and Kat had long ago had made their peace about Tommy- right after both girls had gotten
married.

"I don't think so," she could almost see Billy smile on the other end of the telephone.

"Billy?" she asked.

"Yeah, Kim?"

"What's this all about?" Suddenly Kim felt that there was a whole lot more her oldest friend wasn't telling her about.

"Jason wants you to meet someone." Billy replied.

"Really?" Kim asked. "He's finally met somebody?"

She heard Billy chuckle, "You could say that. Actually he met somebody a long time ago, but let's just say it has finally come to fruition."

"He's not getting married is he?" Kim asked.

She heard a long silence, and understood that Billy knew more than he was telling, but was trying to decide what he could say and couldn't. Finally, he sighed and answered, "From what I understand- and this stays between you and me, no telling Tommy yet- Jase feels that he would never had asked this person out if it weren't for Tommy. He wants to bury the hatchet." She could hear another hesitation in his voice, "And I'm going to get killed for this, so you'd better realize just how much of my life I'm taking into my own hands here, he wants to ask you and Tommy to be godparents."

"What?!" Kim could barely control her outburst, "That's fantastic!" She looked up at the questioning look from her husband. Holding up her hand to stay off any of Tommy's questions, she told him. "We'll be there." Some small part of her was just a little hurt that she'd not been invited to the wedding.

She quietly took down the information on where and when and hung up. Tommy gave her a strange look, and finally asked with a tone of trepidation in his voice, "What did Bill want?"

She smiled at him, but made sure she put enough steel in her voice to let him know she'd brook no argument from him. "Tommy, this Saturday, we are driving over to Trini's and Zack's for a small and very private party. Billy, Adam, and Kat are going to be there, as well as Jason and somebody he wants us to meet." She locked eyes with him, "You will go, you will be nice, and you will enjoy yourself. I have it on very good authority that Jason is trying to bury the hatchet with you, and if you don't at least try, I'm going to beat you to death with a shovel."

She could see the surprise in his eyes, "Why a shovel,"

Kim vapidly looked down at her fingernails, "So I'll have something to bury your body with." Unfortunately, the effect was spoiled when she grabbed her stomach as the baby kicked her.

***

Kim and Tommy were sitting chatting with Trini, Zack, Adam and Kat that weekend. So far, everything was quiet and peaceful and Kim thought that things were going to go pretty well. She wondered where Billy was, and when Jason would arrive with his bride. She looked over at Trini and asked, "Okay, has anyone met this mysterious woman Jason's bringing to the party?"

Trini and Zack exchanged a quick glance of surprise, "Uh? no," Trini told her. Then she asked with a puzzled expression, "Exactly what did Jason tell you?"

Kimberly smiled, "Jason didn't tell us anything. Billy called and invited us down to meet Jason's new girlfriend or wife or something." Remembering her promise to the ex-Blue Ranger. "From what Billy said, it was definitely serious." She smiled, "I got the impression that there were bassinettes in the future." She reached down and gently rubbed her own growing stomach.

Before either could reply there was a quiet knock a the front door as it opened. Jason entered carrying a diaper bag and a small bundle. Behind him, Billy closed the door. "Hiya everybody." She saw the former Red Ranger glance over at her husband. "Hello Tommy."

Tommy nodded back and replied, "Jason."

"Jason!" Kimberly jumped up and ran over to him. Looking around, "Now where is this woman you wanted me to meet."

Jason looked back over his shoulder at Billy and gave him a strange look. Billy just shrugged and replied, "All I said is that you wanted them to be godparents."

"You are so dead Cranston," Jason kidded his old friend.

"Don't blame me if she jumps to the wrong conclusions." Billy smiled.

Jason held up the small bundle in his arms to reveal a tiny baby with blonde curls and deep midnight eyes. "This is who I wanted you to meet," Jason said. "This is Trini Ann Scott-Cranston."

Billy came up next to Jason and put an arm around him, "Our daughter."

"You're daughter?" Tommy asked in shocked.

"Our daughter," his old friend beamed at him with paternal pride. Tommy looked back and forth between Jason and Billy, his mind not quite able to wrap around the concept of what they were telling him.

"How?" he asked in shock.

"Obviously not in the normally prescribed manner," Billy told him with as much pride in his voice as Jason.

Tommy sat down on the couch, his mind swirling with emotions. Things suddenly began to click- the years Jason spent protecting the Billy. The times he'd taken those few extra seconds in battle to make sure Billy was all right. The fight the two had had after Billy's accident. His own angry words?"Oh my God," he muttered to himself. "You're que? uh? gay?, you did it didn't you." He put his head in his hands, shaking them.

"Tom?" Billy was asking him. Tommy looked up and could see something he couldn't quite identify in the former Blue Ranger's eyes. "You okay?" he asked softly, but Tommy could see him swallowing hard.

Tommy shook his head, "No, I'm not." He gave Jason a questioning look, "I need some air." Looking out the door to the patio, he got up and exited the room. [How could Jason be gay and not tell me?] Tommy felt a deep sense of betrayal inside him. All those long talks about Kimberly, and Emily, and Ana, the times Jason and he would spend sparring- the times Jason kicked his butt in the dojo kept coming back to him. [He's a football player, not a damn hairdresser!]

The day was warm with just barely a breeze blowing off the Pacific. It was perfectly normal, and that stood in stark contrast to what had just happened to his world. "Tommy?" Zack's voice asked quietly. He heard the patio door close, as the former Black Ranger approached.

Tommy didn't turn around, "I'm sorry Zack. It just caught me by surprise."

"I'm not the one you need to apologize to," Zack told him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I don't know if you realize it or not, but you almost put Billy into tears."

"So what's new about that?" It was petty and he knew it, but right now he found himself extremely angry with the former Blue Ranger. He was angry at him for taking away his best friend, for seducing him into something unnatural. For turning that intelligence that was too much for his own good into something completely against the laws of God and man. [No wonder he's such a wimp.]

Turning around he faced his old friend, "Is this why you guys called me down here? To show me how wrong I was about Jase all these years?"

"Tommy, I don't understand. I thought you'd be happy for them. That they?"

"What Zack? That the best friend I ever had turns out to be a fucking faggot?! That he's taking it up the ass from some wimp who should have had the sense to stay out of the way?"

"That's not fair, Tommy?" Zack began.

