Disclaimer: Characters and situations are the property of BVE, Village Roadshow, and Disney. No copyright infringement is intended.
Author's notes: Thanks to MadKrazyGhetto (sometimes known as Casey) for the beta, and Selma for the encouragement and egging me on. This is a direct sequel to "Never Come Home Again" and you'll be kind of lost if you haven't read it.
Fallout
Story 2 in the Kira Mercer Saga
by tptigger
Kira plodded into the girls' locker room after first period gym. Kira *hated* first period gym, but the only other option to get her out of Dr. O's--*Tommy's* science class without turning her schedule upside down and backwards was for her to switch from Mrs. Stelmach's honor's English class to Ms. Smith's. And faced with a choice of losing a really awesome teacher or taking first period gym, Kira would take being hot and sweaty all morning.
Or so she thought.
"What about Mr. Peterson?" Stacy opened her locker.
Kira's ears perked up a bit. Maybe she'd get some good advice about her new science teacher.
"The glasses make him *so* geeky." Tiffini pulled her shirt over her head.
Kira rolled her eyes, spinning her lock. Why'd she have to get gym class with the bubble heads?
"They work better for Dr. Oliver." Aura practically swooned as she zipped up her jeans.
"He is totally hot." Stacy buttoned up her shirt, a feral grin on her face.
Kira threw her sweaty gym shirt into her locker, trying to hide behind the locker door. She wasn't sure why she was so uncomfortable with the turn in the conversation.
"Think he'd date a student?" Tiffini asked.
"Dude, a body like *that*?" Stacy said. "Not to mention the clothes? He's either taken or gay."
Kira bit back a "taken" on the tip of her tongue and concentrated on pulling on her hose without running them.
"Hey, Kira," Aura said, addressing her for the first time, "what do you think?"
"About..." Kira said, drawing out the sentence and rapidly fluffing out her blouse. If she was smart, she could draw this out long enough for the bell to ring.
"Dr. Oliver," Aura said, making "come on" motions with her hand.
Kira shrugged. "He's a cool teacher, I guess." She *so* didn't want to be having this conversation right now.
"Yeah, but is he hot?" Aura pushed.
Kira tied her shoes, face growing hot. She desperately wished the bell would ring so she could flee to the relative safety of Honors English sitting next to Ethan.
"Come on, Kira, spill," Stacy said snottily.
The bell rang, and Kira snatched her backpack. "Gotta run, Mrs. Stelmach will throw me in detention for life if I'm late for English again."
It was a lie--she'd only been late to English once, and Dr. O had given her a pass. After all, she'd been fighting Zeltrax, but since Stacy was a junior taking sophomore English, she had no way of knowing that.
Kira hightailed it out of the locker room, glad for the relative safety of her English class and her teammate.
* * *
"There's Kira!" Trent exclaimed, patting the seat between him and Conner. "I missed you in science today."
Kira recklessly flipped her lunch bag onto the table, bumping Ethan's lunch tray and nearly spilling it into his lap.
"I, um, kinda had to switch classes." Kira flushed, looking mostly at the table.
"That work out OK?" Conner asked, shifting his lunch tray so that Kira had elbow room.
"First period gym, fifth period science with Mr. Peterson," Kira said.
"Why'd you have to switch science classes?" Trent asked, swirling a french fry in some ketchup.
"Dad kicked me out; Dr. Oliver's adopting me," Kira replied.
Trent gaped. "That's... that's... he adopted you and you still have to call him Dr. Oliver?"
"No, I just... forget," Kira said, popping the top on a can of apple juice. "Keep it down, OK. I'd rather it not get all over school."
"Good luck," Conner said.
Kira looked around, absently opening her lunch bag. "Why is everyone looking at me?"
"Because you're gorgeous?" Trent asked, smiling at her shyly.
Kira blushed.
"Or word got out," Ethan said, frowning. "Who was working as an office assistant when..."
James and Ivan--Kira's bassist and drummer, respectively--unceremoniously dropped their lunch trays on the table, causing Ethan to stop in mid-sentence.
"Nice of you to tell us about the number change, Kira," James said. He had barely had the words out when he stuffed a hot dog into his mouth in one bite.
"Yeah, all we knew was that we were talking to your voicemail all weekend," Ivan added, popping open his Coke can.
Kira stared, hands pausing halfway through unwrapping her sandwich. "I'm sorry, I knew I was forgetting something."
"So what happened?" Ivan asked. "Word's out you had to switch out of Dr. Oliver's class 'cause you're living with him now or something."
Kira sighed, looking at the table. "Dad kicked me out," she said quietly.
"How'd you end up at Dr. Oliver's?" Trent asked, suddenly curious.
"I don't want to talk about it, OK?" Kira asked, tearing her sandwich out of its bag and taking a big bite. She made a face.
"Oh, Kira, you were supposed to make your own lunch today," Ethan said, grinning mischievously.
"Thanks, Ethan, I did. It's still dry." Kira rolled her eyes. "The problem's the organic turkey."
"You'd think it would taste better, since they like feed the birds the good stuff," James said.
Trent picked up some mustard packets from his lunch tray and handed them to Kira.
She took them gratefully. "Yeah, it probably tastes really good right after they kill it." Kira squirted mustard onto her sandwich. "No preservatives mean it's icky by the time it hits the store."
"Is that even safe?" Conner asked.
Kira rolled her eyes. "I don't know. I had to sneak a candy bar from the vending machines though--I've been craving chocolate all weekend, and the only chocolate in the entire house is powder for hot cocoa. And I was informed that was only for special occasions."
"Ouch," Ethan said.
"Yeah, imagine the weeks when Dr. O has lunch duty," Kira added.
"You can refer to him by his first name in front of us, Kira," Conner said.
"Yeah, imagine if I called my dad 'Dr. Fernandez' all the time," Trent said, making a face. "How weird would that be?"
Kira shrugged, munching her sandwich thoughtfully.
At that moment, Kira had a microphone shoved in her face.
"This is Cassidy Cornell, Reefside Reporter." Cassidy shoved Ivan out of the way so she could sit next to Kira.
Devin shrugged apologetically at the group, as if to say, "I tried to stop her." He moved to get a better angle of Cassidy and Kira.
"I'm here with Kira Ford-- or is it Kira Oliver now?"
"Go away, Cassidy," Kira said, grumpily, grabbing Cassidy's arm and pushing it away. "I'm not telling you anything about Dr. Oliver."
Cassidy put the microphone up to her face. "Oh come on, you're suddenly adopted by your science teacher? Isn't that just a little weird?" She nearly pushed the microphone into Kira's mouth.
Kira's mind went blank.
Trent grabbed Cassidy's wrist, nearly pulling the reporter off of the picnic bench in order to get the microphone away from Kira. "Cassidy, don't you have any hint of a clue? Leave her alone, she's been through enough."
Cassidy took a moment to regain her composure.
"Cassidy, really, that's not appropriate material for the school station. Leave Kira alone," Ms. Hertzel, Kira's music teacher, said.
"I don't think..."
"Cassidy, find somewhere else to be or you'll be staying for detention."
Devin grabbed Cassidy's arm and hauled her away before she could object.
"Thanks, Ms. Hertzel," Kira said gratefully. She'd always liked her music teacher, but she'd never been so glad to see her before.
"Rumor has it I've got competition for your favorite teacher," Ms. Hertzel teased.
"Nah," Kira said. "You can't ground me." She winked.
Ms. Hertzel chuckled and moved off to break up a skirmish between the football players.
* * *
Kira quickly pulled the books she needed out of her locker and practically dashed to Dr.--to *Tommy's* classroom. God, that sounded weird, even in her head. She didn't want to talk to anyone, or answer any awkward questions.
She didn't know how to explain. Especially without mentioning Hayley's involvement in everything.
"Hey, Kira," Ivan called out.
Kira stopped. Her friends, at least, seemed to be willing to cut her some slack in the questions department.
