"Welcome aboard, Miss Ford. I hope you'll be a welcomed addition to our team."

Kira Ford tried to smile but it came out as more of a grimace as she pulled on the blue vest and put on the gaudy nametag, her long, crimpy blonde hair pulled into a high ponytail and not a stitch of yellow anywhere to be seen on her person.

This was her first day of work at Wal Mart.

As it happened, pursuing a career as a musician was expensive and not exactly easy to break into, even with a talent like hers. She'd had a few flops with a record company or two and now she wanted to a make a demo to see if she could make the way easier. Of course, that required money.

So, here she was, becoming one of those "part-time jobbers".

Yuck.

It wasn't that she didn't appreciate the work-ethic that went into it. And she definitely didn't mind getting her hands dirty—she wasn't Cassidy after all. It was just that it would cut into her time for writing music or playing any new material at Haley's. Music was her life, after all, and anything that impeded her progress in it was just irritating.

But this job was a means to an end.

"All right, Miss Ford," her boss, a chubby, middle-aged woman with graying hair and a slight bald spot, continued. Her nametag read "Marge" and Kira thought she actually kind of looked like a Marge.

Funny how some people seem to just fit their names.

"We'll put you on the registers. If you can handle that, you can handle anything at this store."

Kira nodded, and her grimace returned as she followed Marge down the long walkway, lined with the ice machines, the eye center and benches for sitting, to an empty register. She switched the light on and signed into the register and then began to tell Kira about it.

Kira tried to listen intently, but learning how to work the register wasn't exactly exciting. She caught on pretty well, but she knew she had probably missed a thing or two as Marge babbled on, faster than a normal woman her age should be able to.

"Got it?" she said after a particularly long string of words and Kira blinked, having missed most of it, before putting on her half-smile-grimace again and nodded.

"Got it."

She hoped.

"So, how's our working girl?" called Conner McKnight one day as he and Ethan James came up to the register that day with a packaged soccer ball, a new flash drive, two cokes and two candy bars.

"Bored. I haven't had one moment to write any new music lately. I'm inspirationally drained!" Kira replied as she rung up their items. She pushed a few buttons and then blinked as she pressed a few more.

"That's weird."

"What?" Conner asked, leaning over to look at the register, not quite able to see what she'd done.

"It says you owe me $348."

"WHAT?!" Conner asked. "For a soccer ball, some computer thingie, and a few candy bars?"

"That's what I'm saying!" replied Kira. "Something must be wrong."

She started to push more buttons, having forgotten how to negate the sale. Her fingers fell on each key, more than once, and the price began to add up, and then drop. She pressed faster, smacking the machine a few times and then her eyes widened when it beeped and the screen froze.

"Uh…oh…"

It was then her boss had decided to appear out of no where and did not look very pleased.

"I take it you weren't fully listening when I taught you how to use the register, were you?" asked Marge, raising an eyebrow at the young girl.

"Um…"

Marge sighed and rolled her eyes, pushing Kira out of the way to ring the two boys up.

Conner and Ethan looked on, feeling a little sorry for Kira, but unable to contain how funny the whole situation seemed. Someone as smart as Kira, who could write chords and sing notes that some people would just envy, couldn't quite grasp working a Wal Mart register? It was a little funny.

Kira didn't seem amused.

The next day she was "let go."

"Glad to have you on the team, Krista!"

"It's…Kira."

"Oh…right! Well, whatever!"

Kira sighed to herself but smiled at her new boss. Somehow, she'd been able to get a job in a little boutique in the mall. And though she didn't particularly like the style of clothes—a little too preppy for her taste—she was glad to just have a job at all.

The assistant manager—her new boss—was kind of annoying though. Her name was Kandi with a 'K' and she was the pinnacle of valley girl prep. Right down to the bleach-blonde hair, the gum-chewing and the constant twirling of that one piece of hair around her finger.

"Well, like, everything is pretty straight forward. You just have to, like, keep all the racks nice and organized, and remember, customer service is like sooo super important 'cause like, customers are the ones who, like, buy the merchandise. Kay?" She grinned at Kira.

"Right. Got it."

"My supervisor already trained you on, like, the register, but since, like, everyone heard how your Wal Mart employment went, we decided to, like, start you on the floor. Good luck, Kayla!"

"It's—" Kandi had already walked off as Kira finished, "—Kira."

Kira took a deep breath and shook her head before going from rack to rack, fixing the clothes, making sure they hung straight, picking up stragglers off the floor and just making them look nice.

