Author’s Note: In this series, I have been preserving the original dialog from the show. I want everyone to note that I only added two letters to Ethan’s comment about David Beckham that was not in the show… but seems to me to denote that even in the series there was a suggestion that Conner and Kira were becoming much more than team mates and friends. You judge for yourselves.

Hi all. Relationship episode. Kira and Conner finally make a commitment; Kim jealous about Principal Randall. J I love Kim being jealous, it’s so much fun… That being said, I hope you enjoy, and now, to the story. . .

Legends and Heroes

By Jeannine Trevizo

-x-

Chapter 6: Play with Fire

“So, how did it go?” asked Jason as he sat at the kitchen table in ‘their’ place as he watched Tommy stumble in to get his morning coffee.

“Jesus Jase, it’s seven am. Could you possibly wait until noon before you grill me about Kim?”

Tommy headed directly to open the cupboard with his cups in it and pulled out a clean cup. Reaching over, Jason pulled the coffee pot and poured some of the beverage he’d made an hour ago into the cup in his friend’s hand. Settling back, Jason sipped his own coffee while his best friend gulped his down.

“Okay, fine… I’m awake.”

“Did you kiss her?”

“Good God, are we in high school again?” Tommy complained with a sigh as he sat down across from his best friend.

“You did! I am calling Trini and telling her I so told her so.”

“What?”

“I told her after we got here that it was only a matter of time before one or the other of you broke down and stopped being an ass. I had the feeling it would be Kim though…” Jason remarked with a smirk.

“If you want to know the truth, it was her fault…”

“Do tell…”

“Hell no. Besides, you have yet to tell me what’s going on with you and Trini,” fired back Tommy after drinking some more coffee.

“Nothing anymore. We dated a bit, but we’re too much like brother and sister, literally. The idea of kissing her was okay, but anything beyond that made me a bit creeped out.”

“So, then if I was to ask about that hug with Hayley yesterday…”

Jason glanced down at his coffee cup briefly before looking up with a challenging look.

“I would tell you you’re delusional and call Kim to tell her to run for the hills.”

“You don’t play fair,” complained Tommy, now feeling like he had the advantage.

“And you’re saying this like you expected differently? We’ve been friends since the day you joined the team, and I respected you before that. You called me to become the gold ranger, remember? You and I know each other too well by now. Which is why I know that I should probably move out as soon as I can find a place.”

“What? Why?”

“Because the last thing I want to hear is you and Kim going at it like rabbits,” he replied, hiding a huge grin behind his cup.

Tommy spat his coffee out across the table and Jason only grinned wider.

“Shit Jason! We… I…we just got back together!”

“Yeah, yeah, but it will be soon enough.”

They didn’t say anything more, and sat in companionable silence. As Tommy watched his friend, he remembered he was going to ask about his situation, which was very different from Kim’s.

“I saw that you still have your suitcases by the bedroom door. Are you leaving for Angel Grove any time soon? I’d understand that you needed to get back to check on your business, take care of things so you can come back...”

“Maybe in a week or so, I’m not sure yet. I talked with Trini and she said that she and Rocky have things under control.”

“I still can’t believe you hired Rocky as a foreman,” Tommy commented with a smile, recalling the joking red ranger.

“He’s a good guy, and he keeps the crew working hard. Besides, he made a good replacement for me back then; he makes a good foreman for me now.”

“I have to tell you, when you told me a few years ago that you were starting a construction company, I thought you’d lost your mind.”

“It was a great opportunity. We’ve really expanded and because we’re small, we get a lot of private jobs and repair business,” Jason remarked proudly.

“Still, you’re a successful business owner, and not of a dojo. I wouldn’t have expected…”

“Well, no one would have expected Dr. Thomas Oliver, now would they?”

“Touché. So, I have to prep for my classes and then do some work on the zord controls. How about we catch dinner tonight?”

“You buying or cooking?” asked Jason with nervous voice.

“Does it matter?”

“If you’re cooking, yes. I would like to skip the bout of food poisoning.”

“Fine… we’ll go out.”

Jason laughed and saluted his friend with his mug of coffee as he got up and headed back to his room to get ready for the day, leaving Tommy behind, sighing into his own cup at how things had gotten so complicated and so simple with the return of his best friend and non-ex-girlfriend.

