Bright Skies (Multi - Season Crossover/Power Rangers, prompt #28: You only Hurt the Ones you Love, T
This chapter sucks and I don't like it.
That is all.
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/: #28: You only Hurt the Ones you Love
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/: A conversation that had to happen, and kept trying not to. -Glares at Adam and Bridge- I don’t like it, but it’s another one of those chapters that I can’t seem to improve any. >.<
The accompanying graphics for this chapter can be found here:
Adam/Bridge Icon
Adam/Bridge Desktop
It had taken a lot of work to convince everyone to let him be the one to wait. There were plenty of people who wanted to yell, several who wanted to fuss, and most wanted to do both. Adam had been the hardest to argue with, but in the end he'd finally made him see reason.
He watched as the Time Portal opened, and S.P.D. Red stumbled out. "Ooh, that is not a fun feeling," he mumbled. "Power Down."
Then Bridge looked up and saw him, and went abruptly still. It was a good minute before he recovered, at last sliding into a salute. "Sir!"
"At ease, Bridge," Wes told him quietly. He gestured to Tommy's command chair. "Have a seat."
The teen hesitated. "Sir?"
He shook his head. "I'm not here as your commanding officer, Bridge. You'll get that lecture later. Now sit."
Bridge sunk slowly down in the chair, swallowing hard. "Then why *are* you here, Uncle Wes?"
He leaned against the console across from him, watching him carefully. "Adam told me once how he treated you while you were there."
Bridge froze.
There was a long pause before he swallowed again, and Wes could already see the shine of tears in his eyes. "A-and how was that, S - I mean, Uncle Wes?"
Wes sighed quietly, pushing himself up to move closer. Bridge seemed very young and small when he looked up at him, and he touched the teen's cheek in understanding. "Bridge," he said quietly.
And that was all it took for the tears to spill over. Bridge sniffled, trying to hold them in, but Wes pulled him into a hug before he could brush them away. Bridge clung to him immediately, and Wes could feel his shoulder getting damp.
He sighed again, stroking the boy's hair as he kept his feelings soothing and sympathetic. This was why he'd insisted on being the one to meet Bridge when he finally returned from the mission to the year 2007. Not to lecture or yell at him for stealing Jack's morpher and taking his place, but because he knew after what Adam had said about his treatment of Bridge when they'd teamed up together that Bridge was going to be heartbroken when he finally came home. He knew his cadets, and in Bridge's mind, his father had rejected him.
Adam's feelings on the subject were definitely different, but even he had to admit that he'd been rude to Bridge. And now that he knew his son, he knew just as well as Wes did that Bridge had taken away an impression from the mission that they didn't want him to have. That was why Adam had fought so hard to be there to meet him when he came home. It was only Wes' firm belief that Bridge needed a little time before he saw his dad again that had finally convinced Adam to wait.
It was hard to say how long they stood like that, Bridge sobbing into his shoulder. He didn't say anything, didn't make any empty promises Bridge didn't need to hear. Because Adam would fix things between them - that wasn't even a question. But it didn't change the fact that for now, Bridge felt that his dad didn't like him for being the person he was. Outside of the family connection they shared, Bridge had learned that his own dad couldn't like him.
Wes didn't agree with that assessment, but he understood how Bridge would have interpreted it. And he could definitely sympathize when it came to having a father who didn't like you being who you were - he'd gone through that twice himself. And while he and his dad were closer now, that didn't change the fact that at some point when he'd tried to stand up and do the right thing, or tried to be honest about himself, his father had refused to accept him.
That was the sort of pain that doesn't really go away, no matter how sorry the person is later.
He waited until well after Bridge's tears had dried before he moved away enough look down at him again. He inspected the teen's face for a moment offering him a small packet of tissues and a bottle of eye drops. Bridge blinked at him, and he smiled a little. "I've got some experience in trying to hide how you really feel about something," he explained.
Bridge nodded, taking his time in getting cleaned up. He didn't seem to be in any sort of rush to see anyone, and Wes didn't push. When he finally looked up, it was with a sad, pained smile. "There's no way I can get out of this, is there?"
Wes shook his head, wishing there was more he could do. "He's probably pacing outside the door right now."