A customer came in.

Kira glanced at her but didn't really pay her much mind. That is, until Kandi made a slight nodding motion toward the woman. Kira blinked and then realized that she wanted her to help the woman.

That should've been obvious.

Kira stopped straightening the racks and took a few steps toward the woman, smiling as she looked at her. "Can I help you with anything?"

"Yes, I'm looking for a top," murmured the woman. "I'm not quite sure what I want, I just need one that goes well with a pair of black jeans."

"Oh well…um…" Kira was in a sea of pinks, baby-blues and purples. She was a little out of her element but she pulled a couple of items and handed them to the woman before helping her find her way to the dressing room.

As it was, none of the tops looked quite right on the woman to Kira and she must've thought so too, because no matter which ones she tried on, she seemed to take them back off and hand them to her, telling her it wasn't quite right.

The woman went back to looking and Kira approached Kandi.

"She doesn't really seem to like these clothes," Kira whispered to her, and Kandi rolled her eyes and pulled the lollipop—which had, at this point, replaced the gum—out of her mouth, looking at her yellow-clad co-worker.

"Then make her, like, like them. That's your job as, like, the salesperson. Duh," replied Kandi, as she leaned over the counter, one bleached eyebrow raised.

Kira scrubbed at her face in exasperation and then dropped her hands and gave Kandi the fakest smile she could muster before she went back to the woman and offered a few more options, which she also turned down. Kira was getting so frustrated at this point, that she just began to feed tops to the woman until every top in the store had been tried on.

"I just don't like any of these," the woman said and smiled a little apologetically at Kira. "But thank you so much for putting so much time in to try and help me find what I'm looking for."

Kira saw the woman's brow furrow and the smile turn a little brighter before she said, "Actually…I kind of like your top…"

Kira looked down at her shirt. It was yellow button down with a slightly puffy short-sleeve that had black spirals littering it all over. It was funky, stylish and it had yellow in it. Definitely her style. She smiled back at the woman. "Thanks."

"Where did you get it?"

"Oh, actually, just a few stores over! There should be a mannequin wearing one in the window actually, you can't miss it!" Kira replied, feeling kind of accomplished, pleased that she could help a customer.

The woman smiled, kindly at her, thanked her again and left.

Apparently, however, helping customers buying from competitors was not what this boutique wanted. Again, Kira was "let go."

"Ugh, this is hopeless," Kira whined as she flopped back in her chair at Haley's Cyberspace that day. She was sitting in front of one of Haley's many computers, on the job hunt yet again.

"What is?" asked a voice behind her and Kira jumped and then let out a breath of relief.

"Dr. O! You shouldn't sneak up on unsuspecting parties. It's not cool," replied Kira as she turned to look at him before she shook her head. "Just job hunting. If I wanna raise enough money to get a demo made so I can start submitting to record labels, I gotta get a job I can keep for more than a few days."

Dr. Thomas Oliver—familiarly referred to as Tommy or Dr. O—sat in the empty chair next to her, his body turned a little so he could look at her, his elbow hanging off the back of the chair.

"Yeah, Conner and Ethan told me about the Wal Mart incident. And the boutique. I'm really sorry about that," he said, always the nice guy.

Kira smiled at him a little. "Thanks, Dr. O. But that doesn't help me find a job."

She sighed.

"Well, it's been my experience that if something doesn't work out, it usually means it's not meant to be," replied Tommy, turning his body so that he could lean forward, folding his hands atop the table that the computers were perched on, with just his head turned to her now.

"I know, I know," she said, crossing his arms over her chest a little as she stared, firmly, at the screen in front of her. "I just don't know what to do. I haven't had time to write music at all, and, even if I had, I couldn't do anything with it without the money to make a demo. It's like being stuck between a rock and a hard place. I mean, I never thought I'd say this considering the normalcy has been refreshing, but I never thought I'd miss doing Power Ranger stuff as a happy distraction from real life."

Tommy laughed a little and nodded. "I remember how that was. Going back to normal is never as easy as you think it's gonna be. Even now, I told Anton I'd rather like being a high school science teacher, but even I miss the Power Rangers a little."

"It must be harder for you, though, Dr. O," replied the girl, looking at him thoughtfully, her head tilted, a little of her crimpy blonde hair falling over her shoulders. "I mean, you've had to give it up so many times. I've only given it up once."

"I guess it is," he answered leaning back in his own chairs, placing his hands on his thighs and looking at the wall, as if expecting to find the rest of his explanation scrawled there. Then he looked at her with a smile and continued, "But I'd have to say that it's also more of a relief to have a normal life again considering how many times I've done it."

