The End
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Yeah, just because I can't think of the words to write to tell him I don't love him anymore. The thought twisted in her soul and she shook her head momentarily. She needed to do this, needed it more than she had ever needed anything, and yet she couldn't do it. She couldn't...
"Hey, Kim," She looked up at the sound of his voice and a wide smile lit her face and sparkled in her eyes. "What's up?"
"Trying to write this letter," she gestured down to the paper before her. "And the words are just not coming."
He sat down and held her hand tenderly. She wondered for a moment why it had taken her so long to fall for him, then shook the thought out of her head. What was important was that they were together...or would be once she got this letter written anyway. "I know you two have been together for years. It wasn't any easier for me, you know."
She nodded briefly; he'd had to send a letter to his own ex-girlfriend when they'd realized how they felt about each other. "But we've been together...in the together sense for so long."
"I know, it's different. I hadn't seen her for a while anyway, I'd forgotten what it felt like to love her." He shrugged. "You're the only one who can do this, Kim."
The ex-Pink Ranger nodded a little sadly. This wasn't just physically hard to do, it was emotionally tearing her apart. "I want to do it, I need to do it: I love you so much, and I want to be with you...but I've never done something like this before." She ducked her head a little. "I didn't think I could do something like this."
He nodded. "If you want, we can fly back to Angel Grove instead of sending him a letter. It might be easier to do it if you can see him."
Kim literally shuddered. "No. I couldn't do this if I had to look at him! It's hard enough like this!"
Her boyfriend's hand tightened briefly around her own and she leaned against him for just a moment. "I know. Just relax, and you'll know what to do."
"I hope so." She sighed, then looked back at the pristine paper, waiting to be violated by the words she knew she needed to write. "I guess I better try again."
His arms came around her for a moment, and he whispered, "I know you can do it. I have faith in you, Kim."
"Thanks." She lifted her head slightly and brushed her lips across his. "Love you."
"Love you too." He smiled and stood up. "I need to get to work. I'll see you later, okay?"
Kim nodded, feeling on delightful fire from the kiss. "Maybe I'll have this letter done by then." With a smile and a wave, he headed out and she turned back to the paper. Whether or not she could do it, she knew she needed to do it.
Four hours later, as shadows of night fell outside, she was once more on the verge of just calling the whole thing off. Just the thought of living the rest of her life without the one she truly loved kept her from doing it though. Why can't I write this letter? She asked herself for what felt like the millionth time.
Then she realized it. She was afraid. She was scared that if she wrote this letter, she would wake up some morning in the future and realize that it was all a big mistake. That she had done wrong by leaving Tommy and she really did love him more than anything. Kim laid her head down on the desk, trembling as a tear slid from one eye. I know I don't love him now, but what if I'm wrong? What if it's just from not being around him like I used to be?
"I need some fresh air," she finally decided, leaning back and throwing her pencil across the room. "There's no way I can think in here."
After a quick note in case her roommate or boyfriend dropped by, she headed out for a nice long walk across the compound. There was a particular place she liked to go whenever she needed or wanted to think: a small lake, deep as forever and as blue as the skies themselves. It only took her a few minutes to get there, and she curled into her usual seat, perched on top of a rock covered by thick moss and with a tree for shade just overhead.
This is nice... She smiled as she felt the tension seep out of her just by being out of the room. I feel a lot better already.
She closed her eyes, letting herself relax all the way. She hadn't been here in a while, and it felt really good to just let her troubles drift away. She should have thought of this a long time earlier.
I love him. The decision was simple, and it wasn't Tommy she was thinking about. She let her mind drift over how they had met. Or met again, to be 100% honest. He'd come down to visit her, and the minute they had seen one another she had felt her heart skip a beat. It hadn't been something that she was used to feeling in relation to him, for a variety of reasons.
They hadn't started dating right away. She was with Tommy and they both respected that. At first their 'dates' had only been two old friends reunited. But then one night, as she'd gotten ready to go see a movie with him, she'd realized something that had very nearly induced her to call the whole thing off: she hadn't thought of Tommy at all in more than a week.
That had gotten her thinking. Just how much did she really want to be with Tommy? The answer had almost given her a heart attack: she didn't want to be with him anymore. Not like that. Not as two people in love. All she could think of him as was a friend. She didn't know when it had happened or how, she had no idea if it had been before she came to Florida or sometime after, or when.
All she knew was that she didn't love Tommy as a boyfriend anymore. And that she had fallen head over heels for someone that she had only ever thought of as a friend in the old days. Maybe it was seeing him out of Angel Grove. Maybe it was just time and coming to know different parts of his personality than what she'd seen before. Maybe it was the fact they were both growing up and experiencing more of the world.
Maybe it was just the fact she had fallen in love...because she had fallen in love.
But none of that made a real difference. She knew she'd fallen for him, and that she'd fallen out of love with Tommy. She knew her earlier fears were groundless now, but still, in the back of her mind, was the hovering uncertainty.
"Do what you know is right." A soft feminine voice spoke to her and Kim almost fell off the rock, so startled as she was. As a hand steadied her, she looked up to see a young woman not that much taller than her, obviously of mixed race descent, and incredibly beautiful.
"Um..hi?" Kim smiled a little weakly as she sat back up. "Before I ask what you mean, who are you?"