"I'm not trying to be fair, Zack. I've just been told that Jason is some kind of pervert. I'm not surprised about Billy, it's not something I expected from Jason."

He watched the color drain from Zack's face. He saw his old friend consider what he'd said, and some kind of turmoil go on inside of his head. Finally, he asked, "Is that how you really feel?"

For some reason the tone of Zack's voice brought his emotions up short. He thought about it for a moment. [What am I thinking? This isn't some limp-wrist hairdresser in LA. This is my best friend.] "No, Zack. I guess not. I'm surprised I guess," he shook his head, "No I'm shocked, and I think I'm discovering that I may not be as open-minded as I thought."

Zack stood back for a second, "Good, because I've got news for you Thomas Oliver, I know you've been a friend for a long time, but I was not going to sit there and listen to you run down Jason." He gave him a low look, "and the things you said about Billy were way out of line."

"Not you too?" Tommy started to protest.

"Not me too what?" Zack asked.

"Protecting Billy," Tommy told him. "Don't you think you guys are taking this a little too far?"

Zack shook his head, "I'm not protecting Billy, at least not anymore than I would any of the other of my friends if they'd been called nasty names." He gave Tommy a hard look, "What is it with you and Billy anyway?"

"Nothing," Tommy answered too quickly.

"I don't think that's true, and some how I get the feeling neither do you." Zack told him. "You've had your panties in a wad about Billy for a couple of years now. What gives man?"

Tommy sighed and thought about what Zack was saying. He tried to put his confusion about the Blue Ranger into words. How there were times he wanted to just kick him upside the head and tell him to grow a pair of balls. How there were others he was so glad to see whatever scientific marvel he'd pulled out of his hat to save the day that he wanted to hug him. How every time he saw him and Jase share a story, or how he and Kimberly could finish each other sentences he hated the blond. "I really don't know Zack. I guess I'm just trying to figure out how such a geek-assed loser could end up being so close to the rest of you guys."

Zack sat down on a piece of lawn chair and indicated another piece of furniture, "I think you'd better sit down and listen, Tommy." He shook his head, "I think I'd better sit down, before I knock you down." Tommy could see his old friend struggle to control the anger that was evident in his eyes. Finally he sighed, "Is that how you really see Billy, a geek-assed loser?"

Tommy sat down and put his hands in his head, "I don't know. I just can't figure out what it is that the rest of you guys see in him?"

"You have to understand something: Billy, Trini, Jason, Kimberly, and I have been friends since grade-school. What ever we saw in him a long time ago is so lost in how we all feel about each other today that there's no pinning it down. Billy has always been something of a geek, but he wouldn't be Billy if he wasn't," Zack told him. "I also want you to think about something else. He was also the person who seconded Jase's offer for you to join the team. At the time, I was so mad at you about what happened, I was ready to kick your butt into next Tuesday sideways. It was Billy who backed Jase up- not me, not Trini, and not Kimberly. Maybe you should think about that before you start wondering what the rest of us see in him."

Tommy sighed and felt somewhat ashamed at how he'd been acting. "I guess I am being difficult aren't I."

Zack smiled at him, and the tone in his voice told Tommy that he was kidding, "No Tom. You're being a prick."

Tommy chuckled, "I guess I deserved that." He looked back at the patio door, but the glare off the afternoon sunlight made it impossible to see inside, "No matter what, it's still Jase in there isn't it. Nothing's really changed. It's not like he's made a pass at me or anything."

"No he hasn't," Zack told him. "And if you ask me, he's been extremely patient with you. If it were Trini you were acting this way about, I'd have kicked your ass by now."

Tommy smiled at him, "you and what army?"

Zack gave him a very serious look, "No army. This is my wife we could be talking about. This is Jason's life-mate we ARE talking about. If I thought you were giving Trini half the trouble you're giving Billy, I'd have beaten you half to death. I know you're the big karate hero and Red Ranger, but you have to sleep sometimes, and Sears does sell quite a few tire irons." He sighed, "Don't forget this too. There are other battlefields than the dojo. You're living in a world run by computers, and Billy is probably the world's greatest hacker. That is his daughter too you just snubbed. What would you do if somebody acted the way you are about the baby Kim's carrying?"

Tommy considered what Zack was saying. He was right. He'd have knocked anybody, even Jase on their ass if they'd acted that way toward Kimberly. "I guess I've made a royal fool out of myself." He looked at the door, "I think I'd better go apologize."

"I think that might be a good start." Zack told him as he got up. "But don't take too long."

Tommy sat outside thinking about what Zack had told him. He looked back on the way things turned out. He was happy, with the woman he loved more than life itself. He was a successful businessman and his racing career was starting to take off. [How can I begrudge my best friend in the world his happiness? Even if it is with someone I think is beneath him.]

Finally, he screwed up his courage and went back into the house. Jason was sitting quietly in one of the large overstuffed chairs in the den. Beyond that, the house seemed empty. As he entered, Jason looked up at him, and there was a hardness in his eyes that he'd never seen before. "I think we need to talk," the former Red Ranger told him.

Tommy nodded, "I think we need to too." He sat down across from Jason and waited quietly.

"I came here today, hoping to bury the hatchet with you," Jase told him. "There was a time when we were like brothers," he shook his head, "but now I'm not so sure." He took a deep breath, "Bill wanted to ask you and Kim to be Trini Ann's godparents. I wasn't so sure, but he really wanted it. He hates the fact that you and I are fighting over him."

"This was Billy's idea?" Tommy asked surprised. He hadn't thought the other man would have wanted anything to do with him after what he'd done when Billy had lost his powers. With not a small amount of shame, he realized that he'd been happy when Billy hadn't been able to take the Gold Ranger powers. It took him out of loop and relegated to where he always thought he should be- the pit crew. It put a real fighter on the team, not someone who always needed rescuing. He slowly began to realize just how badly he'd treated someone who had always been kind to him.

"Yeah, it was his idea." Jason gave him a careful look, "Believe it or not Tommy he really likes you."

Tommy shook his head, "If I live to be a thousand, I'll never understand that boy."

"I think that's part of your problem, Tommy. You see him as a boy," Jason replied.

"You have to admit, he's not exactly Chuck Norris."