"Two sides of the coin," Kira realized and Tommy nodded.

"Yeah, two sides of the coin."

Kira nodded and then glanced at him, again. "Dr. O, would you mind if I gave you a hug? I've been really stressing about all of this and it was…nice to have someone to talk to."

Tommy chuckled a little and shook his head. "Not at all."

She wrapped her arms around his neck and felt his arms slide around her middle, and she had to blush a little and close her eyes. She had to admit she had a tiny crush on him. He was a teacher, had been her teacher, and he was older than her, by at least ten years but…

He didn't look or act like a man in his thirties. She couldn't help herself.

Still…

She pulled back from him and smiled again before sighing and shaking her head. "But I still don't know what to do about the job."

"Why not work here?" a new voice intervened and both Tommy and Kira turned their faces up to look at Haley. Then Kira turned to look at Tommy. He just grinned a little and shrugged.

Kira's brown eyes turned back to Haley, looking thoughtful for a moment before she nodded. "Okay."

"So…you want a strawberry-banana smoothie with a hint of blueberry and an alertness boost?" Kira asked, jotting the order down on her pad.

"Yes," said the infamous Cassidy Cornell as she sat with her assistant-slash-boyfriend Devon, going over their latest story ideas. "You've repeated it back to me three times now and it's still what I want."

"Right…" Kira said, and then went back behind the counter. She bit her lip as she looked at the blenders and ingredients. Following the posted recipes for each smoothie, she put in the fruits and boost powder. However, before she could put the lid on, another customer got her attention.

Thoroughly distracted by the voice calling for her, she turned the blender on without the lid and left to go help the other customer.

By the time Kira got back, Haley was trying to tame the mess, covered in pale pink smoothie and Kira winced a little.

"Oops?"

Haley sighed but smiled at Kira. She was not quite as harsh as her other employers.

"Here, I'll make the smoothies. You can bring them to customers," Haley said. "Easy, right?"

Kira's fearful expression turned into a thankful smile. "Sure. Easy."

Easy, yes. Accident resistant? Definitely not. As Kira carried the tray of smoothies toward Cassidy's table, she tripped over Devon's camera case and dumped every drink on the tray all over Cassidy.

"AH!" Cassidy screamed, jumping up, her white skirt and pink shirt covered in varying colors of liquid. "Kira Ford, you are so dead!"

"I-I'm so sorry. Oh my gosh, Cass, I'm so sorry!" Kira amended, trying to mop the drinks off her shirt with a napkin and just spreading the mess around.

"You're blending it in! It's gonna stain! Stop!"

Kira yanked her hand back from Cassidy as if she'd been burned, trying to ignore the people laughing as she looked over to the counter, where Haley was looking at her with apologetic eyes.

Yes, even Haley had to "let go" of Kira.

"So you're just gonna give up?" Ethan asked Kira one day as they were hanging out at the mall. They were standing in line to get food with Conner at that particular moment and both guys had offered to pay for Kira's lunch considering she was having such issues holding down a job.

"Why not go back to working at the television studio?" asked Conner as they moved up in line a little.

"No way. That was an internship, it didn't pay anything. And I wasn't moving up to a position where I was gonna get paid anytime soon. Besides, I bet I'd just screw that up too," Kira replied, sighing. "The only thing I'm good at is music, I guess."

"Well and being a Power—" Ethan started until Kira and Conner "Shhh!"ed him simultaneously. He blushed and scratched the back of his head, sheepishly.

"Besides," Kira continued. "That's all over. We're not…you-know-what…anymore. So all I have is music."

"Well you can't just expect a good job to fall in your lap, Kir," replied Conner, before looking at the woman behind the counter. "Yeah, can I have the kung-pao chicken and a side of fried rice?"

The woman behind the counter looked at Kira. "Did you say you needed a job? A relatively easy, mindless job? That pays decent?"

Kira blinked and raised an eyebrow at her. "Eavesdropping is kind of rude."

"No, no, listen to me. See them over there," she replied, pointing to the main mall walkway where a girl about Kira's age wore an ugly yellow polo and black pants. She was selling balloons with various characters on it to little children as they shuffled by her cart.

"The balloons?" Kira asked.

The woman nodded. "They're hiring. It's a job a monkey could do, really. You make sure everything is neat and you sell balloons. They pay minimum wage too. No commission. Hourly."

"How do you know all this?"