-x-

“Come on. Oh no you didn’t… Eat laser, you intergalactic freak!” yelled Ethan as he sat behind his laptop, playing his space combat video game at his spot in the cyberspace Sunday afternoon.

Beside him, sitting at the ‘ranger’ table, Conner and Kira attempted to keep working and ignore Ethan. It was getting harder to do as Ethan got progressively louder and more excited as he kept winning…

“Yeah!”

“Dude, do you mind?” Conner asked, leaning over to where Ethan was playing at the nearby table.

“Made it to level 12!” called out Ethan, oblivious of Conner’s question, presence or general state of annoyance at his game playing.

Frustrated, Conner reached over and hit the power off button on Ethan’s laptop, effectively removing the distraction and getting Ethan exasperated at Conner.

“Hey! What are you doing?”

“I can’t concentrate with you blowing up things in my ear,” complained Conner.

“But it took me three hours to get to that level.”

“Sorry, but I’m with Conner on this. We’ve got a paper due tomorrow,” said Kira from her side of the table. “And why aren’t you working on yours?”

“Finished it last week. Trent and I jammed on them while you were being David Beckham and Po…”

“Don’t even say it!” Kira threatened.

“I wasn’t going to,” Ethan replied as he turned back towards his laptop with a smug grin on his face.

Feeling ever so unnerved by Ethan’s near comment, Kira glanced around the café, looking for something to sidetrack her thoughts. A missing person brought her up short.

“Where’s Trent? I thought he was working today.”

“Hayley gave him the day off. I think he’s spending some quality time with his dad,” snipped Conner, still bitter about Mercer’s near take over of the cyberspace.

“Oh…”

“Come on, we need to get back to these papers.”

“And I have to get back to level 12…”

Kira and Conner sighed, and focused on their papers as Ethan booted his laptop back up again, wondering when they were going to admit what everyone else saw.

-x-

“So what’s up?” Conner asked as they huddled around the egg they’d rescued during their Monday field trip with Dr. O at the archeological dig that Principal Randall had felt compelled to come along for.

“You got anything?” questioned Kira.

“I don’t know. Something’s not right,” commented Ethan as he continued to scan the egg as the team looked on. “I can’t detect any signs of life.”

“That’s weird. I’m sure that’s a Dimetrozord egg,” said Tommy.

“Dimetrozord?”

“It’s developed from a Dimetrodon. It’s really amazing.”

“That would explain why the TyranoDrones want it,” suggested Kira.

“Yeah.”

Tommy moved to use the console to review the data he was getting and the others watched Ethan continued to scan and poke the egg. Half an hour into the search for answers, the back door of the cave opened up and Jason and Kim walked in.

“Hey you two. Come to join the fun?” asked Conner as he looked up from the work bench.

“Sorry, we didn’t know you were up to something… I was writing when Jason called from the store and suggested he pick me up and bring me over. What’s that?” questioned Kim as she and Jason moved to the table where the dino egg sat.

“We think it’s a dinozord egg, but we can’t seem to get a reading on it. We found it earlier during the field trip…” Ethan explained as he waved the scanner over it again.

“Cool… so this is where the zords came from?” Jason asked, but didn’t get a chance to answer as Tommy turned from where he was sitting at the control console, a very strange look on his face.

“This is weird… I’m still getting a heat signal from the dig site where we found the egg.”

“But the egg’s not there anymore,” commented Kira, confused now as well.

“Maybe there’s another?” Ethan offered.

“I better go check it out. You guys stay here and keep analyzing this one.”

“Bro, you want some company?” queried Jason, moving a step towards the black ranger.

“No, I’m good. You help them figure out what that is.”

Jason nodded and watched Tommy head out the back door at a run. The three teens were staring at the egg.

“Do you think maybe the TyranoDrones were a distraction?” asked Conner to no one.

“What do you mean?” Kim asked.

“That maybe they switched eggs…” Kira offered, getting the drift of Conner’s line of thought.

“Wouldn’t Tommy have noticed?” Jason questioned.

“Well, the way Principal Randall was throwing herself at him, and needing him to protect her…”

“What?” Kim said in a nearly shrill tone.