"You forgot to give us your new number at lunch," James said, walking up with Ivan.
"Uh," Kira shifted uncomfortably. "I don't have my new cell phone yet. The one I wanted wasn't in stock." What if they called the house and Hayley picked up the phone?
"What about your regular phone?" Ivan asked reasonably. "Unless of course you really want to show up for practice when Dad's using the garage."
"Um," Kira said.
"Kira," Dr.--*Tommy* called from down the hall. "You ready?"
"Coming," Kira said. "Gotta run, I'll call you when I get a new cell phone, OK?" She dashed off after her guardian.
"You didn't have to cut things short," Tommy said.
Kira shrugged. "It's cool. I just want to get out of here."
"Rough day?" he asked sympathetically.
"Can we just go?" Kira asked. Tommy had done enough without hearing all about how being suddenly adopted by her science teacher had made her the talk of the school.
"I want to stop by the grocery store and pick up some stuff," Tommy said. "I'd like you to come with me, maybe find something to tempt that picky appetite of yours?"
Kira flushed. Tommy and Hayley ate very different food than what she was used to. Very healthy, and not exactly bad. Just different. "Ok, D.. um, Tommy. Can we get out of here? This situation feels a lot less weird when we're not in school."
"Sure," Tommy said, squeezing her shoulder affectionately.
* * *
Kira stood wistfully at the Tropical Source bars, wondering if Tommy would notice if she ran up to the check-outs, bought one, and then secreted it in her purse.
She was so going to need chocolate all week.
"I see Tommy's trying to cure you of your sweet tooth."
Kira whirled around to see her father standing behind her.
"Daddy?" Did that come out as pathetically as she thought it did?
"Is Dr. Oliver taking good care of you?"
Kira nodded mutely, all powers of speech lost to her. Why was she turning into a six year old? And was it her imagination, or was her dad shaking just a little?
"Maybe you'd better go find him," her father said. There were beads of sweat rolling down his forehead now.
"But..."
"Go!" he snarled.
Kira ran towards the frozen foods where she'd last seen her guardian. "Tommy!" She skidded to a stop at his side, suddenly at a loss for words.
"What is it?" Tommy asked, placing an arm around her shoulders and drawing her in protectively.
"D-dad," Kira stammered, suddenly shaking a little. "I ran into Dad. He was talking to me but then he got all sweaty and shaky and snarled at me!" Kira took a deep breath. "Why am I such a basket case?" she shook her head as if to clear it.
"You're still in shock from Thursday night," Tommy soothed. "And that doesn't exactly sound normal." He pulled her into a one armed hug. "Why don't we check out and get you out of here?"
"Home sounds good," Kira said, allowing Tommy to lead her to the registers.
* * *
Kira helped Tommy bring the groceries in wordlessly, moving with an almost robotic precision.
"That's everything, I think," Tommy said, starting to unpack.
"I'm going to go for a run," Kira said quietly.
"Kira, I don't think that's a good idea, you're pretty shaken up," Tommy said gently.
"I'm Ok, Tommy, really," Kira said. "I just need to clear my head is all."
Tommy frowned. "Stay alert. I want to hear from you if you so much as think you maybe saw a Tyrannodrone."
"Ok," Kira said, heading upstairs to change into her workout clothes.
* * *
Kira tried *not* to think as she ran. Instead, she tried to concentrate on keeping a steady pace, John Mayer coming through her headphones, and taking in the scenery. Red wood trees, squirrels, Elsa.
Elsa?
Kira could see her up ahead, in her path. Her arms were crossed and she was staring at Kira. The Yellow Ranger veered left, intending on doubling back home. If Elsa was out there after her, why not just get away?
She ran into a wall of Tyrannodrones, only just stopping in time to not hit them. Kira glared and hit the panic button on her morpher. There was no way she could take on all these freaks on her own. Not to say she wouldn't try until back-up arrived. She launched a flying kick at the Tyrannodrones, intending on taking a couple down and punching out a third. She misjudged her leap, however, and landed at her target's feet.
"Oops." She foot swept it, then propelled herself upright.
"Fight all you want, little Ranger, your daddy will still be on our side," Elsa taunted.
Kira hesitated, thrown. Just what Elsa wanted. Tyrannodrones surrounded her, arms grabbing at her.
Then one got picked up and thrown several feet.
"Need a lift?" Conner asked. He was morphed, and sitting on top of his raptor rider.
Kira jumped, with Conner helping her up to sit behind him. Ethan and Tommy--riding Kira's raptor--were chasing off Tyrannodrones in all directions.
"You haven't seen the last of me, Yellow Ranger," Elsa said. "Nor your father either."
And with that she activated an invisiportal and left, taking the Tyrannodrones with her.
"Geez, she could've just taunted me without the freak show," Kira said, shuddering. "It would've had the same effect."
Conner patted her shoulder gingerly. He hopped down from the raptor rider and helped Kira down, then demorphed. Ethan and Tommy did likewise.
"Hope you don't mind me borrowing your friend here," Tommy said, patting the yellow raptor rider.
"It's fine," Kira said absently, staring after where Elsa had been.
Tommy wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "You OK?"
"Fine, Dr. O." She glanced at Conner and Ethan, squirming away from Tommy uncomfortably.
He raised an eyebrow at her. Kira just looked away.
"So, we're all here, should we practice?" Conner asked. "I had to bail on soccer practice anyway."
"You up for it, Kira?" Tommy asked.
"Fine," Kira said firmly. She had vague notions of locking herself in the bathroom with a tub full of bubbles and a book, but it could wait.
"OK," Tommy said dubiously, sketching out their training exercise for the day as they walked the raptor riders back to their corral.
* * *
"Apple juice and carrot sticks?" Ethan asked as Dr. O left them on the back porch with a tray full of post-training snack.
"Welcome to my world," Kira said, munching thoughtfully on a carrot stick.
"Think now's good?" Ethan asked, sipping his juice.
Conner just shrugged as he chewed.
"Think now's good for what?" Kira wrinkled her nose in concern.
"Look, Kira, don't feel like you still have to act like Dr. O's still your teacher around us, OK?" Conner asked.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, Conner." Kira rolled her eyes, as if exasperated by the thought.
"Earlier today, after we got rid of the Tyrannodrones--Dr. O went to hug you and you pulled away." Conner looked at her steadily, eyes searching, as if trying to gauge her reaction.
"And you called him Dr. O," Ethan added.
"I slipped." Kira stared into her apple juice, not really looking at her friends.
"Uh-huh," Conner said dubiously. "Look, Kira, we're your teammates, your friends. But Dr. O's your guardian now--you *need* to have a more personal relationship with him."
"And you need to be comfortable around us," Ethan added. "Look, Kira, don't make this harder on yourself than it has to be."
"'Cause everyone's going to be staring and acting like Cassidy for awhile?" Kira asked, sounding exasperated.
"Probably," Conner said.
Kira sighed.
"They'll get over it," Ethan said. "Don't forget that Dr. Burgiss's son is in our class. He doesn't get grilled."
"Dr. Burgiss isn't the young, cool, new teacher," Kira pointed out. "You should've heard the girls talking about Dr. O in the locker room this morning! I promise you Ray doesn't have to put up with that. They're going to be grilling me for a long time."
"Nah," Conner said confidently. "Something should happen soon and the school will have something else to talk about. This'll be yesterday's news before you know it."
"Is it too much to hope that Cassidy will choke on her own microphone?" Kira asked.
The boys snickered.
"Trent might have fed it to her if she didn't back off today," Ethan said, smiling and waggling his eyebrows.
"Oh, yeah, he's totally into you," Conner said.
Kira giggled and rolled her eyes. Conner and Ethan were sometimes preternaturally good at cheering her up.
"So what else was being said in the girl's locker room?" Conner asked.
"Huh?" Kira asked.
"Anything about me?" Conner asked hopefully.
