Drabble...?
Yah, right *snorts* I thought it was going to be a drabble, apparently the muse had other ideas. Guess she's on a kick of the serious type since that seems to be what I'm currently throwing out there lately. One of these days, I swear I'll be able to write something that's less than a mile long... Oh well, as long as it keeps you guys happy, I'm willing to go with it. ;)
Title: It’s Not Easy Being A Leader
Author: LttleDvl
Fandom: Power Rangers SPD
Pairing: Jack/Sky (no, it’s not slash - you perv! lol ;)
Rating: 15+ (nothing squikish, just a serious-minded tone)
Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own a bit of it; I just like to play around with the characters.
Summary: Jack can’t sleep. Apparently, neither can Sky...(takes place shortly after 'Sam')
Word count: 1803
A/N: minor spoilers for 'Sam'
Sitting on the back of one of the sofas in the B-Squad Common Room, Jack stared out at the sprawling cityscape below. It had been a long night for the Red Ranger; after a few hours of endless tossing and turning, Jack finally pulled himself out of bed and wandered into the common room.
He tried the television, flipping through the channels and staring dully at the infomercials, hoping that the incessant droning of the TV would knock him out. But his thoughts rebelled, unwilling to let Jack rest. A mug of hot chocolate didn’t bring him any comfort either. Idly gazing out the window, mug gripped loosely between his palms, Jack sat there looking out at the city, without actually seeing it.
How long he sat there, he couldn’t even begin to guess. It really didn’t matter to him anyway. It seemed that here in this moment, time had frozen; leaving him trapped in a maelstrom of doubt and worry with no way out. So lost was he, that he shut everything else out, not noticing when another presence entered the room. Even when that presence took up a position next to him on the couch, Jack remained unaware.
Suddenly, a soft pressure on his arm yanked him out of his tiny world and he blinked for a moment, slowly returning to reality. Turning his head slightly, he was startled to see Sky sitting next to him, looking almost as disheveled as Jack felt.
“How do you do it Sky?” Jack asked quietly.
Sky gave him a blank look, “Do what? Why are you out here at this time of day?”
“Day?” Slightly confused, Jack turned back to the window, suddenly realizing that despite the entrapment his thoughts had held him in, time did in fact still manage to move forward. He was shocked to discover that somewhere along the line, night had given way to morning. Though it was still a bit dark, there was a definite lightness to the sky, a warning of the approaching dawn.
Jack sighed heavily as he re-focused on the city once more. His thoughts returned with a vengeance, burying him in the swirl of emotions that crept up from the pit of his stomach.
“Jack?”
A voice cut through the noise in his head, jerking him awake once more. “Huh?” He turned a half-aware gaze at his second-in-command, idly wondering why the Blue Ranger was awake so early. “Why are you up?”
“Funny; that’s what I just asked you,” Sky’s face took on a serious look, “What’s bugging you? You’re up way too early and then you spaced out on me.”
“I don’t know,” he replied dully.
Sky shook his head at his team leader, “Yah right. What did you mean earlier when you asked me ‘how I do it’?”
“Oh,” Jack stared down at his hands, vaguely surprised to find that he still held onto a mug of now-turned-cold cocoa. “I...,” he drew in a quick breath before facing Sky fully, “How long have you known Syd and Bridge?”
“Two years. Why?”
“And you would do anything for them, right?”
Visibly caught off-guard by the question, Sky answered before he realized that he was speaking, “Of course. Their my friends, like family even.”
“Family,” Jack muttered the world quietly, glancing down once more.
“Is this about earlier? When Cruger told us about...” Sky trailed off.
“Yes and no,” Jack shrugged lightly, “I don’t have a family, Sky. Or rather, I didn’t for a long time. Then Z came along,” Jack fixed Sky with an expression so full of emotion that the Blue Ranger couldn’t even begin to decipher it all, “She’s my family, my sister. And for a while there, I thought I was going to lose her.”
“You mean when Bugglesworth and the Krybots had a hold of her?” came the quiet question.
Jack only nodded in response. “That’s what I meant when I asked you how you do it.” Ignoring the confused look on Sky’s face, Jack pressed on, “You were the leader of the team for two years Sky, and now you’re the second. At some point, you’ll give orders. What do you do when those orders are to send your friends, your family, into danger? How does one do that?”
Sky drew in a deep breath and turned away, staring at the floor before fixing his gaze on the window and the sights beyond it. “I don’t know, Jack. I don’t think there’s an easy answer for that question.”
“But you would still do it, wouldn’t you? Even if you knew that they might not come back some day; you’d still send them into danger.”
Sky clenched his jaw and swallowed thickly before turning an unreadable look on his team leader. “Yes,” he replied softly, voice nearly a whisper.
