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Disclaimer: Tommy Oliver and Katherine Hillard, plus anyone else in this fanfic, are the registered property of Saban Enterprises; no copyright infringement is meant by this, and I am not, nor do I desire to, making any profit at all on this. Author's Note: This is the fourth in the "Rangers in Romance" series, coming after "The Question" in that timeline, and takes the general place of "There's No Business Like Snow Business" in the PRZ timeline.

What do I do now? was the first question on his mind. What could he do? He and Kim had dated for almost three years, how in the world was he supposed to just walk up to her and say, "Hey, girl, I don't think we're right for each other anymore, so I'll see you later!"

He snorted to himself. He knew better than to do anything that thoughtless; he'd have more people hunting for his head than he would know what to do with. But he couldn't continue to live a lie, and he couldn't just dump her, it was too wrong.

"Tommy?" he looked up to see the very person that he had been thinking about standing next to him, a worried expression on her sweet face. "Tommy, I need to talk to you."

He smiled a little bit, not quite the same smile he'd ever used towards her, and he knew she could tell. "What's up, Kim?"

"Us," she said smally, sitting down next to him on the porch swing outside his house he'd been thinking and swinging on. Silence fell between them after that single syllable, neither of them suddenly able to say or do anything for an unknown amount of time.

Finally he decided he should break that silence. "It's not going to work out, is it?" he said quietly. He knew, or at least hoped he knew, that was something like what she'd come to talk to him about. "No," she replied just as quietly. "I. ..I don't know what happened, Tommy. It just isn't like it used to be. .."

He reached out to put an arm around her, holding her tiny frame closer to him as she suddenly burst into tears. "We weren't ever supposed to break up!" she cried. "Why can't it be like it was when we first fell in love?"

"Things change," he murmured, holding her close. It was different already, they didn't feel that same inner warmth that they had when they were together before. "I guess we just grew apart."

Kim took a deep, hitching breath, pulling back from him and nodding. "I'll always be your friend, Tommy. I'm glad I came back to Angel Grove when I did. . .I wouldn't have wanted to break up with you any other way except in person."

Tommy nodded again. "I'm glad you came. ..I was trying to figure out how to talk to you about this. I couldn't think of a way to tell you that. . .I don't love you like I used to."

"It wasn't easy," Kim touched his hand, not as she had when they were dating, but in a strange, almost uncertain way that he barely remembered from that short time before they had started dating, when they had just been friends. "But I'm glad I did it. And before you ask, no, there isn't anyone else. I just. . .don't feel how I used to about you anymore. I wish I did. .."

"Don't," his ex-girlfriend shook her head, looking deeply into his eyes. "Don't, Tommy. What we had was wonderful, and I won't ever forget it, or you. And I'll be your friend forever. . .but there is a time to change, to move on, and that's now, I think. For both of us."

Tommy nodded quietly, fighting to hold off the tears in his eyes. Though he had planned to break up with her, something about having her do it to him was shattering his heart. He knew she was telling the truth, knew that everything she said was right, but it still hurt. "Whenever you do find someone, Kim," he forced the words out, and used more force still to make certain she couldn't tell how painful this was to him. "I wish you the best of luck with him."

Kim nodded quietly, moving off the porch. "And I wish you luck, Tommy."

As she passed out of his sight, Tommy found his thoughts growing darker and darker with every passing moment. Why did she dump me? he thought. What did I do wrong? What if I AM wrong, what if I still love her and I'm just feeling a bit down cause we haven't had a real date in a while?

Without knowing why, he flicked his wrists, summoning up his red zeoinzers. Zordon lied to me, he thought a touch bitterly. He said that the White Tiger morphin powers could never be taken away from me, and they have. Twice. How many more times. . .how many more times will I have to live through what's mine being taken away? I don't know who my real parents are. . .I've had my powers drained or stolen four times already, the world's on the brink of total invasion, I don't know how long we can hold it back. All they'd have to do is launch an all out invasion to sweep us out of the way. I don't know why they haven't already.

He trembled, causing the morphing tools to vanish, and took a tighter grip on the swing. We could all be killed. . .all my friends, everyone I care about, all destroyed, and it would be my fault, because I couldn't lead them well enough. Because I'm just flat out not good enough. Why do they let me stay, I should just give my powers up and go...

Go where? Where does a washed-up superhero go when he has no girlfriend and nothing else? I don't HAVE anything, and I don't deserve it. I should just go find a convenient cliff to fall off of. ..

Tommy's eyes slipped closed almost without his even noticing it, and he slid off the porch swing onto the floor, deep into something that might have been sleep, if it weren't as deep as the ocean and as full of shadows as the blackness between the stars themselves. The last thing he heard, so faint he wasn't even sure if he did hear it, was a laugh that was all too familiar.