"Conner, your ego's bigger than Dr. O's health food addiction," Ethan said.
"They were mostly talking about teachers," Kira said.
"You gonna let them get to you?" Conner asked.
Kira shrugged. "I don't see what the big deal is. I mean, Dr. O has a six pack, but..."
Conner and Ethan stared.
"Dude, Kira, that was too much information."
"How do you know that?" Ethan asked, frowning.
"He was doing katas in sweatpants and no shirt out here Sunday morning," Kira said.
Ethan made a face. "Thank you for painting that picture."
Kira smiled, nearly laughing.
"What?" Conner asked.
"I think I've got it," Kira said happily.
* * *
"Is there something you want to talk to me about, Kira?" Tommy asked as Conner and Ethan left.
Kira shook her head. "I'm going to go tackle my homework." She pushed past Tommy and practically dashed for the relative safety of the guest--of her room.
Kira scowled at the decor--it hardly felt like her room--the color scheme was all wrong. Ugly. Besides its lack of yellow, Kira hated that shade of green and the artwork on the wall was horrific. The painting took up half the wall and it looked like some art collector had bought it just because Jackson Pollak sneezed on it. It clashed with the paint--though really it would've clashed with *any* paint, there were just too many colors.
Kira glanced at the few remaining unpacked boxes that Conner and Ethan had rescued from her hou--from the Mercer Estate. She hoped that one of these contained her posters. Otherwise, she was going to have to scour Reefside Commons for something halfway decent. Not an easy task if you didn't want sports heroes, boy bands, or half naked girls.
Kira dug her textbooks out of her backpack and arranged them on her desk--the one thing about the room that she liked. The desk was huge--it could comfortably fit both her homework and her iBook. (The computer was Hayley's spare that probably would've been spare parts for the mainframe if Kira hadn't rescued it.) She scowled one last time at the painting, then settled in to do her homework.
* * *
After dinner, Kira polished off the rest of her assignments and decided to try to get a jump on the rest of her history reading for the week. Her mind, however, refused to concentrate on the sociological contribution of the Ancient Greeks to modern democracy. Instead, it kept flashing back to the grocery store. Her father had seemed concerned about her.
Which would have made sense, had he not kicked her out of his house five days before. Kira shut her history book with a sigh. She had until Wednesday to compete the reading, it would just have to wait. Kira grabbed her guitar and headed outside to play in the waning light.
* * *
Kira strummed her guitar absently, every once in awhile pausing to jot down an interesting chord progression. Mostly, she just strummed, lost in thought. Kira compared her father's furor on Thursday to his anxious concern that afternoon, going through both incidents, playing them over and over in her mind, like a continuous loop on an educational video in a museum.
Both times, he'd been shaky and sweaty, as if he were ill. Or on drugs.
Maybe it was drugs? It didn't seem likely. Nor did it explain Elsa.
Kira strummed a cacophonous chord, resisting the urge to turn round and bury her face in her hands. She couldn't figure it out; if Dad was concerned with how Hayley and Dr.--and *Tommy*--were treating her, why had he thrown her out of the house?
Elsa.
Kira wondered if perhaps her father had been working for a Mesogog for a long time and managed to keep her out of it--until she'd become a Ranger. Did he want to work for Mesogog? Could the Rangers save him?
"Kira."
Kira jumped at the sound of Hayley's voice.
"Sorry," Hayley said, handing Kira a yellow sweatshirt. "Put this on, it's getting chilly out here."
"What is it with you and D--and *Tommy*--making me wear sweatshirts?" Kira joked as she pulled the offending article of clothing over her head.
"Would you prefer a jacket?" Hayley deadpanned.
Kira shrugged.
Hayley sat down next to Kira. "Want to talk about it?"
"I'm just so confused," Kira said quietly.
"About..."
"Dad," Kira said. "Did Tommy tell you about what happened at the grocery store?"
"What he knew," Hayley said gently. "I get the impression that you were little too shaken up to be big on the details."
Kira told Hayley the whole story, complete with similarities and differences from Thursday night.
Hayley's jaw dropped. "No wonder you're so confused, if he's all hot and cold like that."
"He didn't want me to come home," Kira said quietly.
"We still don't know why Elsa was there," Hayley pointed out reasonably. "He's probably trying to protect you from Mesogog. Maybe he was planning something less traumatic when you walked in on him. Maybe Elsa seeing you there just forced his hand."
"So it's my fault?" Kira asked miserably.
"No," Hayley said. "I'm sure it wasn't anything you did."
"It's because I'm a Ranger," Kira nearly whispered.
Hayley moved her chair closer to Kira's, draping a protective arm around her shoulders. "It probably didn't help," Hayley said gently, "but if your father's working for Mesogog, you'd be in danger no matter what."
"But why you and Dr. O?" Kira asked. "How'd he know you'd take me?"
"Because Tommy's your team mentor," Hayley said. "Because if your father knows your secret identity, and Tommy's history, he probably realized who Justin was."
"You're kidding!"
"Nope, once you know what to look for the answer's quite obvious. Trini, my college roommate and the original Yellow Ranger, pegged the entire Ninja Storm team after spending only a couple of hours with them."
"Justin visited Tommy a lot when he and Dad were working together, huh?" Kira asked.
"Yeah, he did," Hayley said. "We don't see Justin so much now that he's in graduate school."
"Am I going to meet him anytime soon?"
Hayley shrugged. "He's been talking about coming up for awhile now, but I'm not holding my breath."
Kira nodded, glancing around as if looking for an interloper.
Hayley hugged her. "Don't worry, he's a sweetheart. He'll make a great big brother."
"Uh-huh," Kira yawned.
"Nice timing, it's time to go in." Hayley brushed a stray lock of hair out of Kira's eyes.
"It's not that late," Kira protested. She checked her watch. "It's only... quarter to ten?"
"Time flies," Hayley said, picking up Kira's guitar and steering her inside.
* * *
"So, Kira, you never did spill yesterday," Stacey said at the start of first period gym.
Kira rolled her eyes, pulling her gym shirt over her head.
"Have you seen Dr. O in his underwear?" Aura asked, as if forgetting what they'd been talking about in gym the previous day. She leaned in, gym shirt forgotten in her hand, as if she were afraid Kira might whisper.
"Rather like your brother, I'd imagine," Kira said. She leaned in, imitating Aura's posture, but using the motion to tie her shoe. "So does Dave the star quarterback bring his clothes into the bathroom with him or step out in just a towel?"
Aura gawked. "Ew, Kira, that's my brother you're talking about."
Kira finished tying her shoelaces and slammed her locker door shut. "Exactly! Lay off." Kira stalked off in the direction of the soccer field.
* * *
"So does Dr. O not have a normal phone or what?" James asked Kira as they were setting up for their gig at the Cyberspace that afternoon.
"He does," Kira said, unsteadily, throwing a worried glance at Hayley--would she be mad that Kira hadn't gotten them to quit asking yet? "It's just..." Kira paused, at a loss.
Hayley heading straight for them, order pad in hand, wasn't helping. "Here, Kira." Hayley handed her the pad and a pen. "Go ahead and give them our phone number." Hayley patted Kira's arm reassuringly and then bustled back towards a large group that had just sat down on the couches by the window.
"'Our' phone number?" James echoed.
Kira flushed, beckoning her band mates closer so no one else would overhear. "She's my guardian too. She and Tommy are engaged and living together. I called Hayley when Dad kicked me out and they both came to pick me up."
"That explains a lot, actually," James said.
"Like have you ever seen the way he looks at her?" Ivan said, waggling his eyebrows.
"Parents. Kissing," Kira pointed out.
"Sorry," Ivan said, flushing a little.
"Anyway, don't spread it around school, OK?" Kira said nervously.
Ivan and James mimed zipping their lips. Kira started scribbling.
"So that's why you didn't say anything earlier?" Ivan asked as Kira handed him a slip with her phone number on it. "We were in school?"