"No, he's not." Jason smiled, "He's a lot stronger than that." Leaning forward, "Tommy, you've been a fighter all your life. You told me yourself that most of the trouble you used to get into before the Olivers adopted you was because you wanted to deal with conflict on your own terms. You even once admitted to me that you thought that you were taking a coward's way out instead of dealing with it when it came. Billy's not like that. He's got the endurance to stick it out through the hard times and wait for something extraordinary to show up."

This conversation was getting too close to setting off other reactions in Tommy. Reactions that he knew would cause him to say or do something that would make things worse with Jase. He looked around the room desperate for something to change the subject. "Where did everybody go?"

"Trini, Kim, Kat, and Adam went for take-out smoothies at Ernie's. Zack took Bill and Trini Ann over to my folks' place."

"How're your folks taking you and Bill together?" Tommy asked.

"Better than you are, obviously." There was a bitter sadness to Jase's voice, and Tommy realized that he was very close to loosing his best friend in the world, probably beyond all hope of recovery, "My folks have always seen Bill as a second son. At first they worried about grandchildren?" Jason let his voice trail off, and Tommy realized that it was because he wasn't sure where Tom stood on the subject.

It was all coming at Tommy too fast. He wasn't sure how to handle everything, how to cope with the idea of Jase and Billy together, as a couple. The idea of Billy using or misusing in Tom's opinion, his intelligence to create another human being left Tommy wondering if the genius wasn't playing God. He shook, "I'd like to say it's cool Jase, but I have some reservations about the idea of Billy using whatever he used to give you two a daughter."

Jason leaned back and asked, "Did you ever stop to think that maybe we adopted?"

Tommy shook his head. Honestly, the idea never occurred to him that they might actually adopt. He found himself slightly ashamed to automatically think the worst from Billy. "No, honestly I
hadn't."

Jason smiled at him, "We didn't, but in reality Billy had nothing to do with it." Jase actually blushed, "well he did supply half the genetic material, and most of the money to pay for the procedure, but he had nothing to do with the technology. It was already available."

"What do you mean most of the money, and that the technology was already out there?" Tommy didn't understand. Last he'd heard, not that he really kept up on these kinds of things, cloning technology wasn't available.

Jase leaned forward, "Billy supplied the money to pay for the trips to Italy, the procedure that combined our DNA and taking care of the surrogate mother for nine months, plus the medical bills. That technology has been available for about five years now. It's just very, very, very expensive."

"Billy paid for it?" Tommy asked. "Where'd he get that kind of money?" Tommy asked.

"Patents, royalties, and contracts with about half a dozen major research facilities for freelance consulting work," Jason smiled at him and leaned back in the chair, "You and I may be able to beat the crap out of him in the dojo, but in the other arena of male competition, Billy beats both of us hands down."

"Howzat?" Tommy asked.

"Earning power," Jase laughed. "While you and I were planning on all our dreams, he was making his happen. The technology he's developed over the years has made him a pretty penny."

Tommy was shocked. He'd never thought Billy would use his access to Etarian technology like that. "What about Zordon's rule about using our powers for personal gain?" he accused Jase.

"What power?" Jase asked. "Billy was a genius before he ever picked up a power coin. Besides, he asked Zordon if it was a violation of that code before he got his first patent. Zordon's only reply was that it was the least he could offer Billy." Jason locked eyes with Tommy, "It was the least compensation he could offer him after all the hours Billy put in for free at the Command Center taking care of all our `zords. Without him, we'd all be dead ten times over, and he saved us without a power coin or a `zord. Think about that, the next time you want to consider him less than a man because he doesn't match us in the dojo. You and I just tote and carry. He does the hard work, we saved the world, he's going to change it."

"Somehow it doesn't seem right," Tommy started to say.

"What doesn't seem right? He put his time in fighting beside us- and before you say it, yes we had to save his butt a few times in a fight. But how many times did he save ours?" Jason gave him a very hard look, "I can think of at least one time when he saved mine, beat you and never even picked up his power coin." Tommy suddenly remembered Jason lying on the ground in supplication under him, waiting for the inevitable sword stroke from the evil Green Ranger. Beaten, without a power coin, and at the mercy of a fully-operational Power Ranger, he never really stood a chance, but fought any way, only to lose. Then, just before the end came, Jason had been yanked from certain death by none other than the Blue Ranger and his not inconsiderable intellect. Suddenly all the old shame and guilt came rushing back to him. Jason leaned forward, "you know something, I don't think I ever even thanked him for that. At the time I was more worried about stopping you."

"Jase," Tommy began, he could feel the tears building up inside him. He fought to control his emotions.

"Tommy, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought that up." Jason told him.

"Yes you should have," Tommy growled at him. He looked over at Jason, finally losing the battle with the wetness behind his eyelids. "My time as Rita's minion has always been a forbidden subject, and I was hiding behind that to attack Billy." Suddenly he was more ashamed of that than he was of his time as the evil Green Ranger. "I guess I'm jealous of Billy," he finally admitted to Jason.

"Jealous of Billy?" Jason asked. "You? What do you have to be jealous of Billy over?"

Tommy nodded, "You, Kimberly, of how all of you guys rally around him. I'm jealous of how he has all this history with you and Kim that I'll never have. It eats away at me that you chose him over me after his accident." Tommy told him.

"I didn't choose him over you. You're not in competition with him," Jason said. "You made some mistakes. I was angry because somebody I cared about was hurt, and you were the person in charge. I understand that now. Billy's over it, hell he was over it almost immediately, I'm over it, so it's time you got over it too," Jason paused a second to emphasize his next word, "Bro."

Tommy looked up at Jase, "I'm sorry man."

"Me too," Jase told him.

"Don't you think that Billy's the one you should really apologize to?" Zack asked from the door, there was still a hardness to his voice. Tommy realized that his little war with Billy had hurt more than just his relationship with Jason. Zack turned to look at Jase, his tone softened. "You're mom says that you'd better stop by for more than just a couple of minutes this time."

****

"Look guys, I'm sorry about what happened back there," Kim told Trini, Kat, and Adam as they entered Ernie's. She'd been quite the whole drive over as she sorted out what she'd seen and heard today.

"Don't apologize," Trini told her. "First, it wasn't you who made an ass of yourself," she looked over to Adam and Kat for confirmation- both nodded to her, "and second, the whole thing wasn't handled very well. Somebody should have warned you that Jason and Billy are together as a couple."

