“Hyah!”

Tommy nimbly jumped back as Conner executed a roundhouse kick towards his chest. He quickly countered back with a tornado kick which almost knocked Conner off balance but he quickly recovered and did a foot sweep that connected and knocked his teacher down.

“Whoa, are you okay doc?” Conner asked.

“Yeah, don’t worry, no harm done.” Tommy replied as his student helped him up. “Let’s go one more time.”

As Conner and Dr. Oliver continued to spar, Kira, Trent, and Kat were watching from the porch while Ethan was watching slightly closer but still from a distance as he took a look at the stopwatch he was holding in his left hand. Tommy had given Ethan the stopwatch so he could keep track of the training time and once it said one hour on the dial Ethan was to stop the watch and call it, and according to the watch, time was almost up.

Conner then did a side kick which Tommy blocked easily and then he countered with a spinning kick to which Conner did a back flip to dodge. Once his feet were back on the ground he then heard a beeping sound.

“All right guys, time’s up.” Ethan said as he hit the stop button on the watch.

“Good job, Conner.” Tommy said.

“Thanks, Dr. O.” Conner replied as he and his teacher, along with Ethan joined the others by the back porch of Tommy’s house to catch their breath and relax. A few days had gone by since Monday and during those days Tommy and Katherine had gone over to Rooms-to-go to check out some furniture for Katherine’s apartment, namely the sofa that Kat had seen the other time they had been there. After spending some time looking at it as well as some other furniture Kat decided to go ahead with buying the sofa. After the paperwork was filled out, the employees told her it would take a few days for it to be delivered but that was okay as far as Kat was concerned. It was also during these past few days that Kat, Tommy, Conner, Kira, Ethan, and Trent were able to help Hayley with putting out the Christmas decorations for the cyber café so the Christmas season would really be in full motion.

So it was on this mid-Saturday that Tommy had called Conner, Ethan, Kira, and Trent over for some training to which Conner and Ethan complained a great deal about. Since it didn’t look like Mesogog was going to be hatching any plans at any time they figured there wouldn’t be a problem with taking a break altogether for the holidays. Tommy sympathized, but then he told them that even though they all should relax (especially since it’s the holidays) they should still try to be prepared, even if it was a little bit.

“Just because Mesogog hasn’t been up to anything lately doesn’t mean that he isn’t planning something in the future.”

So after they got the call the foursome then headed over to his house. Once they got there they saw Tommy and Kat doing some katas out in the back and Kat’s moves were pretty much as precise as Tommy’s which made the guy’s jaws drop open and Kira looking on in awe. Once the two were done with their katas they then saw the four teens standing there and Tommy jokingly asked his students if they were catching flies. The foursome quickly snapped out of it and walked over to where their teacher and Katherine were.

“Y’ know something, Kat?” Ethan asked. “You may not be a Power Ranger anymore, but as far as I’m concerned, you don’t need the power, you’ve already got it inside you.”

“Thanks, Ethan.” Kat said.

“So what brings you here?” Conner asked.

“Well, I figured since its Saturday and Cosmos is closed on weekends I thought I’d come over, hang out.” Kat said as she smiled at Tommy who couldn’t help but smile back at her.

One hour later Tommy and his students were done with their training, so they, along with Kat headed back to Tommy’s kitchen to relax and drink some Gatorade.

“Okay, just out of curiosity does anyone know what the temperature is?” Conner asked.

“Well, from what I heard this morning they said it was going to be in the early 70’s today.” Tommy replied. “Why?”

“‘Cause I could’ve sworn that it was warmer than that.”

“Conner, you’re a jock, you practically sweat bullets everyday just by moving around.” Ethan pointed out which made everyone chuckle.

“So Kat, how’s the Nutcracker dance thing coming along?” Kira asked. During the week Kat was asked as to what the show was going to be and Kat had told them that it was going to be their own version of the Christmas classic “The Nutcracker”.

“Oh, it’s coming along pretty good.” Kat replied. “We just got started on the dances in the first act this week, so hopefully we’ll have that down by next Tuesday so we can get started on the next acts.”

“Are you going to do the whole thing much like what was seen in that movie years ago?” Ethan asked.

“Not really,” Kat answered. “Since we’re kind of pressed for time, we won’t be able to do everything like as if it would be a full, feature-length show, so what Linda (my boss) proposed is that we do the most important parts in the acts first, and only once we did those acts well could we then see if we could add in anything else. Because neither Linda or me or any of the other teachers there want to do an exact copy-cat of what was seen in that movie, other than to just let it be an inspiration.”