"Um..." Kira stammered. "I'm not sure who's not supposed to know what. And what if Hayley answered the phone?"
"Have you talked to them about it?" James asked.
"Well..."
"Maybe you should," Ivan said, punching Kira in the arm.
"Yes, Conner," Kira muttered.
"Conner?" Ivan echoed.
Kira flushed. "It's a long story."
"What happened to Trent?" James asked.
"Isn't it time for us to go on?" Kira asked, picking up her guitar. She just hoped she wasn't blushing harder.
* * *
"So you want to tell me why I had to bully you into giving your band mates our phone number?" Hayley asked as the two of them climbed into Tommy's jeep.
"You hadn't given James and Ivan our phone number?" Tommy echoed as Kira buckled her seat belt.
"What if Hayley answered the phone?" Kira said.
"What, you think you're the only one who I only gave my cell phone number to?" Hayley asked.
"You've been living with us since Thursday night and you didn't notice that Hayley always checks the caller ID before picking up?" Tommy added.
Kira flushed.
"So don't worry about giving out our phone number, OK?" Hayley said.
"I was teaching in LA for two years before we moved here," Tommy started.
"We have this down to an exact science," Hayley finished.
Kira looked from one to the other. "Okay," she squeaked.
"So let's talk about the real concern," Tommy said. "Why didn't you just tell your friends about us in the first place?"
"If anyone from school found out about you and Hayley living together, Conner, Ethan and I would be cleaning out the raptor rider pens, remember?" Kira asked.
The jeep came to a stop at a red light.
"Tommy!" Hayley smacked him on the arm.
"Firstly, Kira, what I said was if it got *all over* school you'd be cleaning the raptor stalls. I would like to point out, however, that that was before Hayley and I filed the adoption petition."
"I don't see the difference," Kira said.
"The difference is you live here too," Tommy replied as the light turned green and he turned onto their street. "Look, Kira, it would be better if Hayley's and my relationship weren't all over school. More conservative parents trying to get me fired and boycotting the Cyberspace, for example."
"Isn't that..."
"Teachers' union wouldn't let them fire me," Tommy said as they pulled into their driveway.
"The students might rebel too," Kira said. "Mr. Peterson isn't anywhere near as good a teacher."
Tommy blushed. "Anyway, the thing is, Kira we don't want you to feel like you have to hide from your friends--or impede your social life. So don't tell everyone, but don't feel like you can't tell anyone--you should feel comfortable having friends over, OK?"
"Okay," Kira said. "So can I tell Trent too?"
"Um..." Tommy said.
"Get past the making googly eyes at each other across the room stage and we'll talk," Hayley said.
"At least that far," Tommy added, frowning as he parked the jeep.
"He needs to know what he's getting into though," Hayley said.
"Which is?" Tommy asked.
"Dating his boss's daughter," Hayley said matter of factly as she undid her seat belt.
Kira gaped.
"Nobody messes with my Kira." Hayley turned around and beamed.
Kira blushed.
"Is there anything else you need to talk to us about, Kira?" Tommy asked as they climbed out of the jeep. "Anything at all?"
Kira bit her lip. How could she explain about the painting without hurting Tommy and Hayley's feelings?
Tommy reached out, running a comforting hand over her hair. "You live here too."
"Can we maybe find someplace else to put that abstract painting in my room so I can put some posters up?" Kira blurted, talking very fast--afraid she'd chicken out if she didn't get it out there soon enough.
"How 'bout the attic?" Tommy suggested as he opened the door.
Hayley thwacked him on the arm. "Tommy! You just got out of Mom's doghouse."
"Oh?" Kira asked, suddenly curious about why the hideous painting had been up in a guest room.
"Mom took up painting when she was empty nested," Hayley explained. "That was her first um... effort."
"That explains a lot," Kira said, "except for why Tommy was in your mom's doghouse?"
"We've been living together for five years and he only just decided to make an 'honest woman' out of me." Hayley used air quotes when she said "honest woman" and her nose was wrinkled in disgust.
Kira giggled.
"It's only a matter of time before she starts pestering us about grandchildren," Hayley said as she went through the door.
Tommy wrapped a protective arm around Kira's shoulders, drawing her inside. "What's Kira? Chopped liver?"
"That'll work until next fall. 'Isn't it empty in the house now that Kira's away at school? Don't you think it's time you and Tommy had a baby?'" Hayley rolled her eyes in annoyance.
"Or she'll say I don't count and start pestering you right after the wedding next summer," Kira said quietly, stepping away from Tommy. Her stomach tightened a little at the thought. The whole school was chock full of questions about Tommy and Hayley adopting her. What must the rest of their families be thinking?
At least Justin was also a former Ranger, so he knew the whole story. To an outsider, though, the whole thing might seem a little creepy.
"Don't worry, they'll *love you*," Hayley said. She wrapped an arm around Kira's shoulders, guiding her towards the kitchen.
"You should've seen her folks fussing over Justin last Christmas," Tommy added. "And we weren't even engaged yet. Don't worry, Kira, she just likes giving me a rough time."
They reached the kitchen, and Hayley pressed a button on the flashing answering machine.
"Hey Tommy and Hayley--oh, and Kira, you too--it's Justin. I just got a huge break on my thesis--this star went supernova and--well, your answering machine will cut me off if I try to explain, but I can number crunch in Reefside as well as in Mariner Bay. I thought I'd come home for the weekend--sometime after dinner on Friday. I'll call if I'm gonna be later than 10, so no worrying earlier than that, Tommy. Oh, and Kira there's this shop with obscure guitar tabs on campus, e-mail me and let me know whether or not there's anything you're looking for. Bye."
"'Bout time he figured out he didn't need permission," Tommy muttered.
Kira gulped.
"It'll be fine, Kira." Tommy gave her a one armed hug and kissed the top of her head. "You want to call and talk to him?"
Kira shrugged.
"Want some help getting your posters up, Kira?" Hayley offered.
"Yes, please," Kira said, allowing Hayley to lead her upstairs, away from Tommy's pestering.
* * *
"Everything finally the way you want it?" Tommy asked Kira as she entered the living room later that evening.
"Yup," Kira said happily, sitting next to Tommy on the couch.
He draped an arm around her shoulders and offered her the remote. "Something on you want to watch?"
"I was just going to do some channel surfing." Kira shrugged. "Whatever you're watching is fine."
The commercial break ended as if on cue. Kira giggled. "Only you could watch one of these cheesy martial arts flicks, Tommy." She leaned against him comfortably.
"Your godfather got me into them." Tommy laughed and started playing with Kira's hair.
Kira relaxed, trying to figure out what was going on with the movie. She closed her eyes, rubbing them. 'Just for a minute,' she thought.
* * *
Kira was dreaming about playing for a packed house at the Cyberspace when Tommy's voice intruded on her dreams.
"Come on, Kira, I need you to wake up enough to get you upstairs to your room." He was pushing her somewhere cold.
Kira shook her head, snuggling back down against the warmth. "Don't wanna. Comfortable."
"I know, sweetie, but I don't want to stay here all night." She could feel him touching her hair.
Kira wasn't about to move. "Tough."
"Kira, get up."
She jumped, sitting up. "Don't yell." She blinked, realizing she was still in Tommy's--in *their* living room.
"I'm not yelling, I'm being stern." Tommy frowned, his voice slightly miffed.
"Don't want to go upstairs. Safer here." She snuggled against him again, recalcitrantly closing her eyes.
"Sweetie, I've told you before, and I'll tell you again, they can't attack us in our own homes. It's part of the rules of engagement." He caressed her hair.
"Not that kind of safe."
Tommy paused for a moment. "I love you too, but I'm going to be stiff as all get out if I spend the night sleeping on this couch getting a crick in my neck."
Kira rubbed her eyes, trying to clear them.
"That's it."
She stood up tentatively and looked at the steps, clearly intimidated. Tommy started pushing her towards the stairs and her room.
