Tommy woke, to find himself in a hospital room. His mom was standing over him, worried. “Mom,” he said, “What happened?”

“You were in a wreck, sweetie,” Ms. Oliver said softly, “How are you?”

“Other than a headache, I’m fine,” Tommy said, “Where’s Kim?”

“In another room.” Tommy decided that he had enough. He started getting up slowly. His mom put a restraining hand on his arm. He looked up at her with tired, yet stubborn eyes. She allowed him to get up. A doctor came in a few just then.

“Mr. Oliver, you shouldn’t be up,” the doctor said. Tommy looked at the doctors name tag, saw that it said Dr. Ross.

“The name’s Tommy, Doctor,” Tommy said, “And this isn’t about me. Can you find out about the girl I came in with?”

“She has a concussion, but she’s fine,” Doctor Ross said.

“Take me to see her,” Tommy said. Doctor Ross did as he was told. Tommy was led into a room. Kim was up and getting her stuff together.

“Hi, sweetie,” she said, “I’m just about ready to go. I can’t wait to get home and can get some sleep.”

“Actually,” Dr. Ross said, “You can’t get any sleep. You’ve got a bad concussion. You should stay awake until about this time tomorrow. If not...”

“We get the idea, doc,” Tommy said. Doctor Ross left the room, and Tommy turned to Kim. “I guess I’ll take you on home. If we discuss it with your mother...”

“She’s not home,” Kim said, “Remember? She had to go on a business trip.”

“Well, we’ll have to borrow my mom’s car,” Tommy said, “My truck’s probably in the shop. Then, we can go to my apartment or something. You shouldn’t be alone right now, or you might fall asleep.

“I’m sorry, Tommy,” Kim said, “My bad luck just isn’t letting up today.”

“It’s all right, beautiful,” Tommy said, “As soon as we get to my apartment, nothing bad should happen.”

“Should happen,” Kim said, “Look, why don’t I just get a cab, and go home? My bad luck has already cost you your truck. I don’t want anything else to happen.”

“Like I said, you shouldn’t be alone,” Tommy said. He reached out and took her hand. Kim reluctantly followed him. A few minutes later, Tommy was getting into the drivers side on his mom’s car, Kim right beside him, and Ms. Oliver in back. They dropped Tommy’s mom off at her house, and headed for Tommy’s apartment.

It was pretty late when they finally got to the apartment building. “Come on,” Tommy said, gently pulling a reluctant Kim up the stairs.

Once at the top, Tommy pulled out his keys and opened the door. “It’s a little messy,” he said. He turned on the lights.

“A little messy is an understatement,” Kim teased. She hesitated in the doorway, watching Tommy toss his keys on a table

“Come on in,” Tommy insisted, “I won’t bite.” Kim giggled.

Kim and Tommy talked for hours. Homework, their friends, the Rangers... just about everything they could think of.

About five o’clock in the morning, Kim started nodding off. “Come on, beautiful,” Tommy said, lifting her chin. “Can’t give up now. We have to keep you awake for several more hours to come.”

“Oh, Tommy,” Kim whined, “I’m tired.”

“Kim, look at me,” Tommy said. Kim looked up at him, and just then noticed that he looked worse than she felt. “I’m about to drop from exhaustion.”

“Oh, Tommy, I’m sorry,” Kim said, giving him a hug. “You’re so sweet, staying up with me.”

“What are boyfriends for,” Tommy said, “I’ll put another pot of coffee on, and we’ll find something else to talk about, or do.” Tommy went into the kitchen. Kim almost drifted off again, but willed herself to stay awake.

“At least that day of bad luck is over,” she murmured. She heard a crash, and ran into the kitchen. Tommy was on the floor, fighting off sleep.

“This won’t do,” Kim said, as she helped Tommy up. “Do you know if any of the guys are up at this hour?”

“I’m pretty sure they’re not,” Tommy said.

“I’m going to the Command Center,” Kim said, “To the workout area. Working out should keep me awake. Why don’t you get some sleep?”

“I can’t,” Tommy said, “I’ve got to keep an eye on you.” He put a hand on Kim’s shoulder, and Kim teleported them both to the Command Center. Since he no longer had a ring, Tommy set off the intruder alert alarm. Both of them winced at the loud siren that went off.

“Ay yi yi,” Alpha said, as he came scurrying up to the main platform. “Intruder alert.”

“Whoa, Alpha,” Kim said, “It’s just us.”

“Yeah,” Tommy said, “I’ve just gotten into the habit of teleporting in. I didn’t think that I would set off the intruder alert siren.”

“It’s all right, Tommy,” Zordon said, “Why are you two here this early?”

“Because I need to stay up, and working out’s all I could think of,” Kim said, “I have a pretty bad concussion, and the doctor said that I had to stay awake until tonight.”

“I see,” Zordon said, “So, you need the gym until then?”

“Not all of the time,” Kim said, “Just until one of the guys wakes up, and can let poor Tommy get some rest.” She nodded to Tommy, who looked to be literally asleep on his feet. She went over and gently nudged him. He woke up.

“Sorry, beautiful,” he apologized.

“It’s all right, sweetie,” Kim said.