Kim sighed, and sat down at the table while the others got the smoothies. They'd decided to have theirs at the Juice bar and then take one back for Tommy and Zack. Nobody really expected either Jase or Billy to be there when they returned, and that thought hurt Kim a lot more than she really wanted to admit. It was all too much to take in. She never suspected that those two felt that way. Well, maybe that wasn't entirely the truth. She'd suspected Billy was gay for a long time. There's nothing like spending a little time in someone else's body to give you a new perspective on how the other half lives. She'd just never expected Jason to be gay too.

"Penny for your thoughts," Kat asked in her fading Aussie accent as she sat down next to Kim, a smoothie in each hand.

"You would be overpaying," Kimberly told her with a smile. "I'm sure you can guess what I'm thinking about."

"I can guess what you're thinking about, but not what you think about it," Kat smiled turning the phrase on its head. She smiled, "You're surprised about Billy and Jason."

"Billy," Kim shook her head, "no. Jason, yes, now that I know about Jase though, I'm not really surprised about Billy and Jase. It makes sense, in a twisted Power Rangers sort of way." She looked around, "We do seem to pair off don't we. Sometimes I've wondered if it's a function of holding the Power, or of what we go through together while we have it."

Kat smiled, "I've had the same thought myself. Trini and I talked about it a while back and we decided it's probably both." She replied leaning back in her chair, her light eyes inscrutable as the silence between them increased.

"What?" Kim asked.

"I was just wondering how you feel about this?" Kat answered.

"How about I ask you first?" Kim told her.

"Can't, I already asked you." Kat smiled, and took a sip of her smoothie. "However, I'll be nice and tell you what I think first." Putting the drink down she sighed, "At first I was mad as hell about it. You know, as Adam puts it, two up and two down."

"I'm sure I don't understand," Kim told her, and then asked as she realized that Kat had lost two Power Ranger boyfriends, "What? You went out with Jase?"

Kat grinned, "No, one guy who eats, drinks, and sleeps karate is enough for a lifetime. Actually, right after Tommy and I broke up, I ended up spending a lot of time in the `Zord bays talking to Billy. I guess I sort of turned to him looking for something to replace Tommy. You know, go for the opposite of what I had."

Kim grinned at her, "wrong move girl. Even I know that."

"Well, I was young and stupid," Kat told her.

Kim nodded, "With Billy, definitely." Then smiling she asked, "What was his response?" she asked.

"Let's just say, he was less than responsive. He would sit and talk to me all night about anything and everything except for any feelings he might have." She looked down, "Later, I felt guilty about his accident, because I was seeing him almost every night, and didn't notice that he was overworking himself. At the time I was really only after one thing, And you know how we Pink Rangers are. We always get what we go after."

"Except in this case," Kimberly replied. Kat's simply sat there blushing deeper and deeper. Suddenly Kimberly realized that this wasn't an exception, "You didn't! He didn't!"

"Just once, and it took getting him drunk," Kat told her. "I think that was when he understood exactly where his heart lay."

Kim shook her head, "Does Adam know?" She looked around and leaned forward, or at least as far forward as an eight month pregnant woman could, "More to the point, does Jase know?"

Kat blushed, "Yes, Adam knows." She shook her head, "As far as Jase is concerned, I don't know. That's between him and Billy."

"God girl, what were you thinking?" Kim asked. "I love Billy like a brother, and I can't imagine doing that with him."

Kat smiled, "I don't have the history with Billy that you do. Actually it was very nice." Kat blushed, "Don't take this wrong, but in some ways it was nicer than?," she paused and Kimberly understood that she was about to cross a line that neither of them had ever ventured toward before. It was one thing to believe that one of your friends might have slept with your husband before you married him, but something entirely different to have it confirmed. "Let's just say he was a whole lot gentler than any previous lover had been." She grinned wickedly at Kimberly, a mischievous light in her eye, "and it's a damn good thing too. There are just some things that you have to go slow to be able to take for the first time."

"Kat, that is more about my best friend than I want to know." Kim told her. She considered kidding the other former Pink Ranger about sleeping around but decided that it might not go over very well at this time.

"You still think of Billy as your best friend?" Kat asked seriously.

Kim nodded, "Of course. This doesn't change anything between us." She suddenly realized that it was true. Tommy may have his problems with Billy and Jase, but deep down she felt this was right for them. Grinning at Kat, "However, you and I are going to sit down sometime and talk about you throwing yourself at the most important men in my life," she hoped the smile on her face made it clear there was no condemnation in the statement.

"Not you too." Adam said as she and Adam sat down at the table.

"Not me too what, Frogboy?" Kim asked.

"What is it about Cranston? He's got three of the most beautiful women in the world wrapped around his little finger." The Korean man smiled, "Fortunately, for the rest of us male Power Rangers, he's more interested in Jase than any of our wives."

"Jealous Frogboy?" Kimberly teased.

Adam smiled, "At first, maybe, not now though. I mean let's face it, Jason's the big hunk of teenage heart-throb, Tommy's the famous Speed Racer wanna'be, Zack's the male model, and me I'm the world-famous physician with gifted hands, but half the women on the team seem to want to cuddle up to Cranston."

"He listens," Trini said. Kim realized it was true. If one were talking to most of the other male Power Rangers, there was a certain barrier of mindless chatter that had to be gotten through to talk about important things. Men just didn't like to talk about important issues. They'd rather deal with them. Billy on the other hand, tended to listen first, and kept his own counsel until prodded. Kim suspected it came from the years of getting his face punched in for volunteering too much information. "Besides Adam, we want to cuddle with him." Her eyes suddenly gleamed mischievously, "Not have our wicked way with him."

"But, I've never had a desire to cuddle up with him," Kimberly pointed out. "I've always liked my men a little more action oriented. Billy's just somebody whom I can talk to when I'm feeling down."

Adam sipped his smoothie and nodded. Leaning back, he put a hand on Kat's, "So what do you think about Trini?"

"Trini's always been one of my dearest friends," Kimberly told him looking over at the former Yellow Ranger.

Adam smiled, "Sorry, wrong Trini. I mean Trini Ann, Jase's and Bill's daughter."