“How; how could you do that?” Jack asked just as quietly.
“I didn’t say I would want to, dammit!” Sky suddenly roared and pushed himself quickly away from the sofa, moving to the corner of the room, staring out at the city.
Jack was surprised at Sky’s reaction. They’d been teammates for long enough now that Jack knew Sky had a temper, but he still hadn’t quite discovered all of the things that would set him off. Apparently, he had just found another.
“Sky?” Jack asked cautiously.
“What?” came the curt reply.
“I’m sorry; I didn’t mean...sorry.”
Sky shook his head briefly, “No; you’re right. Sometimes being a leader isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, is it?” He glanced over at the Red Ranger before re-joining him, leaning against the back of the sofa. “We’re S.P.D., we’re Rangers, we took a vow to protect this city, to protect Earth. Z, Bridge and Syd did too. They would expect us to honor that vow, no matter what, even if it meant...” he trailed off, unable to finish.
“I know. And you’re right. Z was always talking about wanting to help people, wanting to do something more. ‘Be part of something bigger’ she always used to say. I never fully realized until now what that could mean. The cost of living up to that.” Jack turned a look full of apprehension towards Sky. “How does one go on; knowing that someday one of your teammates might not come back with you?”
Jack realized with a start just how close he’d come to treading on delicate ground as he watched Sky’s face turn from slight anxiousness to outright agony. “Oh shit,” he muttered quietly, “Sky, I’m sorry; I didn’t mean for it come out like that. I mean...”
“I know what you meant, Jack,” Sky cut him off quietly, “The answer is; I still don’t know, not really. All you can do is to continue on, knowing that they did what they felt was right. It won’t be easy, losing someone close to you never is; but sitting around and moping their loss won’t be what they wanted. You have to keep going, for their sake.”
It suddenly dawned on Jack why Sky was dead set on pushing himself all the time; he wasn’t just a Ranger for himself, he was doing it for his dad as well. Jack wondered if that was healthy for him or not. Sky might not be walking around in a total fog of grief and anguish all the time, but he was most certainly still morning the loss of his father, albeit in a different way. Jack idly speculated that it would be some time before Sky truly let go of his father; he only hoped that he would be able to let go before the Blue Ranger lost himself.
Jack gazed at Sky with a new outlook. Sure, they would likely butt heads still, but he realized that Sky wasn’t the complete hard-ass he made himself out to be. He had a lot more depth and emotion than Jack had previously been aware of. Something that the Red Ranger wasn’t going to forget anytime soon.
“Bridge and Syd are your family, like Z is to me,” Sky nodded and Jack stared down at the floor once more, “You’d give anything to protect them, but at the same time you’d want them to do what they felt was right; you wouldn’t begrudge them that.”
“No; I wouldn’t.”
Jack looked back up at Sky as he slid off the sofa, “Thanks, man. I think I needed that.”
Sky grunted absently, “Sure; like you really needed to have a gut-wrenching conversation with your second at oh-my-god-its-way-too-frigging-early while still in your pj’s. Just as about as much as you need a hole in your head.”
“I’ll take the conversation over the hole, thank you very much. How would I be able to lead the team if my head ached all the time?” He gave Sky a half-cocked grin.
“You’re whacked, you know that right?”
“Not any more than you,” he leaned slightly towards the taller man, “I’m not the only one hanging out in my pajamas at before the crack of dawn, you know.”
“Piss off.”
Jack laughed and finally returned his mug to the food replicator, glad that they were back to their routine banter; though this time it seemed to be a more companionable exchange than their typically worded daggers.
“Go to bed, Sky,” Jack stated as he stretched his shoulders out.
“What for? We’ll have to be up again in just a couple of hours. What would be the point?”
“Because I’ll bet you got about as much sleep as I did; none. And we can’t have the two highest-ranking cadets in the Academy passing out on the training field, now can we? Or...” he eyed Sky with a mischievous grin, “Do I have to turn that into an order?”
Sky grunted, “You’re a pain in the ass, Jack.”
“I aim to please!”
“Shut up.”
Jack chuckled and flopped himself down on one of the sofas, stretching his legs out and resting them on the small coffee table.
“Aren’t you going to bed?”
“Naw, still too wound up for sleep.”
Sky rolled his eyes and joined Jack by claiming another sofa, “You wouldn’t be wound up if you hadn’t downed a mug full of chocolate in the middle of the night.”
“Hey, I didn’t drink all of it,” Jack replied as he yawned slightly, “Most of it got pretty cold.”
“Yah, sure,” came the mumbled reply as Sky settled himself comfortably.
“Mmm...” Jack vaguely noted that Sky’s eyelids had taken on a certain heaviness as he finally began to relax, settling back against the soft cushions.
