Missing Blue
by Jeremy Ray Logsdon

"We're happy together," Billy said, his voice distorted by the speakerphone.

"Was this happening before I left?" Kimberly asked, moving boxes around her apartment. "I mean, geeze Billy, I just left Angel Grove yesterday afternoon."

"No, it happened... yesterday afternoon, I suppose. We just started talking, and... well, we're a couple now."

"You seem awfully sure of your relationship after just eighteen hours," Kimberly said, finally finding the box that contained her framed pictures of her friends. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm very happy for you, but not even a whole day? How can you be so sure of it, Billy?" Dead silence followed. "Billy? You still there?"

"Yeah, I'm here," he said. "We're just - sure, that's all."

"What did you do, sleep together?" Kimberly joked, wishing she could have been in the same room to have seen his face. The silence that followed told her more than an actual admission would have. "Billy?"

"Wellllll," he droned, trying to dance around the actual word yes.

With that, Kimberly sat down on her couch with a thump. "Oh my goodness," Kimberly sighed. She picked up the receiver, turning off the speakerphone in the process. "You and Kat slept together?"

"Yeah," Billy finally admitted, sounding slightly deflated. "It's not that bad, is it?"

"No, no, no," Kimberly said hurriedly. "Nothing like that. I'm just - astounded, is all. I mean, you slept together? That's not at all like you, Billy."

"How would anyone know?" Billy asked. "I've never had a girlfriend before. What do I know about relationships?"

"Well Tommy and I didn't sleep together to start our relationship," Kimberly chastised. "We kissed, and then that didn't happen again for about four more dates."

"Are you upset over this?" Billy asked, fear prevalent in his voice.

"Oh no!" Kimberly cried, shaking her head frantically. "No, I'm sorry Billy. I am just so bum-fuzzled I can't think straight. I'm happy for you. Really, I am."

"Thank you," Billy said, his voice once again normal. He didn't know what Kimberly's approval meant so much to him, but he was glad to have it. "Uhm, if you don't mind my asking, have you and Tommy slept together yet?"

"No," Kimberly expelled forcefully. "We haven't. We've mutually decided to wait for marriage. Sure, we've been awfully close a few times, but we're not going to take a chance on getting pregnant. Did you at least use protection?"

"It was kind of a spur of the moment thing," Billy stammered.

Kimberly groaned and smacked her palm against her forehead. "Billy Billy Billy," Kimberly said. "I am very happy that you're with Katherine now but I really do wish you would start using just a teeny tiny sliver of your God-given intelligence."

"We already have," Billy said. "We don't intend to stay sexually active. Yesterday was a one-time thing. For now, at least."

Kimberly sighed heavily. "Good. You don't need to be burdened down with a kid in your teens."

"I know," Billy said. "It's just - we still can't figure out why it happened. I'm not sorry it did, but it's not going to happen again, for a long while. It was just - it was something we both needed yesterday. We were... never mind."

"What were you doing?" Kimberly probed.

"We were complaining about our lack of social lives, is what it amounts to," Billy told her. "And then one thing lead to another, yadda yadda yadda."

"Yadda yadda yadda?" Kimberly asked. "I always knew you were a hopeless romantic."

"It's one thing to tell you it happened," Billy explained. "It's quite another to tell you exactly what happened. Are you going to tell me each and every detail of your first time?"

"No, I suppose not," Kimberly smiled. "Just promise me that you'll be more careful in the future."

"Promise," Billy whispered. Suddenly, a very faint six-toned beep sounded over the phone. "I gotta go. I'll talk to you later?"

"Later. Bye, Billy."

~*~

_That can't be right,_ Kimberly said to herself. _What would I care who Billy is with?_ She had to admit, though, that the thought of Billy and Katherine sleeping together had her more than just mildly concerned. She was just short of irritated about it. She had given Billy a hard time about it, and had no idea why.

"Why would I be jealous?" Kimberly asked outloud. "I don't want to have Billy as my boyfriend." She honestly didn't, but she still felt something very powerful. She turned her attention away from the box at hand and walked over to the box containing all of the pictures of her old friends, mostly Rangers. In nearly every picture, Billy was standing as close to her as he possibly could. In one particular picture, taken at Christmas, she had her arms wrapped around his shoulders in a big hug, and his grin was even bigger than Zack's.

"I always knew he had a crush on me," Kimberly mused. She would never have told Billy she knew, but it was pretty obvious. Kimberly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, smiled sheepishly, and giggled outloud, sounding more twelve than seventeen. She actually found it flattering. "Of course, I guess his crush is over now," she sighed.

The gears in her brain immediately started working, and she realized that was it. She loved Billy, just not the way Billy loved her, or she and Tommy loved each other. Billy was very close to her heart, just not in the conventional sense. The emotion she felt for him was a unique one, and she had no idea how to label it. Now that Billy no longer had such an intense crush on her, she felt, for lack of a better word, slighted. It was almost as if she had been replaced in his heart.

She immediately shook her head, trying to get the nonsense out. That was the way it should be. She had Tommy, and she was happy beyond all means with Tommy. And Billy had Katherine, and God willing, he would experience the same emotions with her that she felt on a daily basis with Tommy. Kimberly quickly rummaged through the box, looking for one picture in particular. It was at the very bottom, and before it had never meant that much to her. But now....

She set the eight by ten on her entertainment center. It was taken immediately after the Power Transfer. She and Billy had been the only original Rangers left on the team, and were trying desperately to get over the change. Billy, Tommy, and Kimberly had spent a lot of time together, sharing their feelings, occasionally crying... The picture was of the three of them, Kimberly in the middle with Billy and Tommy at each side, both of them with an arm across her shoulders.

"The three of us were a good team," she sighed happily. "I'll miss ya' Blue, but I think you've made a good trade."

End