“Uh…” Kira stammered, and looked to Conner and Ethan to get her foot out of her mouth.

“You brought it up,” Conner stated, looking to the purple ranger and realizing that the history he had heard of from Jason and Hayley about Dr. O and Kimberly’s relationship must have vastly changed very recently.

“Principal Randall went on the dig with us. She seemed to be very attentive to Dr. O, and when the TyranoDrones attacked, he had to keep her from getting hurt.”

“She seemed very appreciative…” suggested Conner, looking at Kim as he said it, her face going pale, then turning red.

“Conner!” Kira and Ethan yelled together, shocked their team mate could have said anything so…

Kim stormed off to the stairs, Jason staring after her briefly before turning to the rest of the team.

“You guys keep at it. I need to talk to Kim.”

Quickly Jason followed the same path his friend and team mate had taken. Upstairs in the living room, he found Kim pacing back and forth, muttering about jerk and hussy and a string of swear words that would have made a sailor blush.

“Kim?”

“I cannot believe that…” she started, and then exhaled loudly, moving to flop heavily on the couch, Jason trailing behind her.

“Calm down Kim, it’s not like he did anything.”

“That’s not the point. He… shouldn’t he have said something? I mean he should have at least told her he was dating someone. Instead… she probably thinks he’s playing hard to get.”

“Are you sure you’re not blowing this out of proportion? I mean, this isn’t the first time you perceived your boyfriend was being hit on by another woman,” Jason reminded her, and found himself on the receiving end of a glare for his troubles.

“We just got back together… did he not think I’d hear about this?”

“I don’t think he thought it was anything. You know Tommy. How long did it take him to get the hint you were interested? If Zack and I hadn’t pushed him, I doubt he ever would have asked you out that first time.”

Kim closed her eyes and rubbed her face with her hands. Jason was right, Tommy had always been oblivious, to her, to Kat… no doubt the thing with Randall was nothing, but…

“You’re probably right. But when he gets back…we’re clearing this up. Either we’re doing this or we’re not.”

Sighing, Jason nodded in understanding, knowing better than to argue with her at this point. He just hoped that Tommy took a while or that some monster showed up to give her some time to cool off.

Of course, as his gauntlet and Kim’s chimed and the kids downstairs yelled about Elsa having faked the egg, he knew that he really needed to watch what he wished for.

-x-

“Tommy?” Kim began to start as she stood in the cave basement following the battle.

She’d hung back, waiting for the after-action de-brief and for everyone to clear out before she broached the subject of them and Randall. Slowly she shuffled towards him, waiting for him to acknowledge her.

“Yeah Kim?” Tommy asked as he looked up from where he was sitting at the command center console. “What’s up?”

“I… you… she…” Kim stammered, and then focused her thoughts. “Do you want to date other people?”

Tommy’s mouth fell open and his hand nearly knocked over the tea glass he had sitting next to him on the console. He was stunned, and his confusion at Kim’s question knocked every other thought out of his head.

“Whoa, wait a second… where did this come from?”

“Conner, Kira and Ethan were discussing Principal Randall’s… attentions towards you during the dig today…”

Her words immediately reminded him of Principal Randall’s behavior, and he knew immediately that Kim was thinking the worst. Hurriedly he got up and made his way to her side, using his hand to tip up her head which had fallen forward, embarrassingly avoiding his gaze.

“I mean, if you don’t want to date just me, that’s fine, or if you don’t want to date me anymore, that’s okay, I just…” she mumbled, tears starting to fill her eyes, her anger having given way for her fear.

Before she could say another depressing, self-depreciating word, Tommy cupped her face with both hands and kissed her soundly. Under his passion, Kim fell into the kiss, expressing her feelings with her lips and tongue. Finally, Tommy eased back, breaking the kiss and looking at Kim’s flushed face. When her eyes opened to meet his, he smiled softly.

“I’m not interested in anyone but you. I learned my lesson from Kat and the other women that came in and out of my life that there’s only one woman I could ever, truly want, body and soul… and that’s you.”

“Oh.”

He smirked, having kissed and stunned the words right out of her. He’d have to mark his calendar; this was a moment to remember.