Kimberly sat back and rubbed her own stomach. "I don't know. I'm still absorbing the fact that they are even a couple." She smiled, "I guess I'm pleased for them," she let her voice get hard for a second, "except for one thing about it."

She could see the warning messages in all three of her friends' eyes. "What?" Adam asked carefully.

"I'm royally pissed at them for getting such a beautiful little girl without either one of them having to go through nine months of pregnancy." She rubbed her stomach and grinned wickedly as her friends released the tension they were holding. "For that I absolutely hate them!" She then gave them her sweetest smile, "What? You think I would have a problem with them being parents?"

Adam sighed and leaned forward, "No, not really, but all things considered, we were surprised that Tom did. Jase and Bill went through their own nine months of hell, wondering if when it was all said and done, the mother wouldn't just decide she wanted to keep the baby. International law is pretty tricky when it comes to gay adoption."

"I don't understand," Kim said. "I thought that maybe Billy had just whipped up one of his famous gadgets?" she suddenly realized exactly what she was saying.

"Kim!" Adam protested. "What do you think Billy is- some kind of Frankenstein? He does have a strong sense of ethics you know, and there are laws in this country outlawing the type of scientific research you're talking about."

Kim realized with some shame that she had thought just that. Not that she had a problem with it, but she hadn't thought out the legal ramifications of what she was suggesting, nor the moral ones. "I'm sorry. You're right of course. I wasn't thinking I guess, but, if not that way, then how?"

Adam smiled, "It's all perfectly legal, at least in parts of Europe. There's a small research lab in Italy that has been quietly helping gay men conceive children of their own for the past year and a half using a new technique developed here it the US. Trini Ann really is the daughter of both of them. She was conceived in a petrie dish using a donated egg that had the mother's DNA removed and replaced with a combination of theirs. It's not cheap. If the surrogate mother had decided that she wanted to keep the baby, then there was a very good chance that Billy would have been out an embarrassing amount of money."

Thinking of how tight things had been financially for her and Tommy up until recently, she sobered at that thought. "Where'd Billy get that kind of money?" she finally asked.

"He works very hard at what he does," Trini told her. "He's really put that magnificent brain of his to good work and made some wise business deals." Kim got the feeling that she wasn't telling her all of it, but she guessed the rest would come later.

"I always knew he would do well for himself," Kim said in an neutral voice. Then she leaned back and sighed, "What are we going to do about Tommy, Billy and Jason?" Suddenly, she felt tears welling up in her eyes. "Tommy has been kicking himself about what happened to Billy for a long time now." She shook her head, "But he's been afraid to mention it because it might cause a bigger rift between him and Jason." She remembered back to the day Jason and Billy had left for LA. She'd overheard Tommy's accusatory suggestion to Jason, and smiled, "I guess Jase finally did learn to take orders from Tommy though."

"What do you mean?" Trini asked.

Kim smiled, "On that day everything came to a head, and those two almost came to blows, Tommy told Jase that if he was so worried about Billy then he should marry him."

"He didn't!" Kat protested.

Kim nodded, "Yep. I guess Tommy has nobody to blame but himself. He told Jase to do it, now he can't complain because he did." She finally laughed out-loud, and then leaned in close to the table. "You know what this means don't you?"

"Oh no," Adam protested. "Kim's got that look in her eye. I hope Tommy's credit card can handle it."

Kimberly stuck her tongue out at the former Ranger, "Just for that, you have to help." Turning back to the girls she said, "We have to throw Trini Ann a baby shower." Then she considered something, "But who gets to come, Jase or Billy?"

"Why not both? That way we can make sure the guys show up for something for once and we can all have a good time," Trini said.

"Aren't you forgetting something," Adam interjected.

"Can't think of anything," Kimberly told him then turned to the other girls and asked, "Can you?"

"We may get back to the house and Jase and Tommy have killed each other." Adam said very seriously.

"Nah, they may grouse and argue, but the BROS," Kim stressed the word that all the male Rangers liked to throw around, "runs too deep in them. They'll either get it worked out, or we'll have to kill both of them and hide their bodies."

Adam shrugged and grinned, "Why do I see a lot of nights on the couch in Tommy's future?"

"Because I'm due in three weeks," Kimberly replied sweetly.

"You guys are going to get me into all kinds of trouble," Adam told nobody in particular. "Here I was, thinking I was being nice and taking you out for smoothies while Zack took Billy and Trini Ann over to the Scotts, so Jase and Tommy could talk, and you guys go planning something to set off World War Three."

"Zack did what?!" Kim asked surprised. "He'd better not! I haven't even gotten a chance to hold my goddaughter yet."

"Yeah, we wanted Billy and the baby out of the way in case the fists started flying." Adam said, and then appeared as if he regretted the remark.

"I can understand wanting the baby out of the way," Kim told him. "But why Billy?"

Adam looked over at his wife and Trini and something passed between them. Finally he answered quickly- too quickly for Kimberly's comfort, "Uh? just because."

****

"You feeling all right, Bill?" Linda Scott asked Billy as he sat gently rocking the baby.

Billy nodded over to her, "Just a little upset I guess. I was hoping that Tom and Jase would settle their differences. I'll get over it though." Smiling down at his daughter, he pushed his real reasons for his somber mood to the back of his mind and concentrated on one of the two most important people in his life. She was quietly staring up at him, her midnight eyes reflecting deep thoughts only an infant could fathom, as she blew spit bubbles.

He hated lying to his mother-in-law, and he wasn't very good at it. It was against his nature. Shifting the precious load in his arms, he offered her up to the woman who'd taken done her best to be a mother to him since his own died those long years ago in the car crash. "Here, why don't you hold her?"

Before she even realized what she was doing, Mrs. Scott took her granddaughter in her arms and started cooing to the child. Then as she realized she'd been outflanked, she looked over at Billy and said, "You're a very wicked man, William Cranston."

"Yes, ma'am," Billy smiled and leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes. He could feel the fatigue build in his bones. He hoped Jason would be home soon. "Would you mind watching her for a few minutes, while I rest my eyes?"

He never heard his mother-in-law's gentle, "Of course," as he slipped off into a gentle sleep, nor did he feel her cover him with a light blanket an hour later.