“And that’s kind of a pretty good mindset to go by.” Tommy said in agreement. “‘Cause if you’re using something as an inspiration (in this case the Macaulay Culkin movie), you don’t want to copy every little thing from the film, but you do want it to give you an idea to work with so you can make the material your own.”

Kat nodded in agreement. “That’s why I’m hoping that Krista can learn the moves and be proficient with them as we go.”

This got Conner’s total, incomplete attention.

“Wait a minute, did you say ‘Krista’?” He asked.

“Yeah,” Kat replied.

“W-would this Krista happen to be the same Krista I think you’re talking about?”

“Well, who would the Krista you know look like?” Kat asked.

“Well, she’s…” Conner started to stammer a little bit, but then he calmed his nerves. “She’s about 5’ 2”; has long, red hair; green eyes; has a very passionate, sometimes fiery personality…”

“Yeah, I’d say that’s definitely her.” Kat said in amazement. “How do you know her?”

“She goes to the same school as the rest of us.” Ethan said as he looked at Conner with a sly smile.

“What? I just wanted to know if it was the same girl.” Conner said as a light blush began to spread up his neck. “I mean, I knew she was always deep, but I didn’t know she also did ballet, too.”

“Dude, the only reason you know she’s deep is because Trent and I told you.” Ethan replied. “Otherwise you would have thought she was yet another typical girl.”

Still blushing, Conner looked down and found himself quickly interested in his fingers.

“Okay, come on boys, don’t needle him too much.” Kat said.

Thanks, Kat. Conner thought. “So she’s actually in this ballet show you’re doing over there at Cosmo?” He asked, not remembering the dance school’s name very well.

“Yes, she’s doing the lead role of the girl Marie.” Kat replied. “And she’s quite amazing, I have to say. Off the dance floor she’s this sweet, humble girl, but once she’s on the dance floor she switches gears, or dare I say it, she morphs into someone else and becomes completely focused and approaches her dancing with a very passionate side. She has made a few slip ups on some moves, but only a few, and for me, that’s okay, because you’re not always going to get it right the first time, so I just tell her to keep at it and so long as she doesn’t lose that spark, she can accomplish anything.”

As Kat spoke, Conner found himself slowly going into a trance. He didn’t really will it, but unconsciously he began to find himself picturing Krista dancing around gracefully and beautifully around a rink.

“Pshhhhht. This is Mission Control to Tyranno, come in, over.” Ethan said as he spoke closely to his friend’s ear which quickly snapped Conner out of his trance.

“Oh, uh, sorry guys.”

“Took you a while.” Trent said.

“I was…focused…on something.” Conner protested.

“Something or someone?” Kira asked.

Conner said nothing, but his gaze turned to the middle of the table as the blush rose up on his face again.

DING-DONG!

Everyone’s heads turned toward the front door as the bell sounded.

“Hayley’s done working over at the café for the day?” Ethan asked.

“I don’t know.” Tommy said as he got up from his chair. “You guys wait here; I’ll go answer the door.”

Once Tommy got to his door he began to wonder if it was in fact Hayley and she just decided to close the café early and join everyone here.

Nah…doesn’t sound like something Hayley would do…but then, who else could it be?

As he unlocked the door and opened it who he saw standing on the other side was a complete and total surprise.

“What’s up, bro?”

“Jason!” Tommy exclaimed as he gave his best friend a high-five, then he enveloped him in a brotherly hug. “How’s it going?”

“Oh, well, not much, though it has been a while, man.”

“Yeah, you could definitely say that.” Tommy replied as he then noticed Emily standing next to him. “Hi, Emily.”

“Hi, Tommy.” Emily replied with a warm smile.

“Yo! What about the rest of us here?”

Tommy then looked behind Emily and Jason and saw three other old friends of his standing beside them.

“Rocky! Adam! Tanya! What’s up, guys?” Tommy asked as he greeted his friends.

“Well, nothing but the sky, or in your case, the ceiling.” Rocky quipped.

“Well, come on, come in, come in.” Tommy said as he ushered them inside his house.

“So, what brings you guys all the way to Reefside?” Tommy asked once they were all inside.

“Well, I guess you can say-” Tanya began, but then when she saw Katherine step from the kitchen to the living room a big smile spread across her face. “Kat! Hey, girl!”

“Hey, Tanya.” Kat said as she gave her best friend a sisterly hug.

“Y’ know Tommy, when Kat first said that you were living here as well, I was still a little surprised, but…damn! It really is a small world after all.” Tanya remarked as she released Kat to face Tommy.