End of Story 2
Author's notes: Thanks to MadKrazyGhetto (sometimes known as Casey) for the beta, and Selma for the encouragement and egging me on. This is a direct sequel to "Never Come Home Again" and you'll be kind of lost if you haven't read it.
Fallout
Story 2 in the Kira Mercer Saga
by tptigger
Kira plodded into the girls' locker room after first period gym. Kira *hated* first period gym, but the only other option to get her out of Dr. O's--*Tommy's* science class without turning her schedule upside down and backwards was for her to switch from Mrs. Stelmach's honor's English class to Ms. Smith's. And faced with a choice of losing a really awesome teacher or taking first period gym, Kira would take being hot and sweaty all morning.
Or so she thought.
"What about Mr. Peterson?" Stacy opened her locker.
Kira's ears perked up a bit. Maybe she'd get some good advice about her new science teacher.
"The glasses make him *so* geeky." Tiffini pulled her shirt over her head.
Kira rolled her eyes, spinning her lock. Why'd she have to get gym class with the bubble heads?
"They work better for Dr. Oliver." Aura practically swooned as she zipped up her jeans.
"He is totally hot." Stacy buttoned up her shirt, a feral grin on her face.
Kira threw her sweaty gym shirt into her locker, trying to hide behind the locker door. She wasn't sure why she was so uncomfortable with the turn in the conversation.
"Think he'd date a student?" Tiffini asked.
"Dude, a body like *that*?" Stacy said. "Not to mention the clothes? He's either taken or gay."
Kira bit back a "taken" on the tip of her tongue and concentrated on pulling on her hose without running them.
"Hey, Kira," Aura said, addressing her for the first time, "what do you think?"
"About..." Kira said, drawing out the sentence and rapidly fluffing out her blouse. If she was smart, she could draw this out long enough for the bell to ring.
"Dr. Oliver," Aura said, making "come on" motions with her hand.
Kira shrugged. "He's a cool teacher, I guess." She *so* didn't want to be having this conversation right now.
"Yeah, but is he hot?" Aura pushed.
Kira tied her shoes, face growing hot. She desperately wished the bell would ring so she could flee to the relative safety of Honors English sitting next to Ethan.
"Come on, Kira, spill," Stacy said snottily.
The bell rang, and Kira snatched her backpack. "Gotta run, Mrs. Stelmach will throw me in detention for life if I'm late for English again."
It was a lie--she'd only been late to English once, and Dr. O had given her a pass. After all, she'd been fighting Zeltrax, but since Stacy was a junior taking sophomore English, she had no way of knowing that.
Kira hightailed it out of the locker room, glad for the relative safety of her English class and her teammate.
* * *
"There's Kira!" Trent exclaimed, patting the seat between him and Conner. "I missed you in science today."
Kira recklessly flipped her lunch bag onto the table, bumping Ethan's lunch tray and nearly spilling it into his lap.
"I, um, kinda had to switch classes." Kira flushed, looking mostly at the table.
"That work out OK?" Conner asked, shifting his lunch tray so that Kira had elbow room.
"First period gym, fifth period science with Mr. Peterson," Kira said.
"Why'd you have to switch science classes?" Trent asked, swirling a french fry in some ketchup.
"Dad kicked me out; Dr. Oliver's adopting me," Kira replied.
Trent gaped. "That's... that's... he adopted you and you still have to call him Dr. Oliver?"
"No, I just... forget," Kira said, popping the top on a can of apple juice. "Keep it down, OK. I'd rather it not get all over school."
"Good luck," Conner said.
Kira looked around, absently opening her lunch bag. "Why is everyone looking at me?"
"Because you're gorgeous?" Trent asked, smiling at her shyly.
Kira blushed.
"Or word got out," Ethan said, frowning. "Who was working as an office assistant when..."
James and Ivan--Kira's bassist and drummer, respectively--unceremoniously dropped their lunch trays on the table, causing Ethan to stop in mid-sentence.
"Nice of you to tell us about the number change, Kira," James said. He had barely had the words out when he stuffed a hot dog into his mouth in one bite.
"Yeah, all we knew was that we were talking to your voicemail all weekend," Ivan added, popping open his Coke can.
Kira stared, hands pausing halfway through unwrapping her sandwich. "I'm sorry, I knew I was forgetting something."
"So what happened?" Ivan asked. "Word's out you had to switch out of Dr. Oliver's class 'cause you're living with him now or something."
Kira sighed, looking at the table. "Dad kicked me out," she said quietly.
"How'd you end up at Dr. Oliver's?" Trent asked, suddenly curious.
"I don't want to talk about it, OK?" Kira asked, tearing her sandwich out of its bag and taking a big bite. She made a face.
"Oh, Kira, you were supposed to make your own lunch today," Ethan said, grinning mischievously.
"Thanks, Ethan, I did. It's still dry." Kira rolled her eyes. "The problem's the organic turkey."
"You'd think it would taste better, since they like feed the birds the good stuff," James said.
Trent picked up some mustard packets from his lunch tray and handed them to Kira.
She took them gratefully. "Yeah, it probably tastes really good right after they kill it." Kira squirted mustard onto her sandwich. "No preservatives mean it's icky by the time it hits the store."
"Is that even safe?" Conner asked.
Kira rolled her eyes. "I don't know. I had to sneak a candy bar from the vending machines though--I've been craving chocolate all weekend, and the only chocolate in the entire house is powder for hot cocoa. And I was informed that was only for special occasions."
"Ouch," Ethan said.
"Yeah, imagine the weeks when Dr. O has lunch duty," Kira added.
"You can refer to him by his first name in front of us, Kira," Conner said.
"Yeah, imagine if I called my dad 'Dr. Fernandez' all the time," Trent said, making a face. "How weird would that be?"
Kira shrugged, munching her sandwich thoughtfully.
At that moment, Kira had a microphone shoved in her face.
"This is Cassidy Cornell, Reefside Reporter." Cassidy shoved Ivan out of the way so she could sit next to Kira.
Devin shrugged apologetically at the group, as if to say, "I tried to stop her." He moved to get a better angle of Cassidy and Kira.
"I'm here with Kira Ford-- or is it Kira Oliver now?"
"Go away, Cassidy," Kira said, grumpily, grabbing Cassidy's arm and pushing it away. "I'm not telling you anything about Dr. Oliver."
Cassidy put the microphone up to her face. "Oh come on, you're suddenly adopted by your science teacher? Isn't that just a little weird?" She nearly pushed the microphone into Kira's mouth.
Kira's mind went blank.
Trent grabbed Cassidy's wrist, nearly pulling the reporter off of the picnic bench in order to get the microphone away from Kira. "Cassidy, don't you have any hint of a clue? Leave her alone, she's been through enough."
Cassidy took a moment to regain her composure.
"Cassidy, really, that's not appropriate material for the school station. Leave Kira alone," Ms. Hertzel, Kira's music teacher, said.
"I don't think..."
"Cassidy, find somewhere else to be or you'll be staying for detention."
Devin grabbed Cassidy's arm and hauled her away before she could object.
"Thanks, Ms. Hertzel," Kira said gratefully. She'd always liked her music teacher, but she'd never been so glad to see her before.
"Rumor has it I've got competition for your favorite teacher," Ms. Hertzel teased.
"Nah," Kira said. "You can't ground me." She winked.
Ms. Hertzel chuckled and moved off to break up a skirmish between the football players.
* * *
Kira quickly pulled the books she needed out of her locker and practically dashed to Dr.--to *Tommy's* classroom. God, that sounded weird, even in her head. She didn't want to talk to anyone, or answer any awkward questions.
She didn't know how to explain. Especially without mentioning Hayley's involvement in everything.
"Hey, Kira," Ivan called out.
Kira stopped. Her friends, at least, seemed to be willing to cut her some slack in the questions department.
"You forgot to give us your new number at lunch," James said, walking up with Ivan.