***

Jase entered his mom's house and put his keys on the table next to the door. It had been a tiring day, and the emotions he'd spent had cost him more than any fight he'd ever had. He really did want to patch things up with Tommy, and not just for Bill's sake. He genuinely missed his best friend and "Bro", and hoped that they'd been able to reach some common ground. Walking past the door to the den he peeked in to see Bill sleeping quietly in a recliner, a small blue blanket pulled up over him.

Making his way down to the kitchen, he found his mom quietly peeling potatoes while Trini was once again trying to stuff her foot in her mouth over in a portable playpen. "Hi mom," he kissed her gently on the cheek.

"Hello honey. Billy's asleep in the den, so be quiet."

"Yes, ma'am," Jason replied sitting down at the table and sighing.

"I take it things didn't go well with Tom after Bill left?" his mom asked.

Jason shook his head, "I think he'll come around, eventually."

His mom put down the knife and potatoes, and took his hand. "It's time for honesty between us young man." She sighed, "I know that there was something going on between all you and your friends back in high school, but I've always kept my own counsel, and haven't pried." She looked over at his daughter and then back at him. "But now, there's somebody new in the equation, and I want to know what's happening." She lowered her voice, "Bill's not well is he?"

Jason was surprised by the conviction in his mom's voice. That conviction drug up all the past guilt he'd experience about lying to his parents while he was a Power Ranger. The guilt hadn't gotten any better since his father had died last year in a shoot out with some drug dealers. Now, he was facing the ultimate loss in his life and he had nobody he could turn to. He fought back the tears, "No, mom." Jason told her. "He's dying and there's nothing anybody can do about it."

His mom sat back in her chair and thought about what he was saying. He could see her wrestle with something and finally come to a decision, "He's not HIV positive is he?"

Jason shook his head, "No mom. It's not that." He sighed and leaned back in his chair trying to fight back the tears that threatened to burst forth. Tears he couldn't let start, because if he did he wasn't sure they'd ever stop. "A few years ago, Billy got exposed to some kind of radiation. It was while I was away at the Peace Conference. It had something to do with one of the monsters that attack here occasionally, and the Power Rangers. Anyway, Billy got a heavy dose of something that is slowly killing him." He looked at his mom, "I'm sorry we didn't tell you before now, but he didn't want it out that he was dying."

"And that's why you and Tommy making peace is so important to him?"

Jason nodded. "He doesn't want to leave me without my best friend and my?" fought back the tears that threatened to overwhelm him. Standing up, he forced himself to be calm, to slow his heart rate, and to viscously cut off the part of his mind that wanted break down.

A warm hand rested lightly on his shoulder, "You don't have to be strong for me, Son." His mom told him.

"It's not that, Mom." He sighed and looked at the wall, "I promised myself that I wouldn't cry for him until it was time." He shook his head, "I can't let him see me out of control. He feels bad enough about leaving me and Trini, that I can't add anymore pain to him."

"Is there any pain?" his mother asked. "For him I mean?"

Jason shook his head, "No. Not yet. The doctor says that it's going to come though. Whatever it is, it's slowly leeching the calcium from his bones. He's so fragile now that it's frightening. Not in the far distant future, he's not even going to be able to walk, because his own weight will break them." He shook his head, "That is if he doesn't just go to sleep and not wake up before then." Jason couldn't tell his mom, that Adam and Bill suspected it to be a side effect of the combination of his exposure to the Mists of Morpheus in the Dark Dimension and the dose of negative protons he took in the Power Chamber. "That is if he doesn't fall down and break something that will kill him, first."

"So what are you going to do about Tommy?" his mom asked.

Jason shook his head, "I don't know. I want to mend fences with him, but right now, that's not that important to me." He sighed and turned to look at her, "Right now, I just want to make Bill well."

"I see. This is something Billy wants for you?" his mom asked.

Jason nodded, "It's something I want for me too, but right now it's just not that important to me."

He could feel his mom hug him from behind, "But it's important to Bill, and because of that, you're trying now."

"Yeah," Jase told him.

"Does Ed know?" she asked.

"Yeah, he knows. I'm He wasn't too happy about our relationship. He was even less happy about Trini." Jason could feel his anger rising this time. "I think that this is the first thing Bill has told him since we came out that his Dad approves of," Jase said, not trying to hide the bitterness in his voice.

The things Bill's father had said to him when they told him that Bill was dying were horrible. Jase had watched Bill sit there and listen to his father go on and on about how it was his just reward for turning out the way he did. At one point, Jase had been tempted to shut the man up, but a firm hand on his arm had stopped him. He had looked over and seen the pleading sadness in Bill's eyes and had simply gone out to wait in the car. Bill finally came out of the house he'd grown up in and got in the car. The only words he'd spoken for the rest of the day were, "Let's go. There's nothing here for me anymore." Those words had broken Jason's heart.

"I'm sorry, Jason. I know Bill and his dad have never been close, but I didn't think that he would go as far as to wish his son ill," his mom said.

"Neither did I. I guess I was always hoping that he'd eventually come around, but I guess that's not going to happen." He returned to the chair at the table, "I think that this is why he wants me to make up with Tommy. He lost his dad because he's gay. He doesn't want me to lose Tommy."

"Jase, that's Tommy's decision." His mom took his hand and gently squeezed it. "It has nothing to do with you or Bill."

"I know mom, but I think Bill is getting desperate," Jase told her. "You know, he once told me that there were two extraordinary events in his life. The day he met me, and the day we brought Trini home." He shook his head, "Do you have any idea the kind of pressure that puts on me?"

"That was not my intention, Jason," Billy's sleepy voice came from the door. He looked over to Jason's mom. "I take it he told you?"

His mom nodded, got up and went over and hugged him, "I'm glad he told me, Bill. You're like a son to me. Don't begrudge me at least the chance to prepare?" Jason realized that neither he nor his mom had a chance to really prepare for his father's death. Sure they knew it could come, but knowing it could and having it happen were not the same.

"She's right Bill," Jason started to say.

Bill just held up a hand, "I'm not arguing with you Jase." He turned to Jase's mom, "I'm sorry I haven't told you sooner, but I just didn't know how." He shook his head, "You've had so much loss lately, I didn't want to add to it."

"And you think having Jason just calling me up one day and telling me you'd died would save me from that?" Jason's mom asked with not a small amount of anger in her voice.

"No, ma'am." Bill hung his head. "I was just hoping it would let you have a few weeks with your granddaughter without this hanging over your head." He shot Jason a look that meant the Red Ranger was going to get an earful when they were alone.