“Don’t I know it.” Tommy said as he looked from Tanya to Kat.

“Well, anyway, as I was saying, I guess you can say it was thanks to the ‘hotline’.” Tanya said as she gestured to Jason. “Jason told Adam and me and then I filled him in on anything else he didn’t know.”

“And vice versa.” Jason supplied.

“So, after we talked, we all figured, why not come by and see what you’ve been up too, along with seeing who the new recipients of the power are.”

“Well, all the same, it’s great to see you guys again.” Kat said as she hugged Jason, Emily and the others.

“Uh, Dr. O? Is there some kind of party you didn’t tell us about?” Conner asked as he and his friends entered the living room.

Tommy laughed. “No Conner, there isn’t.” He replied as he realized that he had been so caught up with reuniting with some of his old friends he had forgotten that his students were there too. “It’s just some old friends of mine.” He then gestured for them to step forward as he introduced them to Jason, Emily and the others. “Guys, these are my students: Conner, Ethan, Kira, and Trent-” he then introduced his old friends to his students. “And guys, this is my best friend Jason, his wife Emily; Rocky; Adam, and Tanya.”

Once again, Conner and the others were shocked. It was amazing enough that they had met Kat, who had worn the Power Ranger duds almost as long as their teacher had, but getting the chance to meet some other old friends of their teacher’s was something that neither of them ever thought would happen.

“Nice to meet you.” Conner said as he shook hands with Jason.

“Same here,” Jason replied whole heartedly. “You’re the new guy, right?”

At first Conner was surprised that Jason knew what he was but then he realized that more than likely his teacher and Jason had still kept in contact with each other over the years.

“Yeah.”

As the four teens greeted the others Conner then remembered that he hadn’t seen Emily at all in Dr. Oliver’s video journal.

“Um, excuse me-Emily, right?” Conner asked as he approached her.

Emily nodded.

“Just out of curiosity were you ever a Power Ranger?”

Emily smiled. “Sadly, no. As cool as that would have been.” She replied. “Everybody else though, was.”

“Y’ know Tommy, I have to say; you got some nice digs here.” Rocky said as he took a look around the house.

“Oh trust me, you ought to see the lab he’s got underground.” Ethan said.

“Really?” Adam asked.

“Really really.” Ethan replied.

Tommy sighed, already knowing what his old friends were going to say. “Come on, follow me guys.”

--

“So this is how the other half lives, huh?” Rocky asked sarcastically as he and the others looked around the lab.

“More or less.” Tommy replied.

“This place looks cozier than the old command center.” Adam remarked.

“I know, that’s what I said when I first saw it.” Kat said.

“So where are the zords kept?” Jason asked.

“Over in the hangar bay in the back of the lab.” Trent answered, remembering having to head back there once to wash them.

“Did you actually create all of this by yourself, Tommy?” Emily asked.

“No, most of it I had help from Hayley.”

“Oh,” Emily said as she remembered Jason telling her about Tommy’s college buddy.

Jason grinned. “Well, that’s good, because if you had actually done all of this by yourself, I would’ve sworn that somebody had switched-”

“-mine and Billy’s brains, yeah, I know.” Tommy said as he remembered Hayley and Kat’s banter about him needing help with creating the lab.

“Oh yeah, Tommy, do you have anything in the fridge?” Rocky asked as he patted his stomach.

“Rocky, you just ate an hour and a half ago.” Adam pointed out.

“Really? ‘Cause I thought it was longer than that that I ate.”

Adam sighed. Rocko, it’s amazing after all these years you don’t already weigh 500 pounds. He thought to himself.

“Well, you can head back upstairs and check to see if there’s anything in there, but…” Tommy began.

“Uh, doc? I checked before when we were relaxing after our training, and there’s nothing in there but Gatorade, and stuff that used to look like Cold Cuts, or was it dark penicillin-I don’t know, but either way, I don’t think it’s a good idea that anybody should use anything but the drinks in your fridge.” Ethan said.

Oops. Tommy thought. And I thought I got rid of those things already.

“Well actually, now that Rocky mentions it, I’m a little hungry myself.” Emily said.

“See what you did, man?” Jason said in mock surprise.

“What? All I said was I was hungry.” Rocky protested.

“I know, but just by saying that, now I think you’ve gotten everybody hungry.” Jason said. “And you don’t even need to have your stomach throw you signals, all you have to do is just say it and the hunger spreads.”