If anyone wondered why the Blue and Red Rangers were found dead asleep in the middle of the common room a few short hours later, no one bothered to ask. And if asked, they probably wouldn’t have told anyway.
Title: It’s Not Easy Being A Leader
Author: LttleDvl
Fandom: Power Rangers SPD
Pairing: Jack/Sky (no, it’s not slash - you perv! lol ;)
Rating: 15+ (nothing squikish, just a serious-minded tone)
Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own a bit of it; I just like to play around with the characters.
Summary: Jack can’t sleep. Apparently, neither can Sky...(takes place shortly after 'Sam')
Word count: 1803
A/N: minor spoilers for 'Sam'
Sitting on the back of one of the sofas in the B-Squad Common Room, Jack stared out at the sprawling cityscape below. It had been a long night for the Red Ranger; after a few hours of endless tossing and turning, Jack finally pulled himself out of bed and wandered into the common room.
He tried the television, flipping through the channels and staring dully at the infomercials, hoping that the incessant droning of the TV would knock him out. But his thoughts rebelled, unwilling to let Jack rest. A mug of hot chocolate didn’t bring him any comfort either. Idly gazing out the window, mug gripped loosely between his palms, Jack sat there looking out at the city, without actually seeing it.
How long he sat there, he couldn’t even begin to guess. It really didn’t matter to him anyway. It seemed that here in this moment, time had frozen; leaving him trapped in a maelstrom of doubt and worry with no way out. So lost was he, that he shut everything else out, not noticing when another presence entered the room. Even when that presence took up a position next to him on the couch, Jack remained unaware.
Suddenly, a soft pressure on his arm yanked him out of his tiny world and he blinked for a moment, slowly returning to reality. Turning his head slightly, he was startled to see Sky sitting next to him, looking almost as disheveled as Jack felt.
“How do you do it Sky?” Jack asked quietly.
Sky gave him a blank look, “Do what? Why are you out here at this time of day?”
“Day?” Slightly confused, Jack turned back to the window, suddenly realizing that despite the entrapment his thoughts had held him in, time did in fact still manage to move forward. He was shocked to discover that somewhere along the line, night had given way to morning. Though it was still a bit dark, there was a definite lightness to the sky, a warning of the approaching dawn.
Jack sighed heavily as he re-focused on the city once more. His thoughts returned with a vengeance, burying him in the swirl of emotions that crept up from the pit of his stomach.
“Jack?”
A voice cut through the noise in his head, jerking him awake once more. “Huh?” He turned a half-aware gaze at his second-in-command, idly wondering why the Blue Ranger was awake so early. “Why are you up?”
“Funny; that’s what I just asked you,” Sky’s face took on a serious look, “What’s bugging you? You’re up way too early and then you spaced out on me.”
“I don’t know,” he replied dully.
Sky shook his head at his team leader, “Yah right. What did you mean earlier when you asked me ‘how I do it’?”
“Oh,” Jack stared down at his hands, vaguely surprised to find that he still held onto a mug of now-turned-cold cocoa. “I...,” he drew in a quick breath before facing Sky fully, “How long have you known Syd and Bridge?”
“Two years. Why?”
“And you would do anything for them, right?”
Visibly caught off-guard by the question, Sky answered before he realized that he was speaking, “Of course. Their my friends, like family even.”
“Family,” Jack muttered the world quietly, glancing down once more.
“Is this about earlier? When Cruger told us about...” Sky trailed off.
“Yes and no,” Jack shrugged lightly, “I don’t have a family, Sky. Or rather, I didn’t for a long time. Then Z came along,” Jack fixed Sky with an expression so full of emotion that the Blue Ranger couldn’t even begin to decipher it all, “She’s my family, my sister. And for a while there, I thought I was going to lose her.”
“You mean when Bugglesworth and the Krybots had a hold of her?” came the quiet question.
Jack only nodded in response. “That’s what I meant when I asked you how you do it.” Ignoring the confused look on Sky’s face, Jack pressed on, “You were the leader of the team for two years Sky, and now you’re the second. At some point, you’ll give orders. What do you do when those orders are to send your friends, your family, into danger? How does one do that?”
Sky drew in a deep breath and turned away, staring at the floor before fixing his gaze on the window and the sights beyond it. “I don’t know, Jack. I don’t think there’s an easy answer for that question.”
“But you would still do it, wouldn’t you? Even if you knew that they might not come back some day; you’d still send them into danger.”
Sky clenched his jaw and swallowed thickly before turning an unreadable look on his team leader. “Yes,” he replied softly, voice nearly a whisper.
“How; how could you do that?” Jack asked just as quietly.
“I didn’t say I would want to, dammit!” Sky suddenly roared and pushed himself quickly away from the sofa, moving to the corner of the room, staring out at the city.
