Bright Skies (Multi - Season Crossover/Power Rangers, prompt #91: Birthday, T)
Apparently my sister is gonna be here in like, three hours, so I really can't put off cleaning the bathroom any longer. But before I hobble off, my proccastination has yielded one more chapter. Enjoy.
Author/: Tsukino Akume
Fandom/: Power Rangers Time Force moving into S.P.D., multiple Rangers from each season
Characters/: Wes (Time Force), multiple Rangers from other teams (Literally too many to list)
Pairings/: Wes/Eric, R.J./O.C., Rocky/Adam, Zack/Aisha, T.J./O.C., Justin/Rose, Carter/Ryan, Shane/Dustin, Hunter/Cam, Andros/Ashley, Zhane/Karone, Carlos/Ronny, Jason/Taylor, Tommy/Kimberly, Tyzonn/Mack, Cassie/OC, Z/Syd, Jack/Charlie, Sky/Bridge, and probably some others I'm forgetting.
prompt/: #91: Birthday
Rating/: T (For non - graphic mentions of people having babies and being violent with one another)
Disclaimer/: I don't own the Power Rangers, but if Disney's hiring any new writers I volunteer.
Summary/: When Wes' life starts to fall apart, an accident gives him a chance at a fresh start in New Tech City, with Space Patrol Delta. But even a new life has its ups and downs - and weird friends. Meanwhile, Eric tries to move on.
Warnings/: A mentally handicapped person living in a medical facility, angst, male and female slash, non-cemented couples (In otherwords, pairings that will be separated), children created by scientific means, character death
Author's Notes/: This prompt just sort of wrote itself. It was loads of fun. ^_^
This chapter is dedicated to BlackCrimsonLight, because he needs cheering up, and I’m hoping it makes him laugh.
"Okay," R.J. declared, looking around the kitchen. "Decorations, check. Presents, check. Pizza, most definitely check. Cake ... check. Birthday kids ... " He frowned. "Not check."
Eric looked up from the cake he was decorating. "If you lost one, I'm putting this frosting in your hair and using you as a decoy," he remarked. He frowned back down at the cake. Why had he ever admitted he knew how to cook again?
"Let's see. Kookaburra, check. Ram, check." He could see R.J. turning in circles, looking around the kitchen and living room. "Hyena ... no check. Uh, has anybody seen Emily?"
"Sky took her back to the nursery to change her," Wes supplied, looking up from his relaxed position on the couch, reading a book as he scratched Jen's head with his free hand. His right foot remained propped up on a pillow. It was only a light sprain, but Eric wasn't letting him take any chances on making it worse, and Sky, Vanessa, and R.J. had all backed him up.
"R.J., would you stop calling them animals?" Eric groused. "They have names for a reason."
R.J. blinked at him. "Of course they do. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't acknowledge their spirits as well."
"He means he's doing it because it drives you crazy," Wes called. "That's the same reason he calls Nes Minx."
"So what's your excuse?" Vanessa demanded, stealing his book and thumping him over the head with it before settling Charlie in his high chair. He immediately burst into tears in protest.
"Bring him here, Nes," Wes told her as he rubbed his head, sitting up a bit straighter and holding his arms. "I might as well be somewhat useful."
She sighed as she complied, plopping the infant into his father's arms. "You spoil them too much," she complained. "He'll never get used to sitting in the chair if you don't enforce it."
"But there's no reason to right now," Wes argued. "We don't even have any guests yet." He pulled his son against him, kissing his hair and tickling him. "Don't cry, it's all right," he cooed. "Daddy's here."
Eric made a face as he tried not to smile at the picture the two of them made. "If I'd ever known how disgusting you are with babies Wes, I would have never agreed to have them."
"Sure you would have," Wes retorted cheerfully. "Daddy's a big fat liar, isn't he Charlie?" he went on, and Eric saw him nuzzling the baby's stomach when he glanced back at him. "'Cause we know he spoils you guys just as much as I do, huh?"
Charlie giggled and clapped his tiny hands.
"Was Dad this bad when I was born?" Sky asked warily as he emerged from the triplets' room - Eric flat-out refused to call it a nursery. Emily was snuggled against his left shoulder, sucking contentedly on her thumb.
"Sometimes," Vanessa answered. "He never wanted to put you down, for one thing. And he spoiled you a lot."
"Sky? Spoiled? Never," Eric snorted.
R.J. snickered as Sky shot him a dirty look.
The doorbell rang.
"I'll get it," Sky told them.
Eric frowned down at his cake again. "Hey, Vanessa. How many people are coming again?"
"Twenty-four. Twenty-nine if you include us, and thirty-two with the triplets. And if you think they're eating any of that cake, you've got another thing coming."
He gave her a dark look. "Of course they're not eating it!" he snapped back. "I still don't even get why we're having a birthday party when they're all too young to remember it."