" 'cause the girl selling the balloons is my sister. Go ask her for an application."

Kira blinked and then shimmied out of line, telling Ethan what she wanted as she started toward the cart. She smiled at the girl when she turned her attention to her.

"Can I help you? Aren't you a little old to want a balloon?"

Kira laughed a little as she looked at a small balloon that had her, Conner and Ethan in their Ranger forms printed on the front. "I'm not here for a balloon. I heard this place is hiring. I'd like to apply."

The girl looked her up and down and then handed her an application. "Just bring it back to me. I'll give it to my boss."

Kira nodded and went to sit next to her friends who'd finished ordering their lunch. As she ate her food, quietly, she filled out the application, and Conner and Ethan watched her, frowning a little as they did. Ethan glanced at the application and then at Conner, looking a little unsure.

"Are you sure you wanna do this, Kira? I mean…you'll have to deal with screaming little kids all day," he said.

"So? A job is a job and money is money and the girl at the Chinese place is right. It's a job a monkey could do. Re-tie helium balloons, make sure the stick ones are in neat little bundles and sell to kids. How hard is that?" Kira replied as she finished the application and signed it with a scrawly Kira Ford before standing. "I'll be right back."

She made her way back to the girl with the balloons and handed her the application. "Here."

The girl looked it over and nodded. "My supervisor will be in touch."

"Thanks for the ride, Dr. O," Kira said as she fidgeted with the ugly yellow polo, trying to get the collar just right before she pulled her long hair up into a ponytail. "I hate to put you out but my mom and dad work late and Conner's got a soccer thing going on."

"It's no trouble, Kira," replied the older man, smiling at her out of the corner of his eye as they pulled into the mall parking lot. She pointed the way to the back entrance into the office where the balloon carts were stashed. Then, she climbed out of his Jeep with another call of thanks and started up the walkway to the entrance.

"Wait, Kira!"

She stopped and turned to him. "What is it, Dr. O? Did I forget something?"

"No, just…I'll come get you after work, okay? I'm sure Conner will be exhausted if he's doing something soccer related."

Kira smiled at him and nodded, trying desperately not to blush. "Thanks, Dr. O. I get off at eight. See you later." She waved and then started up the walk again, before disappearing inside the door.

Tommy watched her go and then let out a long sigh and mumbled, "What would Kim think. Meh, who cares for that matter."

He started out of the parking lot.

"The small stick balloons are $2.25. The larger are $4.00. So are all the helium balloons. No tax. Think you can keep that straight?"

Kira's new boss was a stick-thin man, in his mid to late forties. His hair was thinning, he wore huge, square rimmed glasses and seemed to think his job as the "balloon guy" was really important because he was always dressed in a nice shirt and tie. His name was Bert and he glanced at Kira, waiting for an answer, as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Huh? Oh yeah. Small is $2.25. Big and helium are $4.00. Got it."

"Good." Then he walked off.

And so Kira's first day at the job was good. She didn't make any mistakes, miscount anything or have any customers leave without a balloon of some sort. Because of that, four hours seemed to fly by and about ten minutes before her shift was to end, Tommy showed up.

"Hey…so this is it, huh?" he asked, looking around and then outright laughing when he saw the balloon Kira had been looking at when she'd first applied. "Nice picture of you guys. Where's the black one?"

"Who knows? Maybe he wasn't popular enough," replied Kira playfully as she started to pull the cart back toward the office to put it away. Once she got it stored away and got the office locked up, she looked at Tommy. "I'm ready to go if you are."

"Sure."

They left together.

"So, sounds like your new job is going well," Haley commented. It was Kira's day off and she was hanging out with Conner, Ethan and Tommy at the cyber café. She smiled at Haley and nodded.

"Yeah, no mistakes so far. And Dr. O has become my designated chauffeur," she replied, teasingly, grinning at Tommy. "Since Conner has joined the soccer team as a regular and my mom and dad both get off work so late."

"Eh, I don't mind. She pays for gas," Tommy replied, smirking at her.

"He forces me!"

"Uh huh."

Kira stuck her tongue out at him, laughing afterward.

Haley raised an eyebrow at the two of them, realizing something was changing between them as she served their drinks before she leaned over to look at Kira's open notebook. "Oh, it seems you're writing again."

"Yeah, on my downtime at work, they don't mind if I scribble in my notebook a little," replied Kira.

"Pretty lyrics. Kind of sad though. 'Distance blocks us. An immortal distance no one can change. I want to be his, but the weight of ages can't be rearranged.'"