The girl smiled. She looked as if she were about Kim's own age, and there was a very kind light in her eyes. "My name is Angela. It's nice to meet you, Kimberly."
"Am I supposed to know you or something?" The only Angela Kim could remember was Zack's old girlfriend, but this was very definitely not her!
Angela shook her head. "You don't know me. But I would like to know why you haven't written that letter yet."
All of Kim's buried Ranger instincts leaped up at that, and she leveled a deadly gaze at the other woman. "How do you know about the letter?"
"That's not important." Angela looked right back at her, and Kim felt a tremble in her soul for some reason. Not one of fear or evil, but just a sense there was far more to this woman than met the eye. "Kimberly, answer yes or no: do you love Tommy Oliver?"
Something about hearing another voice ask that question crystallized something within the young gymnast. She shook her head slowly. "No. I don't. Not like I did. He's one of my best friends, and I wish I didn't have to hurt him like this, but I don't love him anymore."
Angela nodded. "Are you willing to take the risk on your new love? You know it won't be easy."
Kim thought that one over. It wouldn't be easy, but it could be done. She knew other couples who had done it. Her jaw set. "Yes."
"Then do what you need to do." Angela's voice had dropped low and firm. "I don't promise you eternal happiness or anything if you do this, Kim. I can't promise you anything: except one thing."
"Which is?"
The girl shook her head. "I can't tell you that yet." She handed Kim a piece of paper and a pen. "Do what your heart tells you." She advised. "Just follow your heart."
Kim glanced down at the paper, and felt not just determination, but tenderness and compassion fill her heart. This was not going to be easy, she knew, but it was something that she had to do. For the first time, she felt the words coming to her, simply and easily. It still hurt to do, but it was a good hurt: the hurt that comes from letting go when it's time.
As she signed the letter and slipped it into the envelope that Angela provided, the other female's smile grew. "You need to send it now."
"Aren't you going to tell me what you said you would?" Kim's curiosity was starting to grow by leaps and bounds, but Angela only shook her head.
"Only when you've sent it. It has to be after that." There was a faint trace of nervousness in her eyes, and Kim wondered at it as they headed for the post office. Angela looked around almost eagerly, as if she were trying to store the view up or something.
"Angela, where do you come from?" Kim wondered as she slid the envelope into the slot. "Why are you so eager to see me send that letter?"
The girl glanced to the slot, then took a long breath. "I have something to tell you, Kimberly." Her voice was quiet and firm. "I want to thank you."
"Thank me?"
"For letting me be born." Angela's smile widened briefly as Kim's eyes grew like saucers. "I'm from the future, Kimberly. Your future. I am the daughter you will have in a few years. I came back in time to make certain you did what was right and broke up with Tommy." She touched Kimberly's hand lightly. "My name, mother, is Angela Katherine Taylor."
Kim felt as if she were about to faint as Angela nodded. "I can't stay long, but this is my promise: it will be rough, but if you have faith and remain strong in your love, you will have the life you deserve with my father." She leaned over and hugged Kimberly quietly. "I have to go now. But we'll meet again." She smiled. "I guarantee it."
Angela stepped away, glanced around in a gesture that Kim found very familiar, and then rippled away as if she had never been there in the first place. Kim stood there staring at where she had been for several long moments, then looked up as a hand landed on her shoulder.
"Oh, Zack!" She fell into her boyfriend's arms and trembled, though from fear or joy she couldn't tell. "I sent the letter, Zack. I did it."
The ex-Black Ranger smiled as his arms tightened around Kimberly. He had never known a love such as he had with her, and though it would hurt one of his best friends, he was glad she'd been able to do this. He dreaded the future confrontation with Tommy, but he knew, he hoped that in time they would all be friends. "Did you tell him it was me?"
"No. I thought we could save that for when we go down there for the holidays." She squeezed his hand and smiled. "I know we're going to make it through, Zack." Her eyes glowed like the sun. "I think it's our destiny."
"I noticed." Kimberly Taylor smiled as she came over to hug her daughter. "Thank you, Angela. I can never thank you enough."
"I should be thanking you, mother." Angela embraced her. "It was weird to be back there, though. I wanted to tell her...you..everything. About the changes that were coming..."
Zack Taylor shook his head. "You know the rules of time travel better than that. All you could do was what you were sent for: convince your mother to break up with Tommy."
"Speaking of my father," Jenna Oliver spoke up as she laced her fingers around Angela's. "He and mother sent a message, they're going to be there for the ceremony."
"Good." Kim smiled at her daughter and future daughter-in-law. She had never imagined when she had first met Angela that not only would her daughter grow up to be the first female Red Ranger and leader of her team, but that the daughter of Tommy and Katherine would be Angela's girlfriend, lover, soon to be mate, as well as the Black Ranger for Earth's current defenders. "It'll be good to see everyone again."
Angela nodded, then groaned as her communicator sounded in a tone every Ranger on Earth knew. "Come on, Jenna. We've got work to do."
As the two of them ran to take care of business, Zack and Kim watched with indulgent smiles. "Happy with your destiny, Kim?" Zack teased her lightly, already knowing the answer.
"Couldn't be happier, Zack. I couldn't be happier."
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