"Uh," Kira shifted uncomfortably. "I don't have my new cell phone yet. The one I wanted wasn't in stock." What if they called the house and Hayley picked up the phone?
"What about your regular phone?" Ivan asked reasonably. "Unless of course you really want to show up for practice when Dad's using the garage."
"Um," Kira said.
"Kira," Dr.--*Tommy* called from down the hall. "You ready?"
"Coming," Kira said. "Gotta run, I'll call you when I get a new cell phone, OK?" She dashed off after her guardian.
"You didn't have to cut things short," Tommy said.
Kira shrugged. "It's cool. I just want to get out of here."
"Rough day?" he asked sympathetically.
"Can we just go?" Kira asked. Tommy had done enough without hearing all about how being suddenly adopted by her science teacher had made her the talk of the school.
"I want to stop by the grocery store and pick up some stuff," Tommy said. "I'd like you to come with me, maybe find something to tempt that picky appetite of yours?"
Kira flushed. Tommy and Hayley ate very different food than what she was used to. Very healthy, and not exactly bad. Just different. "Ok, D.. um, Tommy. Can we get out of here? This situation feels a lot less weird when we're not in school."
"Sure," Tommy said, squeezing her shoulder affectionately.
* * *
Kira stood wistfully at the Tropical Source bars, wondering if Tommy would notice if she ran up to the check-outs, bought one, and then secreted it in her purse.
She was so going to need chocolate all week.
"I see Tommy's trying to cure you of your sweet tooth."
Kira whirled around to see her father standing behind her.
"Daddy?" Did that come out as pathetically as she thought it did?
"Is Dr. Oliver taking good care of you?"
Kira nodded mutely, all powers of speech lost to her. Why was she turning into a six year old? And was it her imagination, or was her dad shaking just a little?
"Maybe you'd better go find him," her father said. There were beads of sweat rolling down his forehead now.
"But..."
"Go!" he snarled.
Kira ran towards the frozen foods where she'd last seen her guardian. "Tommy!" She skidded to a stop at his side, suddenly at a loss for words.
"What is it?" Tommy asked, placing an arm around her shoulders and drawing her in protectively.
"D-dad," Kira stammered, suddenly shaking a little. "I ran into Dad. He was talking to me but then he got all sweaty and shaky and snarled at me!" Kira took a deep breath. "Why am I such a basket case?" she shook her head as if to clear it.
"You're still in shock from Thursday night," Tommy soothed. "And that doesn't exactly sound normal." He pulled her into a one armed hug. "Why don't we check out and get you out of here?"
"Home sounds good," Kira said, allowing Tommy to lead her to the registers.
* * *
Kira helped Tommy bring the groceries in wordlessly, moving with an almost robotic precision.
"That's everything, I think," Tommy said, starting to unpack.
"I'm going to go for a run," Kira said quietly.
"Kira, I don't think that's a good idea, you're pretty shaken up," Tommy said gently.
"I'm Ok, Tommy, really," Kira said. "I just need to clear my head is all."
Tommy frowned. "Stay alert. I want to hear from you if you so much as think you maybe saw a Tyrannodrone."
"Ok," Kira said, heading upstairs to change into her workout clothes.
* * *
Kira tried *not* to think as she ran. Instead, she tried to concentrate on keeping a steady pace, John Mayer coming through her headphones, and taking in the scenery. Red wood trees, squirrels, Elsa.
Elsa?
Kira could see her up ahead, in her path. Her arms were crossed and she was staring at Kira. The Yellow Ranger veered left, intending on doubling back home. If Elsa was out there after her, why not just get away?
She ran into a wall of Tyrannodrones, only just stopping in time to not hit them. Kira glared and hit the panic button on her morpher. There was no way she could take on all these freaks on her own. Not to say she wouldn't try until back-up arrived. She launched a flying kick at the Tyrannodrones, intending on taking a couple down and punching out a third. She misjudged her leap, however, and landed at her target's feet.
"Oops." She foot swept it, then propelled herself upright.
"Fight all you want, little Ranger, your daddy will still be on our side," Elsa taunted.
Kira hesitated, thrown. Just what Elsa wanted. Tyrannodrones surrounded her, arms grabbing at her.
Then one got picked up and thrown several feet.
"Need a lift?" Conner asked. He was morphed, and sitting on top of his raptor rider.
Kira jumped, with Conner helping her up to sit behind him. Ethan and Tommy--riding Kira's raptor--were chasing off Tyrannodrones in all directions.
"You haven't seen the last of me, Yellow Ranger," Elsa said. "Nor your father either."
And with that she activated an invisiportal and left, taking the Tyrannodrones with her.
"Geez, she could've just taunted me without the freak show," Kira said, shuddering. "It would've had the same effect."
Conner patted her shoulder gingerly. He hopped down from the raptor rider and helped Kira down, then demorphed. Ethan and Tommy did likewise.
"Hope you don't mind me borrowing your friend here," Tommy said, patting the yellow raptor rider.
"It's fine," Kira said absently, staring after where Elsa had been.
Tommy wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "You OK?"
"Fine, Dr. O." She glanced at Conner and Ethan, squirming away from Tommy uncomfortably.
He raised an eyebrow at her. Kira just looked away.
"So, we're all here, should we practice?" Conner asked. "I had to bail on soccer practice anyway."
"You up for it, Kira?" Tommy asked.
"Fine," Kira said firmly. She had vague notions of locking herself in the bathroom with a tub full of bubbles and a book, but it could wait.
"OK," Tommy said dubiously, sketching out their training exercise for the day as they walked the raptor riders back to their corral.
* * *
"Apple juice and carrot sticks?" Ethan asked as Dr. O left them on the back porch with a tray full of post-training snack.
"Welcome to my world," Kira said, munching thoughtfully on a carrot stick.
"Think now's good?" Ethan asked, sipping his juice.
Conner just shrugged as he chewed.
"Think now's good for what?" Kira wrinkled her nose in concern.
"Look, Kira, don't feel like you still have to act like Dr. O's still your teacher around us, OK?" Conner asked.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, Conner." Kira rolled her eyes, as if exasperated by the thought.
"Earlier today, after we got rid of the Tyrannodrones--Dr. O went to hug you and you pulled away." Conner looked at her steadily, eyes searching, as if trying to gauge her reaction.
"And you called him Dr. O," Ethan added.
"I slipped." Kira stared into her apple juice, not really looking at her friends.
"Uh-huh," Conner said dubiously. "Look, Kira, we're your teammates, your friends. But Dr. O's your guardian now--you *need* to have a more personal relationship with him."
"And you need to be comfortable around us," Ethan added. "Look, Kira, don't make this harder on yourself than it has to be."
"'Cause everyone's going to be staring and acting like Cassidy for awhile?" Kira asked, sounding exasperated.
"Probably," Conner said.
Kira sighed.
"They'll get over it," Ethan said. "Don't forget that Dr. Burgiss's son is in our class. He doesn't get grilled."
"Dr. Burgiss isn't the young, cool, new teacher," Kira pointed out. "You should've heard the girls talking about Dr. O in the locker room this morning! I promise you Ray doesn't have to put up with that. They're going to be grilling me for a long time."
"Nah," Conner said confidently. "Something should happen soon and the school will have something else to talk about. This'll be yesterday's news before you know it."
"Is it too much to hope that Cassidy will choke on her own microphone?" Kira asked.
The boys snickered.
"Trent might have fed it to her if she didn't back off today," Ethan said, smiling and waggling his eyebrows.
"Oh, yeah, he's totally into you," Conner said.
Kira giggled and rolled her eyes. Conner and Ethan were sometimes preternaturally good at cheering her up.
"So what else was being said in the girl's locker room?" Conner asked.
"Huh?" Kira asked.
"Anything about me?" Conner asked hopefully.
"Conner, your ego's bigger than Dr. O's health food addiction," Ethan said.