***

"Did you and Tommy get things worked out?" Bill asked as Jason came to bed. He'd tried to explain how important these things were to him, but for some reason Jason just wouldn't listen.

"We're working on it," Jase told him. "Things didn't fall apart over night, and their not going to be healed over night, Bill."

Bill nodded and replied, "I know." He smiled mischievously and continued, "But I can hope can't I."

"That's a strange word coming from you Bill." Jase told him sadly as he got into the large bed in the guest room.

"Hope, why Jason?" Bill asked as he pulled his lover's face close to his. "Do you think I've given up hope?"

Jason pulled back and looked at him, "Haven't you?"

Bill sighed and tried to explain to Jason once again, "There is a difference between acceptance and giving up hope. Do I wish that somebody would come through that door now with a cure? Yes. Do I think it's likely to happen? No. So, the best I can do is duck my head and wait for something to change. I've accepted what's going to happen to me. That doesn't mean that I like it. It doesn't mean that I won't fight it tooth and nail." He gently ran his hand down Jason's side and then pulled him tightly against him, letting Jason feel the effect that his proximity was having on his own body. "I have too much to live for, just to roll over and die without a fight." He gently began to bite on Jason's earlobe.

"Bill?" Jason asked with a warning voice, "Do you think this is a good idea?" Billy could tell from the changes in lover's body that he was having the desired effect.

"Jason, I think anytime I can get you in my arms it's a good idea," He whispered nibbling down his lover's neck.

"Okay, but you asked for it," Jason kissed him gently but firmly.

"Then what are you waiting for?" Bill teased, "Give it to me."

***

It had been three weeks since the aborted meeting with Billy and Jason. Kimberly had yet to get any real information out of her friends about what Adam had meant when he told her they wanted to get Billy out of the way in case fists started flying between Jase and Tommy. She'd even tried calling the former Blue Ranger, but according Jase, he was either, out with the baby or asleep. She was really starting to worry. Finally, she took her chances and mentioned it to Tom.

She knew that Tom and Jase had come a long way toward mending their fences, but things were still a little raw between them, especially where the former Blue Ranger was concerned, so she was careful in how she phrased her question, "Have you seen Jase lately," she asked that evening over dinner.

Tommy looked up at her, and she saw a hint of a smile in them, "Yeah, we had lunch today."

"How're he, Bill, and the baby doing?" Kimberly asked carefully.

"Jase is okay, and the baby's fine. He didn't mention Bill," Tom told her neutrally. She got the feeling there was more to what he wasn't saying than to what he told her.

They sat for long minutes in an almost stony silence until Tom put his fork down, looked at her and said, "Look Kim, Bill's not a sore subject. If you want to ask about him, do it. I'm not some ogre who's going to bite your head off."

Kim smiled, "I know. I just don't want to cause you any more hurt than you're already feeling," she said almost defensively.

Tom smiled at her, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you," he said. "I've just got a lot on my mind, that's all."

"Well, you should be," she told him. "I'm really rather put out with you over what happened at Trini's and Zack's." Reaching out she touched his hand, "And I'm put out with Jase and Bill for dropping it on us like that." She leaned back, "So get over it buster, I'm put out with all of you and I'm going to stay that way until I don't feel fat, and hot, and miserable." She picked up her own fork, "And until I get to see Billy and the baby."

"I asked them down this weekend," Tom said quietly. Looking up he continued, "I hope you don't mind."

Kimberly felt like a weight had been lifted off her, "Of course I don't mind. Why would I mind?"

Tommy teased her, "Because you're feeling fat, which you're not, hot, which you probably are, and ugly, which you are definitely not."

"I can deal with it, Tommy," Kimberly told him. "For them I'll deal with it."

Tommy smiled and said, "Good."

After another long silence Kimberly ventured, "Tommy?"

"Yes?" he answered absently.

"When you saw Bill last, did he seem okay to you?" Kim asked neutrally.

To her surprise, she could see something in his eyes akin to worry in Tom's eyes. "To be honest I don't remember. I made such an ass out of myself, I don't really remember taking a close look at him. I know that I meant to. I wanted to see if he was fully recovered from his accident, but then they dropped that little bombshell of theirs and all reason and common sense went flying out the window."

"I'm glad to hear that you're willing to admit when you're wrong." Kimberly told him. Smiling she continued, "Anyway, what did Jason say? Are you two finally making up?"

Tom smiled, "I'd like to say that he's happy, but I don't think he is." Kim started to interrupt but he held up a hand to stop her so she held her peace, "I don't think it has anything to do with his relationship with Bill, if that's what you're about to jump me for. I think he has a lot of things on his mind, and he's not himself. He won't tell me what it is though."

"Any idea what it might be?" Kim asked. She hated the idea of Jason worrying himself sick.

"I don't know. It's almost as if he hasn't gotten over his dad dying," Tommy said. "Which of course is understandable, I don't think I would be over that if something happened to my dad." Kim knew that was a hard admission for Tommy. He'd come to the Olivers as troubled foster child at thirteen, and they adopted him at fifteen. He had once told her that it was a two years after that before he could bring himself to call them mom and dad. Something in him finally clicked and he knew that he finally had a family. Since then, his family had been extremely important to him.

Carefully she ventured, "You don't think Billy's sick do you?" she asked trying to sound neutral.

Tom shook his head, "I don't know. I don't think so. Surely, Jason would have said something if he was. Why do you ask?"

"Because that day at Zack and Trini's, Adam told me that they wanted to get the baby and Bill out of the house in case you and Jason started swinging at each other. When I asked why Bill, Adam suddenly changed the subject." Kimberly told him. "I got the distinct feeling they weren't telling me everything."

"You're imagining things," Tom told her, but Kim noticed that he didn't sound too convinced himself.

****

Kimberly had spent the last couple of days in a frenzy of excitement. She'd cleaned her house from top to bottom waiting for the big day to come. On Saturday, while Tommy was at the track taking care of some last minute details so he could have the rest of day off, she realized that she was almost as excited about seeing Jason and his family as she was about her own baby being due in a week. After taking care of the last minute details around the house, Kim lay on the sofa and propped her feet up to take a short nap.