“You were jealous,” he stated with a slight ribbing in his voice, and she shrugged guitily.

“I just got you back, I went a little crazy.”

“I understand. I can’t imagine what I’d do if our positions were reversed.”

“Beat the guy up?” she offered with a hint of a grin.

“Hey, I have an education now, I don’t use violence to solve my problems. No, I probably would have gotten Ethan and Hayley to wipe his bank records and make him a wanted felon.”

“That’s mean.”

“But oh so worth it. I just got you back Beautiful. And now that I have, I’m keeping you. That okay with you?” he asked, his hands burrowing in her caramel colored hair.

“Perfectly.”

He nodded before leaning in to kiss the woman he was beginning to love once again.

-x-

The evening crowd was dwindling down, and Conner looked around the cyberspace to note that no nosy reporters were around to make a mess of things like they tried with Dr.O. Turning back to the table, he watched Kira scribble some notes in her binder, more than likely new song lyrics. Kim had promised to sit with her and look at them, like a songwriter workshop and see if anything was good enough for her to suggest to her own agent for the aspiring singer.

As she brought her pencil up to her mouth, the eraser finding its way to her lips, and Conner fought to not lick his own lips at the thought of finding out how soft they were. But before he could do that, he had to find out if she even thought of him that way…

“Hey Kira… I was wondering,” Conner started, scooting his chair closer to where she sat, and her head came up to regard him thoughtfully.

“What?”

He swallowed hard, and then took a deep breath before just blurting it out.

“Would you go to the movies with me?”

Kira felt her fingers go numb and the pencil fell from them to clatter on the table. Her eyes went wide and she stared at Conner in shock.

“You… you’re asking me out, on a date?”

“Yeah… I like you, and I thought maybe…”

Before Kira could answer, suddenly there was a bump into the table, and Trent spilled a tray of sodas that he was carrying all over Conner.

“Oh, sorry man,” Trent said apologetically, glancing away to Kira as Conner jumped up and brushed at the sticky mess all over him.

“It’s okay. These tables are really packed in here today. I’ll just go get cleaned up.”

Conner shot Kira a smile and headed off to the restroom to get cleaned up. Trent hurriedly picked up the glasses and watched Kira focused on where Conner had gone.

“So, you gonna accept?” Trent asked her suddenly, startling her.

“What?” she said, bringing her attention to the dark haired Hispanic man.

“Conner’s invitation. I sort of overheard him before I knocked into…”

Kira nodded, realizing that for him to be close enough to dump the sodas on Conner that he probably had heard some of the conversation. There was no harm in telling him what she was going to tell Conner when he got back…

“I was thinking that I might.”

“Oh.”

“Why?” asked Kira, curious at his response.

“It’s just… well, I was hoping maybe we could, you know, have coffee or go to a show or…” Trent ventured, his face a mask of fear.

Kira looked at Trent with sudden surprise. Sure, there had been the drawing, and how he’d complimented her, but she’d had no idea he was really interested in her; that he wanted to date her. And now with her growing attraction to Conner, she didn’t know if she felt that way about Trent…

“Oh, that’s… very sweet. Maybe, if things don’t work out with Conner…” Kira said, leaving unspoken the rejection of his offer.

“Okay, well, I have to get that batch of drinks. I’ll see you around?”

“Yeah.”

Hurriedly Trent rushed off to the counter just as Conner came back from the bathroom. He watched Trent leave and moved to sit in the chair beside Kira that wasn’t covered with soda. He looked her in the eyes, hoping to see something there that he’d thought he’d seen a flicker of before.

“So, you think you could lower your standards and date a guy like me?” asked Conner with a self-depreciating tone, his hand cradling the back of his chair, preparing to leave as soon as she shot him down..

“I’d like to go out with you very much,” Kira answered finally, covering his hand with hers and making Conner’s eyes bug slightly.

“Cool. You get to pick the movie… just nothing too girly, please?”

“Fine, but you have to buy the popcorn.”

“It’s a date.”

At the counter, Trent watched and fumed at his bad timing.

-End-

Ah yes, triangle time. Not everyone can have it as easy as Tommy and Kim… oh wait, they haven’t had it easy either. Such is life. Until next week.