Kira slammed her notebook closed and laughed, nervously. "Yeah. They just came to me one day and I ran with them. No idea where they came from."

"They're powerful. Are you sure nothing inspired y—" Haley started.

"—well I should get home. Don't see my parents enough now with this job and all. See you guys later!" Kira replied, quickly, before picking up her stuff and rushing out, with Conner, Ethan and Tommy watching her go.

"Wonder what that was all about," Conner pondered, as he sipped his drink through the straw. "She's been acting weird lately, though."

"I think it's the kids," Ethan replied. "All those sticky little hands, being all grabby all day. Can you imagine the fingerprints those things could leave on a computer monitor? It's scary just to think about."

"She's not working with computers, you doof."

"Still…" Ethan shuddered.

Conner laughed. "Scared of kids and water. I bet if you were around a bunch of kids in a swimming pool, you'd probably piss yourself."

"Shut up!"

"Guys," Tommy interjected. "Enough. Maybe Kira's just stressed from work. It happens to all of us. She'll be fine."

He glanced at Haley, wondering what the woman could be thinking, and noticing her eyes were still trained to the door in which Kira had left out of. He frowned and touched her arm, "Hal?"

"Huh, oh, sorry, Tommy. You're right. She's probably just stressed from everything going on. I'm sure she'll be just fine." She smiled at him. "And I hope she finds time to come sing here again. We kind of miss her."

With that, she left to go and take a few more orders.

It had been three weeks since Kira had started her new job and there were no problems whatsoever. She always arrived on time—thanks to Dr. O—and always closed up on time and never made less money than was expected of her. She cleaned up well, was always polite to customers and kept chatting to a minimum.

On that day, she was really doing well. Had made over three hundred dollars, considering it was incredibly busy at the mall that day. She was doing everything right.

Her four hour shift seemed to drag on though, despite her busyness. She had left her notebook at home, accidentally, and was eager to finish her new song. But she had to be careful. Haley had seen her lyrics, and Kira hadn't exactly written them in any sort of secret code. Sure, they were a little abstract but if someone really thought about it, it was obvious she was writing about liking a man who had a considerable distance in age from her.

Dr. O.

And he had been sitting right there! And then Haley had asked about inspiration. Did she know? But how could she? No way. There was no way Haley knew about her crush on Dr. O.

"Excuse me."

Kira jumped, broken from her thoughts and turned to look at a man with his daughter. She plastered on a smile immediately and got back to work. It wouldn't bode well to get distracted and lose this job too.

"Hey."

Kira turned, surprised to find Tommy there to pick her up already. "Dr. O, I've still got fifteen minutes of my shift left and I've still got to put the cart away. What's up?"

"Nothing. I just…well, to be honest, I didn't have anything more to do at home. I graded papers, watched TV, worked out a little, took a shower…and here I am."

Worked out. Took a shower.

Dr. O sweating.

Dr. O naked.

Dr. O wet.

Kira's face went red immediately and Tommy blinked at her. "Everything all right? You just got really red."

"I-It's just hot in here. All the body heat, you know. I-I'm fine," Kira replied, looking at him with a smile. "You didn't have to come early, though."

"Well I figured I'd come see how you were doing since I had nothing else going on. How was work?"

"It was just fine. I made good money today so there shouldn't be any problems," replied Kira, her total attention on Tommy. One last customer came up and had to physically tap Kira to get her to focus. She nearly snapped at the woman but was able to refrain. However, she ended up losing the sale because nothing really appealed to the woman's child.

She blushed. "Well, it's a good thing I made good money already or—"

"Miss Ford."

Kira turned and found her boss coming toward her, not looking particularly happy. "Uh, hello, Bert."

"Miss Ford," Bert said, curtly. "I just saw you ignoring a customer. And then, when you finally did pay her mind, she ended up walking away."

"Well, I wasn't ignoring her, and she walked away because—"

"Furthermore, your boyfriend comes to pick you up every time at least ten to fifteen minutes early, and it's clearly been distracting you!"

"B-Boyfriend? He's not my—"

"I'm afraid I can't have this kind of distraction on my team, Miss Ford," said the man and Kira's eyes grew wide with fear, for she knew what was coming next and she knew she wasn't going to like it. Not one bit.

"And I'm afraid, Miss Ford, that I'm going to have to let you go."

And then the world crumbled.

"I'm sorry," Tommy said for what seemed like the millionth time that night as he drove Kira home.