"Because R.J. wanted an excuse to have a party, and no one else could come up with a really good reason why we shouldn't," Wes informed him. "What's up?"
Eric pinched his nose. "I don't think we have enough cake for everyone. I didn't remember how many people you were inviting."
Wes shrugged. "Then they can have ice cream instead. Don't worry about it, Eric." He gave Charlie another bright smile, blowing against the baby's stomach. "Daddy's silly, isn't he?"
Charlie squealed and flailed in delight.
"Bridge is here," Sky said as he joined them. He came to look over Eric's shoulder. "The cake looks good, Eric."
Eric swatted his hand before he could steal some frosting. "No tasting. Get out of my kitchen. And give me my little girl. Your cat's around here somewhere, go cuddle him."
Sky rolled his eyes as he handed Emily over. "Sheep!" he called, whistling sharply.
There was a distinct meow, and the black ball of fur crawled out from under the couch Wes was laying on. He gave Jen a look and marched straight up to Sky, sitting down and meowing again.
Eric snorted as Sky scooped up his cat, listening to him purr as he scratched under his chin. "Who's spoiled again?" He shook his head when Sky gave him a dirty look. "I still can't believe that pound puppy turned out to be purebred Persian."
"He can't be a pound puppy if he's not a dog," Sky argued.
"Hello, everyone," Bridge called tentatively, waving a hand. "I think you lost someone."
"Bring him here," Wes said with a grin, reaching out an arm for Daniel. "Give me something to do."
"If you put them both in the same place you're going to regret it," Eric warned. Emily blew a bubble at him and kissed his cheek. He made a face at her and whipped it clean with a napkin before kissing her forehead.
Wes ignored him, arranging the two boys against his chest. "They'll be fine," he said dismissively. "Hey, Charlie stop that! Don't hit your brother!"
"Told you," Eric said smugly.
Emily giggled in his arms, blowing more bubbles.
"Is there anything I can help with?" Bridge offered.
"Decorations!" R.J. said brightly, handing him a roll of crepe paper and a bag of confetti. "We can always use more decorations." He paused, frowning a little. "Although you might want to keep the confetti away from the kids. And Jen and Sheep."
Bridge grinned. "You got it. Hey Sky, can you come here for a minute?"
"What?" Sky asked absently, still focused on petting Sheep. He yelled as Bridge dropped a handful of confetti in his hair, abruptly dumping Sheep on Wes' lap as he tried to steal the confetti bag.
"No Confetti Wars around the kids!" Vanessa warned.
Eric leaned over to check on Wes as Sheep hissed angrily and went to sulk in a corner. "You okay?"
"Fine ... " Wes said with a wince. "He didn't get me that bad."
"Sorry Wes!" Bridge choked out, ducking out of Sky's way and running to the other side of the living room.
"Sorry Dad," Sky echoed, glaring as he chased his teammate.
The doorbell went off again, moments before the guest just opened the door on their own. "Hey, it's us!" Jack called cheerfully. "I figured you guys were all too busy to get the door, so we'd just - whoa!"
"Confetti War?" Syd asked sympathetically. "Move out of the way, Jack. You're blocking the door."
"Confetti War?" Z frowned. "What's a Confetti War?"
"Just what it sounds like," Charlie informed her, leaning around Jack to grab the bag from Bridge as he ran past. She grabbed a large handful, sprinkled it liberally over all three of them, tossed the bag to Sky, and ran.
"You're dead!" Syd shrieked, darting after her.
"Ooh, Confetti War," Z murmured, smirking as she cloned herself.
"Sounds like fun," the clone finished.
Jack stared after them all. He reached up to run a hand over his dreadlocks, staring at it when it came away shiny. "Girlfriend?" he asked conversationally, even though no one was standing by him. "What girlfriend? I don't have a girlfriend."
"Jack, you're turning into Syd!" one of the Zs teased.
His eyes narrowed. "Or a sister."
Eric sighed as the group charged around the living room. "You break it, you pay for it!" he shouted over the din, heading for the door. He glanced down at the infant in his arms. "You'd better grow up to be a lot more sane than your brother and his friends, got that?"
Emily blinked at him.
"Uh, is this door supposed to be open?" someone called tentatively.
He looked up and nodded. "Hey, Casey, Theo. Come on in. Feel free to destroy any children over the age of the birthday kids."
Theo snorted.
Casey grinned. "Is that a request?"
He shrugged. "Sure. R.J., you got anymore crepe paper?"
"Heads up!" R.J. returned, tossing three rolls across the room.
"Hey!" Wes protested as he, Charlie, and Daniel were coated in multi-colored strands.
Casey laughed. "Hey, R.J. Need any help?"
"I'll tie up the kids," Theo volunteered, gathering a roll with a smirk.
Eric shook his head and made his way over to free his husband.
