“It feels weird,” Kim said, “Going into battle without you.” Her and Tommy were going on a date, and they were talking about his loss of the Green Lantern Ranger powers and the loss of a good chunk of his life force.

“And it feels weird not being able to be out there,” Tommy admitted sadly. They were driving to the theater to watch Deep Impact. “It’s also really scary knowing that I won’t live half as long as you.”

“I just wish there was something I could do,” Kim said, “I feel so helpless.”

“You’re helping me a lot by being here for me,” Tommy said, “Your love is all that’s keeping me going through all of this.” Kim smiled.

“You’re so sweet,” she said, “Still, I...” Her words got choked off and tears started rolling down her face.

“Hey there, beautiful,” Tommy said, “Don’t cry.”

“I can’t help it,” Kim sobbed, “I mean, you’re dying.”

Tommy pulled over and gathered her in his arms. “Sh, it’s all right, beautiful,” he said, “As long as you’re here, I don’t care if I die tomorrow.”

“If you died tomorrow, I’d be dead in forty eight hours,” Kim said, “I love you, with all of my heart.”

“And I love you with all of my heart,” Tommy said, “Now, quit crying. You don’t want your make up running when we get to the theater, do you?” He knew that would get Kim to quit crying.

Kim was quiet for a while. It had been a couple of weeks since he had lost his powers, and, though they both had busy schedules, they went out just about every night. Both wanted to spend as much time as the could with each other. With Tommy’s extremely short lifespan, they knew that they’d never be able to grow old together, unless a miracle happened.

“Tommy,” Kim said, “Do you go to church?”

“Not in a while,” Tommy said, “Why?”

“Would you come with me from now on?”

“I don’t know,” Tommy said.

“Only God can help you, Tommy,” Kim said, “I was just thinking that only a miracle could let us grow old together.

“All right, I will,” Tommy said. The theater just seemed to creep up on them. Tommy pulled into a parking spot, got out, quickly ran around to Kim’s side, and opened the door for her.

“Such a gentleman,” Kim said. They went up to the ticket booth and paid for their tickets. Tommy insisted on paying for both of theirs. Kim relinquished and a few minutes later, they were sitting down in a darkening theater. A bag of popcorn was in Kim’s lap, and each had a coke to drink. Kim’s power ring got in the way when they started holding hands, so she slipped it off and into her pocket.

“Hopefully, I won’t need it tonight,’ she thought.

The commercials had barely even started when her communicator went off. “Oh man,” she said quietly, “Not now.”

“Go on ahead, Kim,” Tommy said, “The others probably need you.”

“But I need this date,” Kim said. Tommy gave her a stern look. “All right, I’ll go. I’ll be back.” They both giggled softly. Kim left. Once she was sure no one could see her, she lifted her communicator to her mouth. “I read you, Zordon. What’s up?”

“I’m sorry to cut in on your date,” Zordon said, “But Rita has sent a new monster to Angel Grove park. The others are already there.”

“I’m on it,” Kim said, “It’s morphin’ time. Pterodactyl.” She morphed and teleported to the park. The other Rangers had their hands full with the new monster. She jumped into the fray, kicking the monster away from Trini.

“Thanks, Kim,” Trini said, “I’m sorry we had to get you away from Tommy.”

“It’s all right,” Kim said, “Besides, Tommy’s the one who basically made me come. I almost didn’t anyway. Let’s toast this guy, so I can get back.”

“You heard the lady,” Jason said, “Laser pistols.” All five Rangers pulled out their lasers and fired at the same time. The monster didn’t stand a chance.

“Catch you guys later,” Kim called, as she teleported back to the theater. She demorphed and went back into the theater. She sat back down next to Tommy. “What’d I miss?”

“Oh, only a few minutes,” Tommy said, “You know what the worse thing to have to think about this is, now that you’re still a Ranger, and I’m not?”

“What?”

“That, one of these days, you might not come back from a fight,” Tommy said, reaching over and gently caressing her face.

“Oh Tommy,” Kim said, “I’ll always come back. I’m like that stupid cat in that old rhyme, the one who wouldn’t stay away.” Tommy cracked a smile at the joke, a rare event since he lost his powers. Someone nearby shushed them, so they turned their attention back to the movie. Tommy reached out and took Kim’s hand and they watched the movie in silence.

Afterwards, Kim fell asleep in Tommy’s truck on the way to her house. She had her head in his lap.

They arrived at her house pretty quickly. Tommy looked down at her. “As much as I’d hate to wake her,” he said softly. He gently shook Kim. “Come on, beautiful. Rise and shine.”

“Huh? Five more minutes, mommy.” Tommy smiled. ‘The battle must have taken more out of her than she let on,’ he mused. He got out of the truck, walked around to the other side, opened the door, gently gathered Kim into his arms, and started carrying her in. Once inside, he took her up to her room. He gave her a kiss on the forehead and went outside to his truck. He closed the passenger door and got in on the driver’s side. He started the truck up and headed for his apartment.

The next day, Kim fell out of bed and woke up feeling rotten. “What time is it?” She looked at the clock, to see that she only had a few minutes to get dressed and get to school. She got up and went to her closet, to find that the shelves had collapsed, and her clothes were lying in a heap. She picked out some clothes, but they were really wrinkled, and she didn’t have time to iron them. She quickly got into the clothes and headed for the front door. She looked out the window and saw that clouds were in the sky. She grabbed an umbrella and started out.

It seemed that the minute she stepped outside, it started raining. She tried opening the umbrella, to find it messed up. “Great,” she said, “What else could go wrong today?” She started off in the direction of the school.