The evil cackle of Rita Repulsa.

Rangers, please calm down. Something very disturbing has occurred, Zordon tried to talk to them. Not quite ten minutes ago, our sensors detected a powerful surge of evil energy directed at Tommy's house. Before we could stop it, it had enveloped him and he vanished from our sensors for a few moments. This is all we have been able to pick up since then.

Everyone looked up to the Viewing Globe, and Kim caught her breath at the sight of Tommy literally laying on the floor of the porch, his eyes closed, breathing regularly. . .but with a dark cloud literally hovering inches above his head.

Our scans indicate that the cloud is increasing Tommy's fears, doubts, and dark emotions, with the single goal of turning him to the side of evil for all time. The cloud's energy readings indicate that Rita and Lord Zedd are responsible for it. There might also be a way to eradicate it.

"How?" Kim blinked briefly as Kat spoke up faster than any of them. "We can't just let them do that to him!"

And we will not, Katherine, Zordon reassured the Pink Ranger. But it will not be easy. The only thing that could possibly break through the shadow is love. Pure, romantic love, the type of love for someone that means you are willing to sacrifice your very life for them, and to spend that life with them if they feel the same way about you. True love.

Everyone turned to look at Kim, who wasn't certain if she wanted to scream or cry at the moment. "It's not me, guys. I. ..broke up with Tommy this morning. This thing probably hit just after I left. Knowing Rita and Zedd, they timed it for that. They. ..probably think that there's no one who can save him, and they're right. . ."

"I want to try," this time, everyone was turning to Kat as she stepped a little forward. "I don't know if I can. . .but I want to try."

Do you love Tommy, Katherine? Zordon had never indulged himself in watching the private lives of his Rangers; it was enough for him that they had those private lives, and were carrying them out in normal fashion.

The Pink Ranger took what had to be the longest breath in creation. "I think I do. But whether I do or not, I have to try. I have to. We can't just leave him there."

I understand, Katherine, the old wizard smiled faintly and nodded. Alpha, prepare to teleport the Pink Ranger to Tommy. Katherine, I wish you luck.

"Bring him home to us, Kat," Kim said, taking her friend's hand suddenly. She didn't know how Tommy felt about Kat, but with a flash of insight, she knew just how Kat felt about Tommy. And probably has for a while now. These things just don't come out of nowhere. I hope this works. . .

Kat smiled for a moment, concealing the sheer amounts of relief that had filled her soul the moment she had heard that Kim had broken up with Tommy. She wished Kim the best of luck, but at long last, she felt like she had a chance with a guy she had had a crush on since she'd first come to Angel Grove. Then her vision was blotted out for a moment, as she was teleported to Tommy's side.

The first thing she saw was that cloud hovering over Tommy. Now that she was there, she could see something that the monitors hadn't picked up: tiny tendrils of cloud-stuff were connecting the cloud to Tommy's head. She recoiled from the very thought, then her eyes narrowed.

This is your handiwork, Rita, she thought. I'll save you, Tom. She reached out for a moment, touching Tommy's forehead, then jerking her hand back as a trickle of blood-red lightning snaked out of the cloud and shocked her. Kat's eyes narrowed even further, and she put her hand back on his forehead, ignoring the shocks that came faster and faster the longer her hand was connected. I won't let you stop me, Rita. I love him!

As the words passed through her mind, a wash of purest pink light flashed through her mind, tinged with shades of green, white, and red. When she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Tommy, standing there staring up into the sky, with a crystal-white moon hovering over him. In plain sight was the Lunar Palace, with Rita and Zedd on the balcony, watching him.

"Come home, Tommy!" Rita's voice was actually soothing and reassuring. "We'll make everything right again. Remember when you were my Green Ranger? No one bothered you then. . .you didn't have any problems then. Come home."

Tommy took another step towards them, and Kat could see he was almost to where he could easily reach the two monarchs of evil. He was wearing a uniform that was a weird amalgam of the uniform of the Red Zeo Ranger, the White Ranger outfit, and something she recognized from old news programs as being the first Green Ranger's uniform. As he stepped forward, the mantle over his shoulders, which had been that of the White Ranger, slowly morphed into the Green Ranger's. He didn't wear a helmet, but in his hand there was one that was striped green, white, and red: with green predominant.

Not going to happen, Rita, she growled to herself, running over to him as fast as she could move. "Tommy, snap out of it! I don't know what they're trying to convince you of, but they are wrong! You're not evil, you don't belong to them, you belong to yourself, and to no one else!"

"But I wouldn't exist without them," his voice wasn't the same warm, familiar one she knew so well, but at the same time it was, shot through with an edge of coldness. "If it weren't for Queen Rita, I wouldn't have been a Power Ranger. Ever."