"It isn't your fault, Dr. O. I should've been more attentive," replied Kira, smiling at him. But he could see tears glistening behind those pretty brown eyes.

He pulled the Jeep over and sat there with her, frowning. "I know finding a job has been hard for you. And I know this one was finally working out for you. I really am sor—"

"It's not a big deal, Dr. O! Really. The boss was an uptight idiot anyway. I mean…" She blushed and glanced at him. "Can you believe he thought you were my…b-boyfriend?"

Tommy had been taken aback by that statement made by the man. And then he had thought about it and…was it really such a bad thing to contemplate? Kira was beautiful, on par with Kim and Kat, definitely—what was his affinity for girls with K names?—and definitely as strong and feisty as them. But not quite as girly…not quite as high maintenance.

He kind of liked that. He kind of liked her. More than a teacher should like a student, or a former student. Swallowing down his pride—and his fear for his job—he murmured, "No, I can't…but, um…"

Kira looked at him.

Tommy laughed, and ran his hand through spiky hair. "You're not my student anymore. And…obviously something is changing between us. Has been since that conversation in the cyber café when you hugged me. Maybe…your 'idiot' boss is right. Maybe he saw it before we did. Maybe—"

"Dr. O?"

"Tommy."

"What?"

"My name is Tommy. I'm not your teacher anymore, you can call me Tommy."

Kira leaned back in the car seat a little and murmured, "Tommy." It didn't feel as strange on her tongue as she thought it would.

"Kira, this may be the worst—or best—decision of my life but…" He couldn't believe he was doing this. He was smarter than this. "…would you like to give this…us…thing a try?"

Kira's eyes widened a little. "Dr. O—Tommy, are you sure? I mean…I am a lot younger than you. That's sort of frowned upon. By like…everyone."

"So? When have you ever cared what others thought?" Tommy asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

It was true. She was the kind of person who didn't really give a damn what others thought of her personality, her clothes, her music. And definitely not the men she chose to date. Including Dr. O.

"…what about your job?"

"You're not my student anymore. As long as we keep my work and our relationship separate, it shouldn't be a problem."

Kira frowned at that. "Does that mean I can't tell Conner and Ethan? Or Haley?"

"No. It means I can't tell my students or colleagues who my girlfriend is. And I wouldn't want to. My personal life is my business. However," he paused for a moment and then said: "I would appreciate if you didn't tell Cassidy. She's…well, let's face it, she's a big mouth."

Kira laughed outright and nodded. "Okay. Deal. Should we shake on it?"

"I have a better idea."

With that, Dr. Tommy Oliver leaned in to kiss Kira Ford, his third girlfriend with the letter K in her name. And the one he definitely intended to keep forever. If life would allow him to be so lucky.

And what a sweet kiss it was.

"Distance blocked us, an immortal distance I was able to change. I'm finally his, the weight of ages rearranged. I thought we couldn't be, but now I see, love has a way of setting you free, love has a way of making you believe, and setting, oh, setting you free," Kira sang, glad to be back on stage at Haley's, smiling and doing what she loved to do.

Out in the audience, Tommy watched her, jumping a little when Haley seemed to appear and set a cup of coffee in front of him. "I see she changed the lyrics."

She smirked and Tommy rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, we knew that you knew. You're too perceptive for your own good, Hal."

"That I am, and so I have perceived a way for Kira to have a part-time job that is totally foolproof for her."

"Oh?"

"Yep. I've decided I'm gonna start paying her for playing here," replied Haley, holding her empty drink tray against her chest and turning her eyes to Kira. "I mean, she's good. Really good. If she could get that demo made, she would definitely have a shot at the big time."

She glanced at Tommy. "Which could mean possibly leaving here for a long time to pursue it. Could you handle that?"

Tommy looked thoughtful for a moment. He was pretty sure, despite them only dating for a few weeks, that he was falling hard for Kira. But he also knew that singing was what she loved and music was her chosen career. He'd never get in her way. And he'd wait for her. After all, he was just a high school science teacher. He wasn't going anywhere.

"Yeah, I think I could."

"Oh?"

"Mmhm." Tommy grinned a little as he looked up to the stage and his eyes met Kira's. "Because I have no intention of letting go."

AN: That's it folks! Now for a little background. This fic was inspired by a recent…incident that I had at work. I wasn't fired, per sae, but suspended for something I really didn't do. I won't go into to much detail but I needed a way to vent my frustration at my fail bosses and this is what came out of it. I hope you all enjoyed my first Kirommy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Beta'd by MoonchildDJ