Broken Soul

Author’s Notes - Hey guys thanks to all the reviews and the hits on the story. Also I know I should have labeled it M to start with, sorry, but I changed some things around so after this chapter the rating will be changed too. Again sorry for the inconvenience.

Oh yes and big thanks to Baby Kitty who pretty much edited this entire thing for me.

Summary - Jason has a talk with the group and something bad happens to Tommy

Real World

(Youth Center)

It had been a week since Jason and Tommy had their fight, and Kim was getting restless with the attitudes coming from both of the boys, not to mention that neither seemed to want to give her or the others any information on what exactly had occurred.

With each passing day things only seemed to grow worse. While Tommy seemed to be hotter then ever on the battle field, he however was not as active during their down time as he seemed to now spend his days carefully avoiding his friends and if Kim was honest with herself, just people in general.

Sighing and finishing up her gymnastics routine, Kim quickly dismounted the bar determined to put a stop to this as Jason slunk into the establishment, sitting at an empty table instead of the one occupied by Zack, Billy, Trini, and Kat as he should.

Moving to join her friends who all seemed to be following her train of thought, she lowered her voice. “Okay we have to put a stop to this. He’s been acting like this for days now and Tommy’s no better.”

“Yeah but every time we corner one of them they just shrug it off.” Zack commented absently, recalling how Tommy had all but run from him the previous day.

“Well we just keep trying until they crack. Come on.” Leading them to their still brooding friend, Kim placed her hands firmly on his table. “Okay Jason you have to tell us what is going on between you and Tommy. It’s been four days now and four days of you both avoiding us and each other. Do you know how bad that is?”

Looking up at the petite girl and in fact knowing exactly how bad it was, Jason however didn’t respond.

“Jason talk to us. Tell us what happened. And do it now because if you don’t I’m going to lock you both in a closet until you get over this.”

Torn between laughing at the Pink Ranger’s choice of words and banging his head against the table, Jason in the end settled for heaving a sigh. “It’s complicated. Besides it has more to do with Tommy then me, so I really think he should be the one to tell you. I might just end up doing more damage.”

“I seriously doubt you could do anymore damage then you are Jason. Now we need to know, and you know why we need to know.” Giving him a pointed look and unable to vocalize her Ranger reasoning as Kat was present; Kim knew by his defeated look that the Red Ranger got the point. “It hasn’t really affected our ‘group’ yet, but it will and you know who won’t be happy about that.”

“I still think Tommy should tell you.”

“Well we can’t get him to say hi to us right now so it’s going to have to be you bro.” Zack countered, unsure if they should push or not now if this really was the Green Ranger’s issue and not Jason’s.

“Fine.”

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(Meanwhile)

Looking at the Youth Center and wondering why he’d finally let Kat con him into coming, Tommy leaned against his jeep wearily.

He had taken great pains to avoid his friends for the past few days and as far as he was concerned doing a fine job of it too. So why blow it now? After all Jason had probably told them all what’d happened. If they weren’t weirded out like he was they were no doubt feeling sorry for him. Neither of which appealed to the Green Ranger.

“Well might as well go see what she wants.” Straightening and slowly trudging toward the building he couldn’t help but hope that Jason and the others weren’t there. While he had every intention of eventually apologizing to his red-clad friend for losing his temper at the rather fair request to be given space to think, Tommy however was not quite ready to go through with the act just yet.

Almost to the building and still lost in his thoughts for how to apologize exactly and what exactly his new friend could want, Tommy didn’t notice his new company until he was struck in the back.

Stumbling forward and catching himself before he hit the pavement, the Green Ranger quickly took a defensive stance expecting the usual batch of putties. Surprised to instead see four boys, he let his momentary shock get the better of him as a fifth came up from behind, quickly covering his mouth with a wet cloth.

Sucking in a quick breath and elbowing his current attacker in the ribs, Tommy pushed free only to have his vision suddenly blur before falling out completely.

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“So that’s what happened.” Jason finished softly, looking at the various expressions of surprise on his friends faces.

“Wait, so let me this straight. Last week when we got Tommy to go talk to you outside, he told you that he was not only gay but in love with you?” Zack questioned still in slight disbelief. “Wow, that’s heavy man.”

Resting his head in his hand, Jason gave a nod. “Tell me about it.”

“Well while I’ll agree that he really should have been more understanding, I also think you really hurt his feelings. Tommy’s sensitive, I don’t care what he says or does we all know he is. You saw how upset he was after we broke Ri-um, you know after that thing.” Growing rather frustrated at having to watch her words because of their new blonde friend, Kim ignored the confused look the other girl gave her at the rather cryptic statement. “Look the point is he seems to take things harder then other guys his age, so when you sort of pushed him away he probably took it as rejection not as you needing time.”

“I think Kimberly’s right Jason, I mean we understand if you can’t return his feelings and I’m sure he will too, but I really think you need to sit down with him and talk this out more.” Trini added softly.

“I know, but I can’t even find him these days. And…” Trailing off and carefully avoiding their stares, Jason shook his head. “Look part of the reason I needed time and space to think was because I don’t know if I could return his feelings or not. I’ve never really given any thought to being with a guy, honestly it doesn’t really have much appeal to me, but I don’t know like I said I’ve never thought about it. So I wanted to take some time to think about it before talking with him.”

“So you think you could be with him?” Zack questioned unsure if he or any of them were following Jason’s statement correctly.

“That’s just it, I don’t know and I don’t want to jump into a situation that I’m not sure of. So yes I will talk to him, but only when he cools down and I make a decision on if I can return his feelings or not. I mean when you think about it, would anything really be different if I did?”

Frowning and pretty sure there was, Zack responded slowly. “Well there’s the whole kissing and sex thing.”

“Yeah but that’s all that’s different. Other then that we’d still do everything we do now. So it’s complicated, you know?”

“I think we see what you’re saying. And if the thought of actually doing those things with him doesn’t instantly turn you off then you’re right you should think about it. But maybe you could think a little faster for your friend’s sake?” Kim offered.

Sighing and looking at his friend, Jason was clearly trying to do just that. “I’m doing my best; I just don’t want to make things worse for Tommy.”

“Speaking of which, where is he?” Kat said as she looked down at her watch.

Seeing as all of them were present, Kim glanced back at the blonde curiously. “Where is who?”

“Well I didn’t know that we were going to talk to Jason about this, so I thought that we could get Tommy to talk. I called him earlier and told him to meet me here at three; it’s now three twenty five.”

Looking less then pleased, Jason shook his head. “You mean he’s on his way here, now?”

“Like I said I didn’t know you would be here.”

“Well Tommy is always late Kat. I mean we’ve only known him for a few months but I honestly don’t think he’s met up with us on time once so far.” Kimberly offered, though still growing a bit concerned as he’d never been nearly half an hour late before.

“Maybe he got held up in traffic. I wouldn’t worry, if he told you he’d come, he’ll come.” Trini said softly, glancing at the clock on the far wall herself. “It might even be a good thing he is late, this gives you a chance to decide if you want to stick around or not.”

Unsure if that was in fact good or not, Jason gave a distracted nod. “Yeah maybe.”

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(Unknown location)

Groaning as he slowly came to, Tommy shook his head slowly. ‘What hit me?’

“Maybe you put too much on the rag.”

“It’s chloroform it doesn’t matter how much you put.”

Wincing as the harsh words forced their way through his foggy mind, Tommy was certain he knew those voices from somewhere.

“Hey I think he’s coming around.”

Suddenly grabbed and shaken by strong hands, Tommy forced his eyes open, cringing as he found himself face to face with his captor. “Jeff.”

To Be Continued…