Kat snorted visibly. "Sure. She sent you on the quest for the Zeo Crystal, didn't she? You went through the Desert of Despair to get to the Temple of Ninja Power. She gave you the White Ranger Coin."

"If she hadn't made me the Green Ranger, none of it would have happened," he said. "I owe it all to her."

The Pink Ranger growled softly; there was little she could say to deny that. If Tommy hadn't been chosen as the evil Green Ranger, then none of the rest of his Power Ranger life would have happened. I've got to get him to realize the truth. The REAL truth, behind the superficial stuff. Someone, anyone, help me! Help me to find the words I need to say!! Almost as if someone had heard her, she began to speak. "I wouldn't be a Ranger, either, if it weren't for Rita," the words spouted out of her. "If she hadn't made me into P.C., then I wouldn't have become friends with Kim in time for her to decide to pass the Power Coin to me when she moved to Florida. Sure we both owe her being a Ranger. . .but does that mean we should be hers? Should we let one instance, one short time, determine our future, or should we do it for ourselves? I chose to fight for good, to use the chance she gave me to destroy her. She picked us both, yes: but in that she armed weapons against her. In your case, the best weapon ever."

Tommy turned briefly to look at her, and she could see his eyes were glowing a very faint green. "You're lying," he said weakly. "You don't care about me. . .no one do---"

"Oh, stop that before you even get started, Oliver!" Kat snapped, slapping him harshly across the face, her temper fraying. "We do care about you, your parents do, Zordon does, all the other Rangers do. Kim still thinks of you as a friend, and you've got more family members than I can count, and if you open your mouth on how they're not blood, I'm going to knock you flat on your butt. You should know better than any of us that it isn't being born into a group of people that makes a family, it's the love you share. And I love you, Tommy. Not like a brother. Not like a friend. I love you. I don't know if I want to spend the rest of my life with you, but I do know that I want to find out!"

She smiled faintly to see the green light fading from his eyes, then whirled, knowing Rita and Zedd were going to be trying something. She had a little surprise for them, though. Ever since she'd been freed from Rita's control, Kat had studied mental disciplines. Not just karate or the general self-defense most of the female team members did, she'd went in for the very esoteric things. She'd wanted to understand what Rita had done, and figure out a way to protect herself and her friends. She'd kept her studies a secret from her friends, more because she wasn't certain just how to tell them than any other reason.

As she turned, she saw a blaze of purest green light heading towards them, obviously intending on overwhelming Tommy's weak mental defenses with a blast of purest evil. She almost laughed as the light bounced off a rose-pink shield she'd erected. "I've been busy, Rita!" she grinned, concentrating on strengthening the shield as the energy from the evil sorceress increased.

She's strong, Kat remembered vividly now how powerful Rita was, and then saw Zedd had raised his staff, joining his power to his wife's. I can't stop them both alone! she almost panicked, then her resolve firmed. She loved Tommy with all her heart and soul, and she wasn't going to let any two-bit little magicians take him away from her!

"You can't win!" Rita's voice twisted into her mind, and Kat poured all her strength into the shield, ignoring her. "You're all alone, and we'll destroy you!"

"Bite me," Kat grunted, taking a perverse bit of pleasure in the mild insult. She could feel them winning, however, as the green energy began to push back her shield. I tried. . .I'm sorry, Tommy.

Then, a warm hand wrapped around her own, and she felt, rather than saw, Tommy, clad all in the Red Zeo uniform now, no trace of white or green, smiling. "Forget this, Rita. I'm not your Ranger anymore. I changed. I grew up. Give it a shot some time, it could improve your disposition."

He turned Kat towards him, and smiled into her eyes. "Thank you," was all he had time to say before the moon over them vanished, and both of them were back on Tommy's porch, their eyes opening. The cloud was gone from Tommy's head, and they could both feel that Rita and Zedd's evil taint had been banished from the Red Ranger at last.

"Thank you," he repeated, reaching out to hold her hand again. "Kat, I felt you in my mind. You were there, weren't you?"

She blushed the faintest bit, and nodded. "We're going to have to talk, I think, about what you've been studying," he smiled and touched her hand. "You know, I know I just broke up with Kim. . .but I was wondering something. . ."

"What's that?" Kat asked softly, not looking at him, studying instead the play of light on a row of geraniums.

"Would you like to go out with me sometime?" he asked gently. "There's supposed to be a really good movie playing at the Multiplex this weekend. . ."

The Pink Ranger blushed even more, her cheeks already the color of his uniform. "I'd love to, Tommy."

He smiled even more warmly at her, and felt the half-formed specter of his breakup with Kim vanishing. He'd never bounced back so fast from a relationship, even one he'd known for a time just wouldn't work out, but then again, he'd never had someone wandering around in his mind declaring her love to the universe. He wasn't so sure of his feelings as she was of his, but he was, like she w