Tommy sighed. “Okay, now is anyone else besides Rocky hungry?”

Practically everyone raised their hands.

Tommy then shrugged and threw up his hands in the air. “Well…Hayley’s cyberspace, anyone?”

--

“Whoa,” Rocky mused as he took a look around the cyber café with the Christmas decorations adorning the place. There was mostly snowflake looking cutouts and an Advent wreath hanging from the ceiling, along with Christmas-themed table cloths on all the tables. Plus on some of the computer screens were screen saver pictures of Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends in Christmas gear; Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, and Toad standing by a Christmas tree opening presents, and on some other screens were pictures of two couples, one looked like a tall guy in green clothes holding a beautiful woman with a giant cloak wrapped around both of them with three triangles embedded in the cloak with what looked like mistletoe up on top of them; another was of a tall guy with a braid coming from behind his ear kissing a petite woman with cinnamon bun-style hair on the sides of her head with a snowy background on the screen. On the tables that didn’t have computers there was a small Christmas tree in the middle of the table. “Surf Spot, eat your heart out in more ways than one.”

“You can say that again.” Adam agreed.

“Hayley’s the one who runs this place, right?” Jason asked.

“Yeah, she does.” Kat replied.

“But I thought you and Tommy said she was a programmer or something.” Tanya said.

“She is.” Ethan said. “It’s just that after a few years of working in those big cheese technology companies she decided to break out on her own and do something else. So she decided to open up this place and well, the rest is history.”

“Well, by the looks of things, I’d say she’s doing pretty well for herself.” Emily remarked as she looked around.

“Hey guys.” Hayley said as she approached the group. “Whoa, is there some kind of party going on at your house, Tommy?” Hayley asked.

“Uh, no.” Tommy replied.

“We’re old friends of Tommy’s.” Jason said. “We just thought we’d stop by here, pay him a visit, see how he was doing with his teaching and all that good jazz.”

“Oh,” Hayley said.

“Hayley, this is Jason and his wife Emily; Jason & Emily, Hayley.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too.” Hayley replied as she shook Jason’s and then Emily’s hand.

“Tanya.”

“Adam.”

“Rocky.” Rocky said as he gave Hayley his million-watt smile.

“Nice to meet you.” Hayley said as she couldn’t help but return the smile for some reason. “So what can I get you guys?”

“Um, well…” Rocky began.

--

“Oh man, that was delicious.” Rocky said as he patted his stomach.

“Amen to that, man.” Conner said in agreement.

“Okay, are you two sure you’re not distant cousins or something?” Kira asked.

Conner and Rocky shook their heads which then made the others shake their heads or just smile in amusement.

“And here I thought only Conner had the bottomless pit in his stomach.” Ethan remarked.

“Oh trust me Ethan, you haven’t seen anything yet.” Adam said which made Tommy, Kat, Jason, Emily, Tanya, Ethan, and Trent chuckle.

“So Kat, how’s the Christmas dance show coming along?” Tanya asked as she remembered Kat telling her about it during the week.

“Well, we just got started this week, and so far everything’s coming along pretty nicely.” Kat replied.

“When’s the night of the show?” Adam asked.

“The 18th.”

“Oh, that’s cool.”

“Think maybe it’s possible to get us some seats?” Rocky asked.

Kat shrugged. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“And speaking of doing, how’s the dojo coming along?” Tommy asked Jason. After Rocky had opened up his karate school he found that there were a lot more students signing up than what he had originally thought. So he called Jason up one day and asked him if he would be interested in helping him teach the kids. Jason agreed and he and Rocky had been running the school ever since.

“Oh, it’s coming along pretty good.” Jason replied. “Although sometimes I still need to remind Rocky about paying the bills for the school.”

“Oh come on! It was only once!”

“Actually, Rocky, it was three times.” Emily replied.

“So are you guys going to be here for a few days or…?” Hayley asked.

“Sadly it’s only today.” Jason said.

“Well…who’s to say we couldn’t come back?” Rocky asked as he smiled at Hayley a bit.

“Well, if you guys can come back before Christmas please come by here. I’m planning to have a small Christmas party here at the cyberspace, so if you guys can make it…”

“Will there be food?” Rocky asked.

“Food, music, you name it.” Hayley said.

As Rocky looked from Jason to Hayley he then shrugged slightly and slapped his thighs lightly.

“Well, I don’t know about you guys, but if that’s the case, then as Timon and Pumbaa would say, Hukuna Matata, I’m there.” Rocky said.

Once again, Hayley couldn’t help but want to smile brightly in spite of herself. “Great.” She said.