"They were mostly talking about teachers," Kira said.
"You gonna let them get to you?" Conner asked.
Kira shrugged. "I don't see what the big deal is. I mean, Dr. O has a six pack, but..."
Conner and Ethan stared.
"Dude, Kira, that was too much information."
"How do you know that?" Ethan asked, frowning.
"He was doing katas in sweatpants and no shirt out here Sunday morning," Kira said.
Ethan made a face. "Thank you for painting that picture."
Kira smiled, nearly laughing.
"What?" Conner asked.
"I think I've got it," Kira said happily.
* * *
"Is there something you want to talk to me about, Kira?" Tommy asked as Conner and Ethan left.
Kira shook her head. "I'm going to go tackle my homework." She pushed past Tommy and practically dashed for the relative safety of the guest--of her room.
Kira scowled at the decor--it hardly felt like her room--the color scheme was all wrong. Ugly. Besides its lack of yellow, Kira hated that shade of green and the artwork on the wall was horrific. The painting took up half the wall and it looked like some art collector had bought it just because Jackson Pollak sneezed on it. It clashed with the paint--though really it would've clashed with *any* paint, there were just too many colors.
Kira glanced at the few remaining unpacked boxes that Conner and Ethan had rescued from her hou--from the Mercer Estate. She hoped that one of these contained her posters. Otherwise, she was going to have to scour Reefside Commons for something halfway decent. Not an easy task if you didn't want sports heroes, boy bands, or half naked girls.
Kira dug her textbooks out of her backpack and arranged them on her desk--the one thing about the room that she liked. The desk was huge--it could comfortably fit both her homework and her iBook. (The computer was Hayley's spare that probably would've been spare parts for the mainframe if Kira hadn't rescued it.) She scowled one last time at the painting, then settled in to do her homework.
* * *
After dinner, Kira polished off the rest of her assignments and decided to try to get a jump on the rest of her history reading for the week. Her mind, however, refused to concentrate on the sociological contribution of the Ancient Greeks to modern democracy. Instead, it kept flashing back to the grocery store. Her father had seemed concerned about her.
Which would have made sense, had he not kicked her out of his house five days before. Kira shut her history book with a sigh. She had until Wednesday to compete the reading, it would just have to wait. Kira grabbed her guitar and headed outside to play in the waning light.
* * *
Kira strummed her guitar absently, every once in awhile pausing to jot down an interesting chord progression. Mostly, she just strummed, lost in thought. Kira compared her father's furor on Thursday to his anxious concern that afternoon, going through both incidents, playing them over and over in her mind, like a continuous loop on an educational video in a museum.
Both times, he'd been shaky and sweaty, as if he were ill. Or on drugs.
Maybe it was drugs? It didn't seem likely. Nor did it explain Elsa.
Kira strummed a cacophonous chord, resisting the urge to turn round and bury her face in her hands. She couldn't figure it out; if Dad was concerned with how Hayley and Dr.--and *Tommy*--were treating her, why had he thrown her out of the house?
Elsa.
Kira wondered if perhaps her father had been working for a Mesogog for a long time and managed to keep her out of it--until she'd become a Ranger. Did he want to work for Mesogog? Could the Rangers save him?
"Kira."
Kira jumped at the sound of Hayley's voice.
"Sorry," Hayley said, handing Kira a yellow sweatshirt. "Put this on, it's getting chilly out here."
"What is it with you and D--and *Tommy*--making me wear sweatshirts?" Kira joked as she pulled the offending article of clothing over her head.
"Would you prefer a jacket?" Hayley deadpanned.
Kira shrugged.
Hayley sat down next to Kira. "Want to talk about it?"
"I'm just so confused," Kira said quietly.
"About..."
"Dad," Kira said. "Did Tommy tell you about what happened at the grocery store?"
"What he knew," Hayley said gently. "I get the impression that you were little too shaken up to be big on the details."
Kira told Hayley the whole story, complete with similarities and differences from Thursday night.
Hayley's jaw dropped. "No wonder you're so confused, if he's all hot and cold like that."
"He didn't want me to come home," Kira said quietly.
"We still don't know why Elsa was there," Hayley pointed out reasonably. "He's probably trying to protect you from Mesogog. Maybe he was planning something less traumatic when you walked in on him. Maybe Elsa seeing you there just forced his hand."
"So it's my fault?" Kira asked miserably.
"No," Hayley said. "I'm sure it wasn't anything you did."
"It's because I'm a Ranger," Kira nearly whispered.
Hayley moved her chair closer to Kira's, draping a protective arm around her shoulders. "It probably didn't help," Hayley said gently, "but if your father's working for Mesogog, you'd be in danger no matter what."
"But why you and Dr. O?" Kira asked. "How'd he know you'd take me?"
"Because Tommy's your team mentor," Hayley said. "Because if your father knows your secret identity, and Tommy's history, he probably realized who Justin was."
"You're kidding!"
"Nope, once you know what to look for the answer's quite obvious. Trini, my college roommate and the original Yellow Ranger, pegged the entire Ninja Storm team after spending only a couple of hours with them."
"Justin visited Tommy a lot when he and Dad were working together, huh?" Kira asked.
"Yeah, he did," Hayley said. "We don't see Justin so much now that he's in graduate school."
"Am I going to meet him anytime soon?"
Hayley shrugged. "He's been talking about coming up for awhile now, but I'm not holding my breath."
Kira nodded, glancing around as if looking for an interloper.
Hayley hugged her. "Don't worry, he's a sweetheart. He'll make a great big brother."
"Uh-huh," Kira yawned.
"Nice timing, it's time to go in." Hayley brushed a stray lock of hair out of Kira's eyes.
"It's not that late," Kira protested. She checked her watch. "It's only... quarter to ten?"
"Time flies," Hayley said, picking up Kira's guitar and steering her inside.
* * *
"So, Kira, you never did spill yesterday," Stacey said at the start of first period gym.
Kira rolled her eyes, pulling her gym shirt over her head.
"Have you seen Dr. O in his underwear?" Aura asked, as if forgetting what they'd been talking about in gym the previous day. She leaned in, gym shirt forgotten in her hand, as if she were afraid Kira might whisper.
"Rather like your brother, I'd imagine," Kira said. She leaned in, imitating Aura's posture, but using the motion to tie her shoe. "So does Dave the star quarterback bring his clothes into the bathroom with him or step out in just a towel?"
Aura gawked. "Ew, Kira, that's my brother you're talking about."
Kira finished tying her shoelaces and slammed her locker door shut. "Exactly! Lay off." Kira stalked off in the direction of the soccer field.
* * *
"So does Dr. O not have a normal phone or what?" James asked Kira as they were setting up for their gig at the Cyberspace that afternoon.
"He does," Kira said, unsteadily, throwing a worried glance at Hayley--would she be mad that Kira hadn't gotten them to quit asking yet? "It's just..." Kira paused, at a loss.
Hayley heading straight for them, order pad in hand, wasn't helping. "Here, Kira." Hayley handed her the pad and a pen. "Go ahead and give them our phone number." Hayley patted Kira's arm reassuringly and then bustled back towards a large group that had just sat down on the couches by the window.
"'Our' phone number?" James echoed.
Kira flushed, beckoning her band mates closer so no one else would overhear. "She's my guardian too. She and Tommy are engaged and living together. I called Hayley when Dad kicked me out and they both came to pick me up."
"That explains a lot, actually," James said.
"Like have you ever seen the way he looks at her?" Ivan said, waggling his eyebrows.
"Parents. Kissing," Kira pointed out.
"Sorry," Ivan said, flushing a little.
"Anyway, don't spread it around school, OK?" Kira said nervously.
Ivan and James mimed zipping their lips. Kira started scribbling.
"So that's why you didn't say anything earlier?" Ivan asked as Kira handed him a slip with her phone number on it. "We were in school?"
"Um..." Kira stammered. "I'm not sure who's not supposed to know what. And what if Hayley answered the phone?"