BOOM! Kim suddenly felt herself falling, as the room shook around her. Hitting the floor hard, what ever it was struck again. BOOM! The whole house shook, as plaster fell from the ceiling in huge chunks and the large grandfather clock in the corner tipped over. BOOM! The lights went out, and the house was plunged into the gray twilight of the late afternoon shade. BOOM! The floor rocked under her, as she made her way toward the doorframe. A huge shadow passed over the house, and the darkness intensified.

Bracing herself against the side of the frame Kim felt a sudden pain in her lower abdomen as her legs and feet were suddenly soaked. Looking down in horror, she realized her water had broken. Reaching for the phone, she was hit with another spasm of pain and fell forward. Twisting to avoid falling on her stomach her head suddenly lit up in an explosion of pain and stars. Then came the blackness.

****

Across town Tom Oliver heard an explosion. Looking to the East, he saw a giant two headed lizard-like monster battling one of the Power Ranger's new megazords. For just a brief moment he felt a pang of jealousy and wished that it was him up there fighting whatever the latest menace to Angel Grove and the Earth was.

"Tom," Davy, his pit chief said next to him, "I don't want to alarm you, but isn't that in the general direction of your house?"

"Kimberly!" Tommy suddenly realized the man was right and raced toward his car. With no other thought in his mind than Kim in danger, he turned the Cimarron toward the highway. Ignoring the traffic as best he could, he gunned the engine onto the highway, only to find it blocked. Before he could turn the car around, he found himself blocked on all sides by other vehicles attempting to head in the same direction. Whatever the menace was, it was literally shaking the city apart. In frustration, he pulled the car off the side of the road and abandoned it to head out on foot toward home- toward his wife and unborn child.

*****

Kim awoke in pain. There was a pillow under her head, and she could feel someone adjusting her legs. Weakly pushing their hands away from her body, she fought to maintain some kind of dignity.

"If you resist, you'll only make it more difficult for you and the baby, Kimmie," a familiar voice said. As her vision came into focus, the ground shook again with another boom and she saw a familiar blond head look up to the falling plaster at the ceiling.

"Billy?" she gasped as another contraction hit. Something was wrong, she felt like her body was pushing against something that wasn't ready to give. The pain was excruciating.

He smiled at her and nodded, "The baby needs to be turned," he told her. "I think the term is breach."

She gritted her teeth and pushed at the floor, trying to control the wave of pain that hit her. "Where's Jason?" she asked as the darkness took her again.

"Kimberly, wake up," Billy was gently slapping her. "You can't do this unconscious. I don't think I can help you if you are." Billy told her.

"Billy, what's going on?"

"I'm not sure. I think it's a monster attack. The new Rangers are fighting it," Billy seemed pale, like he was sick.

"Billy, are you all right?" she asked as she felt a sharp pain in her lower body.

Billy didn't answer as, as he concentrated on what he was doing. Some part of Kimberly noted that she could feel his hand inside her body, adjusting something. Finally, he looked up and said, "When I tell you to, I need you to push."

Kim felt a wave of pain building. At its peak, Billy said, "Push, Kimmie, push." When it was over, again she felt his hands adjust something.

The process repeated itself over and again, each time Billy encouraging and comforting her. Finally, with a single huge push she felt a tearing and then relief. Seconds later, she heard a healthy set of lungs screaming for attention. Long seconds passed before Billy gently laid her baby on her chest. Looking down into the no-so-clean face of her newborn son- why did she expect him to be fresh and sanitized, being born was messy business- she smiled at how beautiful he was. Billy, meanwhile tended to the umbilical cord, and the afterbirth.

When all was finished, the former Blue Ranger, in his most meticulous manner, helped her onto the sofa, and gently covered her and the child with a blanket. Looking down, he smiled worriedly and said, "The phones are still out, but I'll stay until Tom gets here."

"Billy," Kim took his pale hand in hers, "Thank you."

He smiled, squeezed her hand gently, and sat on the floor next to her, before he finally said, "That's what friendship is about Kim, assisting each other when necessary, and supplying moral support at other times. You or Tommy would reciprocate were our situations reversed." He gently brushed her hair from her eyes, and said, "Now rest, you've expended a great deal of energy and should sleep, I'll watch over you."

Kimberly felt herself, slowly drift off to sleep, holding her son, and feeling secure that at least one of her old friends had been there for her when she was so desperately in need of them.

Someone gently shook her awake. Opening her eyes, she saw Adam, Kat, and Tommy standing over her, looking worried. "Billy?" she asked trying to sit up.

Her husband exchanged worried glances with their friends. "Kim," Adam knelt next to her, checking on the baby who was beginning to squirm in her arms, "are you okay?" He was looking around for something, or someone. "Was there someone here who helped you?"

Kimberly nodded, "Billy was. Where did he go?"

Adam gave Tom a strange look. Her husband joined the former Black Ranger on the floor. There was a hardness in his voice, like he was fighting something when he said, "Kim, it couldn't have been Bill."

Kim had had enough of Tom's attitude about Billy. The man had just delivered his son for God's sake! She turned on him, fire in her eyes and steel in her voice, "I don't give a damn what you think about Billy and Jason, Tom! They're my friends, and you owe Billy big time! He was here to deliver the baby when nobody else was, so get you panties out of a wad. Find him, swallow some of that pig-headed pride of yours and thank him."

Adam gently pushed her back onto the sofa, and took the baby from her. His voice was soft, and she could see a deep gentleness in his eyes, "Kim, it couldn't have been Billy. He died this morning at eight twenty-three."

EPILOGUE

"Wildlife biologists are still at a loss to explain the sudden increase in the wolf population around Angel Gro?," Tommy turned off the radio as he pulled into the parking lot of the city park. He couldn't help but wonder at how many afternoons he and the rest of the Rangers had spent laughing and playing in this same park during high school. Now they'd all grown up, and one had gone on.

Getting out, he quietly walked along the lane next to the lake where he and Kimberly had spent so much time in the early days of their relationship. Finally, he found the trail that lead past one of the fields to the picnic table where they all would gather. He saw a lone figure sitting at the table looking out over the fields. Without saying a word, he slipped up and sat on the table next to him.

For long moments they sat there, neither saying a word. Finally, Jase turned to him, tears in his eyes. Not a word was said. He simply held his best friend, his Bro, and let him cry until he was spent.

END