“You know,” Alpha said, “I could watch Kim and make sure she stays awake, so you could go get some sleep, Tommy.”

“No,” Tommy said, “I need to do this. Is there anything you can maybe give us to keep us up for at least a couple of hours?”

“I’m afraid that would be too dangerous,” Zordon said, “Especially for you, Tommy. Your life-force is already weak enough as it is.”

“Right,” Tommy said. He looked at Kim, who was on the floor of the Command Center, curling up into a ball and resting her head on her knees. He went over and gently nudged her. “Come on, beautiful. We’d better get to the workout room, before both of us fall asleep.” He looked up at Zordon. “When one of the others wakes up, then I’ll get some rest. Until then, I’m staying.”

“All right,” Zordon said. Tommy and Kim went to the gym like room.

Kim started for the gymnastics equipment instinctively, but Tommy stopped her. “As tired as you are, you’d slip right off the balance beam,” he said. Kim nodded. “Come on. Let’s work on some martial arts. Want to?”

“Sure,” Kim said. They stepped out onto some mats specially designated for the Rangers to practice martial arts. Kim, who admittedly didn’t know martial arts half as much as Tommy, tried to keep up when he did a complex kata, but couldn’t.

“It’s all right, beautiful,” Tommy said, when she gave him a pout. He switched to a kata more simpler and at a slower pace than his usual practicing. Kim followed along, flashing him a grateful look as they started. They lost track of time. When they finally had the presence of mind to look at a clock, it was almost eight o’clock.

“Come on, sweetie,” Kim said, grabbing his hand. “At the very least, Jason should be up.”

Tommy could barely keep down the sigh of relief as she led him back to the main room. While he liked being able to make sure that Kim was all right by staying up, he was about to drop. The same thing with Kim, he could tell.

When they got there, they found Jason already there. “You can go on home, bro,” he told Tommy, “Get some sleep. I’ll watch Kim for you.”

“I hope you don’t mind, Tommy,” Zordon said, “But I took the liberty of calling Jason when he was awake and asked him to teleport here.”

“I don’t mind at all,” Tommy said. He looked at Kim. “You sure you want me to go?”

“You need to get some sleep,” Kim said, “It doesn’t matter what I want, or I’d be in bed, fast asleep.”

“Good point,” Tommy admitted. He gave Kim a kiss. Zordon teleported him back to his apartment. He flopped down on the bed and fell right to sleep.

Meanwhile, Jason and Kim headed to the Youth Center. There, they met Billy, Trini, and Zack.

“Hi, guys,” Zack said, “Where’s Tommy?”

“Getting some sleep,” Kim said tiredly, “We both stayed up all night.”

“Oh really,” Zack teased, “What were you doing all night?”

Kim whacked him upside the head. “Talking,” she said, “I have a concussion, and had to stay up all night, and Tommy was sweet enough to stay up with me.”

“Sorry, Kim,” Zack said, hanging his head sorrowfully. Just then, their communicators beeped.

“Oh man,” Kim said. They went to a dark corner of the Youth Center. Jason brought his communicator up to his mouth.

“We read you, Zordon,” he said, “What’s up?”

Rita has sent down another monster, Rangers,” Zordon said, “Teleport to the park and take it out.

“Gotcha, Zordon,” Jason said, “Guys, IT’S MORPHIN’ TIME. Tyrannosaurus.”

“Mastadon.”

Kim stifled a yawn. “Pterodactyl.”

“Triceratops.”

“Sabretooth Tiger.” They morphed and teleported to the park, where the monster was really running amok, along with some putties.

“Ahh, the Lantern Rangers,” it said, “So nice to see you. I am Tigrock.”

“Well, you’re going down, Tigrock,” Jason said. They all leapt in to action, Jason and Trini taking on the monster, and Kim, Billy, and Zack taking on the putties. Within minutes, the Rangers were standing with just the monster, who knocked Jason and Trini for a loop.

“Laser pistols,” Zack called. They all drew their lasers and fired. The monster was thrown for a loop, but was barely hurt otherwise.

“Magic wand,” Rita screamed, “Make my monster grow.” She threw her wand towards Earth. It hit the monster, and it started to grow.

“We need Dinozord power, now,” Jason called. Their individual zords came flying and stomping into view. They formed up, to become the Megazord, and destroyed the monster in no time flat.

When they got back to the Youth Center, they found Tommy there. He didn’t look any better than when he had left the Command Center.

“Tommy, did you get any sleep?” Kim asked.

“I couldn’t,” Tommy said, “I was too worried about you, beautiful.”

“Oh, that’s so sweet,” Kim said. She gave him a kiss as she was sitting down. They talked for what seemed to be forever. It was getting late, so Kim and Tommy walked to his apartment.

“You’ve only got one hour, Kim,” Tommy said, “Now, come on. Don’t give up. Not now.”

“Oh, Tommy,” Kim said, “I’m just so tired.” Her eyelids were getting heavier and heavier. Tommy gave her a passionate kiss out of nowhere. “Oh, Tommy.” Suddenly, Kim seemed to get a second breath, giving him a passionate kiss of her own. Tommy rolled back, with Kim on top of him.

An hour later, Kim and Tommy were both fast asleep. The longest twenty four hours for both were finally over.

The End