--

After spending a while at the café, everyone (minus Hayley) decided to head back to Tommy’s house, all the while talking about the old days and telling Tommy’s students about their own encounters and experiences as Rangers. Needless to say, Conner, Trent, Kira, and Ethan were impressed.

“So Kira, Kat tells me you want to pursue a career in music.” Tanya said as she, Kira and the others entered the Dino Ruins under the house.

“Yeah, I do.” Kira replied.

“Have you done any demos?”

“I’ve recorded a few.”

“Have you sent them to a record company?”

“Well, I had actually gone to one a while back, but the things they did…the way the song was mixed and the attire the producer had me wear for the video, it just…it just wasn’t me. So I kind of jumped ship with that company. Although I’m still trying to find the right record company that I can work with though.”

“Well, I don’t know about record companies, but in terms of music producing and such, I think I can be of help.”

“How?” Kira asked.

Tanya just smiled. “Well, let’s just say that just recently I just got through co-producing an album of one of the best blue-eyed soul (or Rock & Soul as I like to say) singers on the planet, Michael McDonald.”

“One of the Doobie Brothers’ former frontmen?” Kira asked, her eyes widening.

“Pretty much,” Tanya replied nonchalantly.

“Along with Richard Marx, Alicia Keys, and Brian McKnight.” Adam added.

“Get out of town,” Trent said in disbelief.

Tanya blushed a bit, but then she smiled. “Believe me, I know it seems pretty far-fetched, but I did get a chance to work with each of them at some point in the past.”

Kira was speechless. “Wow,”

“Yeah, so if you want, you can come by my place once winter break starts and show me some of your demos.”

“Yeah, that’d be great.” Kira said, already feeling excited beyond words. “Well, actually, here’s an even better idea, how about you come by during the Christmas party at Hayley’s on the 21st, and I’m slated to sing that night anyway, so…”

“Hmm. Y’ know, that is a good idea.” Tanya said. “Okay, you got it, I’ll be there.”

“Hopefully Mesogog won’t try to crash it like he did with the Thanksgiving party though.” Conner said.

And the Oscar for best jinx goes to… Ethan thought sarcastically.

“That makes all of us, Conner.” Tommy said.

“Who’s Mesogog?” Adam asked.

“Let me guess, he’s the new baddie on the block?” Emily asked.

“Pretty much.” Trent replied.

“Let me guess, he’s a mutant monster who has delusional dreams of world domination?” Jason asked.

“Worse, he wants to basically turn the world back to the prehistoric age where dinosaurs rule and us humans are nothing but tiny irritating mammals.”

“So I take it the five of you really have your work cut out for you, huh?” Adam asked.

“Well, in a nutshell, yeah.” Tommy said. “But we have been able to throw more than a couple of monkey wrenches into Mesogog’s plans, but in true villain fashion, the psycho refuses to quit, and God only knows as to what that freakazoid’s planning next.”

“So what are your power sources?” Rocky asked.

“They’re special rocks that are called Dino Gems.” Tommy replied as he showed his old friends his bracelet with his gem embedded in it. “I had found the first three on an expedition up north several years ago, and the other two weren’t found until much later.”

“So what are your powers?” Tanya asked.

“Well, for me…” Tommy began as he began to concentrate. Suddenly his Dino gem glowed and he disappeared in front of the group. Then after a few moments he reappeared.

“Whoa,” Rocky mused.

“Each gem’s got its own special power.”

“So what about Conner and the others?” Jason asked.

Before Tommy could explain Conner then zoomed around the group and came to a stop right where he was before.

“No need to explain, doc.” Conner quipped.

“So he’s as fast as Road Runner or something?” Rocky asked.

“Yeah.” Tommy replied as he looked sideways at his student. “And with Ethan, he’s got skin armor (or in other words, his skin can become as hard as steel), Kira can shoot out sound waves from her mouth, and Trent can blend into backgrounds as easily as the alien from the Predator movies.”

“Now why didn’t we have this kind of stuff back in the day?” Rocky asked.

Jason shrugged. “Who knows?”

“So what’s the command to morph?” Emily asked.

“It’s ‘Dino-Thunder, power up’.” Conner replied.

“Y’ know what, how about if we see you guys morph, just for old times sake?” Tanya asked.

“Yo, no problem.” Ethan said as he, Trent and Conner got up in front of the group.

“Well, if you guys are going do it, then hell, I’ll do it too.” Kira said as she got up and joined the others.