When Kim got to school, she was soaking wet and miserable. “Just perfect,” she said softly, “After a wonderful date last night, to a bad dream, to one of the worst days of my life.” All of a sudden, she started slipping. Someone reached out to steady her. She looked up, to see Tommy. “Hi Tommy.”

“Hey there, beautiful,” Tommy said. He took in her appearance. “Bad day?”

“That’s an understatement,” she said, “First, I couldn’t sleep well. I had a bad dream. Second, I accidentally slept in, and had to run to school. Three, this freak storm came out of nowhere, soaking me. And then... Oh, I’m sorry, Tommy. I didn’t mean to push my troubles on you.”

“It’s all right, beautiful,” Tommy said, “You’ve done it more than enough for me ever since... well, you know.” All of a sudden, Skull appeared between them.

“Ah,” he said, “Having a bad day, Kimberly? I could make it better.”

“All you could do is make it worse,” Kim said, “No thank you, Skull. I’d rather stick it out.”

“Now, I wouldn’t mind you ‘sticking it out,’” Skull said. Kim started backing away, embarrassed at her slip up.

“She said no, Skull,” Tommy said, breezing around Skull to stand between him and Kim. “And I’d suggest you do as she says.” Skull backed away. Tommy turned around, to run smack dab into a locker door. Kim had opened her locker. He went down.

“Tommy,” Kim shrieked. Tommy got up slowly, rubbing his head. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah, except for a headache,” Tommy said.

“I can’t believe how bad my lucks getting,” Kim said, “Now it’s rubbed off on you.”

“Mr. Oliver, are you all right?” They both looked up, to see Mr. Caplan, the principal standing over them. “I saw what happened. Maybe you should see the school nurse about that bump.”

“I’m fine, Mr. Caplan,” Tommy said, as he slowly got to his feet, with Mr. Caplan and Kim’s help. “Just a headache, and that should go away pretty quickly.” Mr. Caplan nodded and started walking off.

“Tommy,” Kim said, “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Tommy said, “Why don’t I drive you home after school? Maybe that’ll help your day.”

“I don’t know,” Kim said, “Anything that could go wrong today probably will. Are you sure you want to be around me?”

“I think I’ll take my chances,” Tommy said with a wink. The bell rang. Tommy gave Kim a quick kiss on the forehead and headed off to class.

‘I can’t believe I’m so lucky to have Tommy as a boyfriend,’ Kim thought, as she was about to enter the classroom. That was the last coherent thought as a bucket came out of nowhere, hitting her and knocking her unconscious.

“Kim, are you awake?” She regained consciousness a few minutes later. Someone was hovering over her, but her vision was fuzzy, and she couldn’t tell who it was. “Kim, how many fingers am I holding up.” The person held up their hand. Kim focused and saw that they were holding up three fingers.

“Three,” Kim said. Her head swam as everything else came into focus. It was Trini standing over her. ‘Boy am I glad I had this class with her,’ Kim thought, as she started getting up. A wave of nausea hit her.

“Careful, Kim,” Trini said, “You might have a concussion.”

“What happened?”

“One of the janitors left an empty bucket on the locker to the right of the door,” Trini explained, “It just fell and conked you on the head.”

“As bad as this day’s been, I wouldn’t be surprised,” Kim said, “We’ve got to get to class.”

“Class is already over,” Trini said, “You’re lucky I was the first one out the door.”

“I guess I am,” Kim said. She tried getting up. She got up a little too quickly, and ran into Trini’s outstretched hand. It caught her good in the eye.

“Oh man,” Trini said, “I’m so sorry, Kim. I didn’t mean to...”

“I know you didn’t,” Kim said, “How is it?”

“You’re already developing quite a shiner,” Trini said, chuckling.

“Oh man,” Kim said, “And I’ve got Tommy next period.”

“Can’t be helped,” Trini said, “Unless you brought some make up.” Kim searched through her purse, with no luck.

“Of all the days to forget make up,” Kim said. She knew that Trini never had any make up. Not that she needed to. Trini was just as beautiful with or without make up.

“Come on,” Trini said, “Let’s go get an ice pack from the nurse to put on your eye.” She carefully helped Kim to her feet. The two went to the nurse and got an ice pack. Kim bid Trini goodbye and went to her next class, with the ice pack on her eye.

Tommy noticed immediately that there was something wrong. “What happened, beautiful?”

“More bad luck,” Kim said, with a pout. “I must look like a wreck.”

“Then you’re the most beautiful wreck I’ve ever seen,” Tommy said. Kim blushed furiously.

After school, Zack teased Kim a little bit about the black eye. He was then smacked by Trini.

“She’s been having a really bad day,” she scolded Zack.

“Oh, Kim, I’m sorry,” Zack said, “I didn’t know.”

“That’s all right,” Kim said, “How could you?”

Tommy was watching her curiously. “Exactly what all happened today?”

“Besides what you know,” Kim began, “I, uh, was walking towards first period, when an empty bucket fell and knocked me out cold. The black eye I got was when I woke up. Trini was trying to help me up, and I got up too quickly, and ran smack dab into her outstretched hand. Tommy winced at her rather detailed description. “Sorry you asked?”

“No,” Tommy said, “Well, we better get going, so we can beat after school traffic.”

“Right,” Kim said, “See you guys later.” Jason, Trini, and Zack waved. Billy was helping out at the computer lab. The couple went out to the parking lot and jumped into Tommy’s truck.

“I can’t believe I fell asleep in here last night,” Kim said.

“Well, you had to have been tired after the fight, and it was late,” Tommy pointed out.

”You’re right,” Kim said, “I just... LOOK OUT!!!”

The End... for now

To be continued in...
The Longest 24 Hours