By the time he'd finished, gotten his thank you kiss, separated their squabbling children, and been kissed again, Lily and Dominic had shown up at some point to help Theo try and contain the S.P.D. Rangers. Instead, they'd somehow been drawn into a Confetti and Crepe Paper War; it was hard to tell who was winning in the colored chaos. Casey was chatting with R.J. as they set up more chairs around the table, and Fran was giggling as she helped Vanessa try to organize the presents that were arriving.
He gave Wes a look, adjusting Emily higher against his shoulder as she continued to cry after they'd taken her away from abusing Charlie. "Why did we agree to do this again?"
"Because we couldn't come up with a good reason not to," Wes reminded him, grinning.
"*What* is going *on* here?" a voice demanded loudly.
Eric looked up to see his father standing in the doorway, his father's highly amused looking boyfriend just behind him. "Hi, Dad. Welcome to the party," he said wryly.
****
Four hours later, Eric slumped back against Wes on the couch, being careful not to jar his foot. "I'm exhausted," he groaned.
"Me, two," Vanessa grumbled.
"Me, three," R.J. said in a muffled voice, his head still buried in his arms against the table.
"Me, four," Wes sighed.
They all looked at him.
"And what did you do besides sit on the couch all day?" Vanessa sniped.
Wes glared back at her. "Hey, I was baby monitor, remember?"
"Point," Eric conceded, resting his head against Wes with a sigh. Baby Monitor was harder than it looked when he'd dealing with both boys at the same time. Charlie always seemed to like picking on his brother, and Daniel tended to cry rather than fight back.
"It's your own fault for having three kids at the same time," Vanessa informed them.
Eric gave her an exasperated look. "Yes, Vanessa. We had triplets just to make you suffer. Good for you, noticing that."
"You guys are priceless," Chip chuckled.
Clare smiled behind him; they were the last of the guests to head out. "I'll go wake up Sam and see if he's ready to let go of Emily yet."
Eric scowled. Sam had been fascinated by Emily the moment he'd been introduced to her, and she'd been instantly charmed by him in return. Something about seeing them together kept making him think of Omega and Nova, and he didn't like it.
Wes swatted his arm lightly. "Stop that," he murmured. "He's *seven*, Eric. She just had her first birthday. You don't need to start playing over-protective father yet."
"Never too soon to start," he humphed, reaching back with a hand to tease Wes' hair.
A loud yelp startled them all, followed by "Oh, I'm so sorry!", "Oh, *thank you*!", and "What were you doing in there?"
He surged to his feet, pushing Wes back down when he tried to do the same. "Clare? You all right?"
"Um, fine. We're fine." she called back.
He frowned and went to check on her anyway.
He found her in the hallway, bright red and looking anywhere but at an extremely rumpled looking Sky and Bridge. Bridge was blushing almost as bad, and Sky was muttering under his breath about revenge. Sam was looking up at the two teens suspiciously.
"What were you doing in there?" he asked again.
Sky coughed as Bridge looked extremely uncomfortable. "Z and Jack locked us in there," he told the younger boy. "For an hour and a half," he added, eyes narrowing.
"I think they forgot they were in there," Bridge murmured, clearing his throat.
Eric looked between them to Clare and back. "I think it's time for everyone to go home and get to bed," he announced abruptly. "It's been a long night."
"Yes," Clare agreed swiftly, grabbing Sam's coat and ushering him toward the door. "Bed is good. We'll ... we'll see you all later. Chip, are you coming?"
"Sure. Later guys," Chip called as he joined his wife and son, giving her an odd look when she practically shoved them outside.
Eric leveled his son and Bridge with a look. "Anything you two would like to share?" he asked pointedly.
"W-would you look at the time?" Bridge stammered. "I - I'd better be getting back to S.P.D."
"I'll walk you out," Sky said quickly.
Eric raised an eyebrow, leaning against the frame of the closet door to watch as they went outside. After a moment, his eyebrows went up. He smirked, shook his head, and went back to the living room. "Sky and Bridge are finally back together," he announced as he rejoined Wes on the couch.
The other three looked at him in surprise. "How do you know?" Vanessa asked warily.
He shrugged, smirking at her. "I'm psychic."
She scowled, R.J. laughed, and Wes shook his head with a grin, kissing his cheek. "Psychic, huh?" his husband teased.
"Mm-hmm," he agreed as Wes nuzzled against his neck.
"What's so funny?" Sky asked, frowning as he joined them at last. He scooped up Sheep before sinking into a chair.
"Eric thinks he's psychic," Vanessa informed him.
"Eric might *be* psychic," R.J. corrected.
"Eric says you and Bridge are back together," Wes explained at Sky's blank look, chuckling.
Sky started, turning faintly pink. "How'd you know?" he asked finally, suddenly paying close attention to his cat.
Eric's smirk widened. "Eric noticed that you didn't shut the front door all the way when you and Bridge were saying goodbye," he informed them all smugly.