“Hey Dr. O, come join us.” Conner beckoned.

“Uh…I don’t know.”

“Come on doc! You know you want to.” Ethan said.

Tommy sighed. “All right.” He said as he went over with the others.

“Ready,” Tommy said as his bracelet transformed into his morpher.

“Ready,” replied his students.

“Dino-Thunder, power up!”

“White Ranger, dino power!”

Suddenly Conner, Ethan, Kira, Tommy, and Trent stood there fully morphed in front of Kat, Tanya, Adam, Jason, Emily, and Rocky.

“Okay, now that’s awesome.” Emily said.

“So what do you guys think?” Tommy asked.

“Cool-looking outfits, bro. But the red and blue ones look very similar to the old ones me and Billy used to wear, respectively.”

“Well, when Hayley and I came up with the color scheme I decided on those two colors deliberately for the T-rex and Triceratops.” Tommy replied as he powered down. “Besides, considering which dinosaur powers those two gems respectively belong to, could you think of any better colors for those two?” he asked rhetorically.

Jason shook his head. “Nope.”

“Well, if you actually had given those two dino powers different color schemes, Jason and I (along with Billy I’m sure) would’ve been seriously pissed at you.” Rocky said.

“Y’ know, there is something I do want to ask you guys, though.” Conner said as he and his friends had powered down as well.

“What is it, rookie?” Jason asked.

Conner sighed and took a deep breath before he spoke. “Well, you guys (except Emily, of course) have been Rangers at one point or another many years back. Hell, some of you guys were practically the ones who set the standards for many other teams to follow. Plus a lot of you served longer than most.” He then paused. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that even though it was years ago that you guys wore the duds and all that, do you guys miss it at all?”

Jason and the others grew thoughtful as they pondered what Conner asked. In a lot of ways, it was a question that each of them asked themselves at several times during their post-ranger years. Finally Jason looked at Conner and gave a warm smile.

“Well Conner,” he said. “I can’t speak for everybody here, but…between me and your friends (and Tommy); I miss it about as much as I would miss the very air I breathe.”

“Well Jase, you say you can’t speak for all of us, but in more ways than one, I agree with you.” Rocky said.

“So do I.” Adam agreed.

“Me too.” Tanya.

“Me as well.” Kat said.

Tommy smiled and nodded in agreement. If he hadn’t discovered the black Dino gem (granted, Mesogog had gotten his hands on it first), he would’ve had a complex seeing his protégés go into action and him not being able to do much except watch from his lab and offer as much advise and support as he could.

After a few moments Jason looked at his watch. “And speaking of which, I think we need to get going.”

“So soon?” Ethan asked.

“‘Fraid so.” Rocky said. “Jason and I only had the dojo closed for today, tomorrow though…well, that’s another story.”

“And I have an early shift tomorrow at Disneyland.” Adam said.

“What do you do?” Kira asked.

“I’m one of the stunt guys over at ‘Lights, Motors, Action!’.”

“Sweet,” Conner said.

So the group made their way back up the stairs to Tommy’s house and everyone bade their goodbyes to Tommy, Kat, and Tommy’s students. Just before he stepped out the door Jason looked at his best friend, gave him a thumbs-up, winked, and said “Good luck with her, bro.” softly to which Tommy silently told him to can it. Needless to say, Jason grinned widely and chuckled to himself as he stepped out the door to his car.

“Well, I gotta say, this was one hell of a visit.” Rocky mused as he reclined in the backseat of Jason’s Eclipse.

“Was it because you got to chow down or was it because of that redhead you kept sneaking smiles to?” Jason asked as he and Emily got in front.

“Uh, well…” Rocky stammered as he started to blush. “Well, of course it was the food! And…she was pretty cute.” He said as he pictured Hayley’s face in his mind.

“Cute?” Adam repeated. “Rocky, you were practically giving her million-watt smiles every ten seconds, man. And if I wasn’t seeing things, I could’ve sworn that she was smiling back at you, and all you can say is that she’s cute?”

Now the blush on Rocky’s face went from a light pink to a deep red as he glared at his friend.

“Ah, forget about it, I’m just clowning you.” Adam said.

“Well, that aside, I do hope Tommy and Kat get it together somehow.” Emily said. “I mean, I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the only one who saw the way they were looking at each other sometimes, namely during our talks while we were at the café…I swear, they don’t need to say anything, their subtexts say it all.”

“Well, seeing as how it’s the holiday season,” Tanya said as she and Adam got into Tanya’s Lamborghini. “There couldn’t be a better time in the year.”