"Have you talked to them about it?" James asked.
"Well..."
"Maybe you should," Ivan said, punching Kira in the arm.
"Yes, Conner," Kira muttered.
"Conner?" Ivan echoed.
Kira flushed. "It's a long story."
"What happened to Trent?" James asked.
"Isn't it time for us to go on?" Kira asked, picking up her guitar. She just hoped she wasn't blushing harder.
* * *
"So you want to tell me why I had to bully you into giving your band mates our phone number?" Hayley asked as the two of them climbed into Tommy's jeep.
"You hadn't given James and Ivan our phone number?" Tommy echoed as Kira buckled her seat belt.
"What if Hayley answered the phone?" Kira said.
"What, you think you're the only one who I only gave my cell phone number to?" Hayley asked.
"You've been living with us since Thursday night and you didn't notice that Hayley always checks the caller ID before picking up?" Tommy added.
Kira flushed.
"So don't worry about giving out our phone number, OK?" Hayley said.
"I was teaching in LA for two years before we moved here," Tommy started.
"We have this down to an exact science," Hayley finished.
Kira looked from one to the other. "Okay," she squeaked.
"So let's talk about the real concern," Tommy said. "Why didn't you just tell your friends about us in the first place?"
"If anyone from school found out about you and Hayley living together, Conner, Ethan and I would be cleaning out the raptor rider pens, remember?" Kira asked.
The jeep came to a stop at a red light.
"Tommy!" Hayley smacked him on the arm.
"Firstly, Kira, what I said was if it got *all over* school you'd be cleaning the raptor stalls. I would like to point out, however, that that was before Hayley and I filed the adoption petition."
"I don't see the difference," Kira said.
"The difference is you live here too," Tommy replied as the light turned green and he turned onto their street. "Look, Kira, it would be better if Hayley's and my relationship weren't all over school. More conservative parents trying to get me fired and boycotting the Cyberspace, for example."
"Isn't that..."
"Teachers' union wouldn't let them fire me," Tommy said as they pulled into their driveway.
"The students might rebel too," Kira said. "Mr. Peterson isn't anywhere near as good a teacher."
Tommy blushed. "Anyway, the thing is, Kira we don't want you to feel like you have to hide from your friends--or impede your social life. So don't tell everyone, but don't feel like you can't tell anyone--you should feel comfortable having friends over, OK?"
"Okay," Kira said. "So can I tell Trent too?"
"Um..." Tommy said.
"Get past the making googly eyes at each other across the room stage and we'll talk," Hayley said.
"At least that far," Tommy added, frowning as he parked the jeep.
"He needs to know what he's getting into though," Hayley said.
"Which is?" Tommy asked.
"Dating his boss's daughter," Hayley said matter of factly as she undid her seat belt.
Kira gaped.
"Nobody messes with my Kira." Hayley turned around and beamed.
Kira blushed.
"Is there anything else you need to talk to us about, Kira?" Tommy asked as they climbed out of the jeep. "Anything at all?"
Kira bit her lip. How could she explain about the painting without hurting Tommy and Hayley's feelings?
Tommy reached out, running a comforting hand over her hair. "You live here too."
"Can we maybe find someplace else to put that abstract painting in my room so I can put some posters up?" Kira blurted, talking very fast--afraid she'd chicken out if she didn't get it out there soon enough.
"How 'bout the attic?" Tommy suggested as he opened the door.
Hayley thwacked him on the arm. "Tommy! You just got out of Mom's doghouse."
"Oh?" Kira asked, suddenly curious about why the hideous painting had been up in a guest room.
"Mom took up painting when she was empty nested," Hayley explained. "That was her first um... effort."
"That explains a lot," Kira said, "except for why Tommy was in your mom's doghouse?"
"We've been living together for five years and he only just decided to make an 'honest woman' out of me." Hayley used air quotes when she said "honest woman" and her nose was wrinkled in disgust.
Kira giggled.
"It's only a matter of time before she starts pestering us about grandchildren," Hayley said as she went through the door.
Tommy wrapped a protective arm around Kira's shoulders, drawing her inside. "What's Kira? Chopped liver?"
"That'll work until next fall. 'Isn't it empty in the house now that Kira's away at school? Don't you think it's time you and Tommy had a baby?'" Hayley rolled her eyes in annoyance.
"Or she'll say I don't count and start pestering you right after the wedding next summer," Kira said quietly, stepping away from Tommy. Her stomach tightened a little at the thought. The whole school was chock full of questions about Tommy and Hayley adopting her. What must the rest of their families be thinking?
At least Justin was also a former Ranger, so he knew the whole story. To an outsider, though, the whole thing might seem a little creepy.
"Don't worry, they'll *love you*," Hayley said. She wrapped an arm around Kira's shoulders, guiding her towards the kitchen.
"You should've seen her folks fussing over Justin last Christmas," Tommy added. "And we weren't even engaged yet. Don't worry, Kira, she just likes giving me a rough time."
They reached the kitchen, and Hayley pressed a button on the flashing answering machine.
"Hey Tommy and Hayley--oh, and Kira, you too--it's Justin. I just got a huge break on my thesis--this star went supernova and--well, your answering machine will cut me off if I try to explain, but I can number crunch in Reefside as well as in Mariner Bay. I thought I'd come home for the weekend--sometime after dinner on Friday. I'll call if I'm gonna be later than 10, so no worrying earlier than that, Tommy. Oh, and Kira there's this shop with obscure guitar tabs on campus, e-mail me and let me know whether or not there's anything you're looking for. Bye."
"'Bout time he figured out he didn't need permission," Tommy muttered.
Kira gulped.
"It'll be fine, Kira." Tommy gave her a one armed hug and kissed the top of her head. "You want to call and talk to him?"
Kira shrugged.
"Want some help getting your posters up, Kira?" Hayley offered.
"Yes, please," Kira said, allowing Hayley to lead her upstairs, away from Tommy's pestering.
* * *
"Everything finally the way you want it?" Tommy asked Kira as she entered the living room later that evening.
"Yup," Kira said happily, sitting next to Tommy on the couch.
He draped an arm around her shoulders and offered her the remote. "Something on you want to watch?"
"I was just going to do some channel surfing." Kira shrugged. "Whatever you're watching is fine."
The commercial break ended as if on cue. Kira giggled. "Only you could watch one of these cheesy martial arts flicks, Tommy." She leaned against him comfortably.
"Your godfather got me into them." Tommy laughed and started playing with Kira's hair.
Kira relaxed, trying to figure out what was going on with the movie. She closed her eyes, rubbing them. 'Just for a minute,' she thought.
* * *
Kira was dreaming about playing for a packed house at the Cyberspace when Tommy's voice intruded on her dreams.
"Come on, Kira, I need you to wake up enough to get you upstairs to your room." He was pushing her somewhere cold.
Kira shook her head, snuggling back down against the warmth. "Don't wanna. Comfortable."
"I know, sweetie, but I don't want to stay here all night." She could feel him touching her hair.
Kira wasn't about to move. "Tough."
"Kira, get up."
She jumped, sitting up. "Don't yell." She blinked, realizing she was still in Tommy's--in *their* living room.
"I'm not yelling, I'm being stern." Tommy frowned, his voice slightly miffed.
"Don't want to go upstairs. Safer here." She snuggled against him again, recalcitrantly closing her eyes.
"Sweetie, I've told you before, and I'll tell you again, they can't attack us in our own homes. It's part of the rules of engagement." He caressed her hair.
"Not that kind of safe."
Tommy paused for a moment. "I love you too, but I'm going to be stiff as all get out if I spend the night sleeping on this couch getting a crick in my neck."
Kira rubbed her eyes, trying to clear them.
"That's it."
She stood up tentatively and looked at the steps, clearly intimidated. Tommy started pushing her towards the stairs and her room.
End of Story 2
I will finish this one if it kills me, however. (-8