Jack was surprised at Sky’s reaction. They’d been teammates for long enough now that Jack knew Sky had a temper, but he still hadn’t quite discovered all of the things that would set him off. Apparently, he had just found another.
“Sky?” Jack asked cautiously.
“What?” came the curt reply.
“I’m sorry; I didn’t mean...sorry.”
Sky shook his head briefly, “No; you’re right. Sometimes being a leader isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, is it?” He glanced over at the Red Ranger before re-joining him, leaning against the back of the sofa. “We’re S.P.D., we’re Rangers, we took a vow to protect this city, to protect Earth. Z, Bridge and Syd did too. They would expect us to honor that vow, no matter what, even if it meant...” he trailed off, unable to finish.
“I know. And you’re right. Z was always talking about wanting to help people, wanting to do something more. ‘Be part of something bigger’ she always used to say. I never fully realized until now what that could mean. The cost of living up to that.” Jack turned a look full of apprehension towards Sky. “How does one go on; knowing that someday one of your teammates might not come back with you?”
Jack realized with a start just how close he’d come to treading on delicate ground as he watched Sky’s face turn from slight anxiousness to outright agony. “Oh shit,” he muttered quietly, “Sky, I’m sorry; I didn’t mean for it come out like that. I mean...”
“I know what you meant, Jack,” Sky cut him off quietly, “The answer is; I still don’t know, not really. All you can do is to continue on, knowing that they did what they felt was right. It won’t be easy, losing someone close to you never is; but sitting around and moping their loss won’t be what they wanted. You have to keep going, for their sake.”
It suddenly dawned on Jack why Sky was dead set on pushing himself all the time; he wasn’t just a Ranger for himself, he was doing it for his dad as well. Jack wondered if that was healthy for him or not. Sky might not be walking around in a total fog of grief and anguish all the time, but he was most certainly still morning the loss of his father, albeit in a different way. Jack idly speculated that it would be some time before Sky truly let go of his father; he only hoped that he would be able to let go before the Blue Ranger lost himself.
Jack gazed at Sky with a new outlook. Sure, they would likely butt heads still, but he realized that Sky wasn’t the complete hard-ass he made himself out to be. He had a lot more depth and emotion than Jack had previously been aware of. Something that the Red Ranger wasn’t going to forget anytime soon.
“Bridge and Syd are your family, like Z is to me,” Sky nodded and Jack stared down at the floor once more, “You’d give anything to protect them, but at the same time you’d want them to do what they felt was right; you wouldn’t begrudge them that.”
“No; I wouldn’t.”
Jack looked back up at Sky as he slid off the sofa, “Thanks, man. I think I needed that.”
Sky grunted absently, “Sure; like you really needed to have a gut-wrenching conversation with your second at oh-my-god-its-way-too-frigging-early while still in your pj’s. Just as about as much as you need a hole in your head.”
“I’ll take the conversation over the hole, thank you very much. How would I be able to lead the team if my head ached all the time?” He gave Sky a half-cocked grin.
“You’re whacked, you know that right?”
“Not any more than you,” he leaned slightly towards the taller man, “I’m not the only one hanging out in my pajamas at before the crack of dawn, you know.”
“Piss off.”
Jack laughed and finally returned his mug to the food replicator, glad that they were back to their routine banter; though this time it seemed to be a more companionable exchange than their typically worded daggers.
“Go to bed, Sky,” Jack stated as he stretched his shoulders out.
“What for? We’ll have to be up again in just a couple of hours. What would be the point?”
“Because I’ll bet you got about as much sleep as I did; none. And we can’t have the two highest-ranking cadets in the Academy passing out on the training field, now can we? Or...” he eyed Sky with a mischievous grin, “Do I have to turn that into an order?”
Sky grunted, “You’re a pain in the ass, Jack.”
“I aim to please!”
“Shut up.”
Jack chuckled and flopped himself down on one of the sofas, stretching his legs out and resting them on the small coffee table.
“Aren’t you going to bed?”
“Naw, still too wound up for sleep.”
Sky rolled his eyes and joined Jack by claiming another sofa, “You wouldn’t be wound up if you hadn’t downed a mug full of chocolate in the middle of the night.”
“Hey, I didn’t drink all of it,” Jack replied as he yawned slightly, “Most of it got pretty cold.”
“Yah, sure,” came the mumbled reply as Sky settled himself comfortably.
“Mmm...” Jack vaguely noted that Sky’s eyelids had taken on a certain heaviness as he finally began to relax, settling back against the soft cushions.
If anyone wondered why the Blue and Red Rangers were found dead asleep in the middle of the common room a few short hours later, no one bothered to ask. And if asked, they probably wouldn’t have told anyway.