Bridge looked thoughtful for a moment, then shrugged a little. "Well, no use putting off the inevitable." His voice was deceptively cheerful, and Wes wondered if he realized Adam would see through that in a heartbeat.
The crowd of people waiting to yell at Bridge wasn't much of a surprise. Rocky beat Aisha to his side by half a second, immediately fussing over him. Aisha began checking him over for injuries, despite Bridge's assurances that he was fine, then smothered him in a tight hug. Sky was already lecturing in the tone of voice that said he'd been more worried than he wanted to admit. Z was yelling at him for scaring them, while Syd went for a guilt trip that Wes could have told her wasn't going to work.
Jack strolled over with a deliberate casualty as he moved past Sky to offer Bridge a morpher - the S.P.D. B Squad Green morpher. "How'd it go?" he asked, accepting his own morpher in return and sliding it almost absently into his pocket.
Bridge shrugged a little, and there was something off in his smile that only Wes, Sky, and Jack seemed to notice. "The past is safe and now I'm hungry."
"Wait a minute," Kimberly interjected, her eyes narrowing at Jack and Bridge. "Jack, did you know Bridge was going to help the Sentinel Knight in your place?"
"Of course." Jack gave her a strange look and shrugged, unconcerned. "I'm the one who gave him my morpher."
This of course, launched Tommy into another lecture about not being able to pass around morphers to your teammates whenever you feel like it that Jack wasn’t listening to. Wes watched Bridge, and the way his eyes moved around the room without settling on a single person. It took a moment before he realized who was missing, and who it was that Bridge was looking for.
Sighing, he slipped out of the room unnoticed and went to track down the missing Carson parent.
The search took slightly longer than he'd expected, but eventually he found Adam sitting outside on the fountain in front of S.P.D., staring off into the distance. The other man didn't react when he sat down next to him. Wes didn't bother to try and get his attention - he knew Adam would start talking when he was ready.
"You know back then, I wondered why the Sentinel Knight recruited Bridge for a mission he said needed veteran Rangers," Adam said eventually, leaning forward to rest his chin on his hands. "I kept thinking he was obviously a rookie, so what was he doing here? We needed Rangers who knew what they were doing, not a kid who couldn't stop staring at everything he saw. And the way he was always watching me ... " He shook his head.
"Every time I looked at him, all I could see was someone who wasn't serious enough about this, who seemed more like a big puppy than a real Ranger." There was a faint pained sound, and Adam scrubbed at his face with a hand. "I saw Rocky," he muttered finally. "I looked at Bridge, and the way he talked, the way he fought ... I saw Rocky. And then it kept bothering me: if Bridge was from the future, did that mean he was Rocky's son? And if he was Rocky's son ... " He trailed off and shook his head, swallowing hard. "I thought Bridge was proof that I was going to lose Rocky, and I took it out on him because I couldn't handle that."
"And now?" Wes prodded after another long silence.
"Now?" Adam looked up with a faint smile. He chuckled. "Now I look at Bridge and I see coloring books, and late nights, and hugs, and skinned knees, and the sweetest smile I've ever seen. I see my son, and how much I love him and how proud of him I am. And I wonder ... why couldn't I see that then? Why was I so self-centered that I couldn't even see my own son standing right in front of me and realize what an incredible person he is?" He let out a soft groan as Wes watched him, running a hand over his hair in frustration. "How am I supposed to explain that to Bridge?"
Glancing up as he noticed something out of the corner of his eye, Wes smiled. "Maybe you don't have to."
Adam looked up and froze as he saw Bridge watching them from the other side of the fountain. He swallowed audibly. "Bridge ... "
Bridge smiled.
It was bright, happy, and reached his eyes - the sort of smile Bridge rarely gave. It was the sort of smile that took people's breath away when they saw it. "Dad said I should talk to you," he said by way of explanation. His smile didn't fade.
Adam hesitated. "How much of that did you hear?"
Bridge shrugged absently. "I think I came in about the time you said I reminded you of Dad."
"Oh." There was a pause. "Bridge, I - "
"I know. I heard."
Bridge moved, and Wes smiled as he and Adam hugged tightly. He turned to head inside, figuring they could use the time alone. He didn't have to wait to hear Adam tell his son he loved him, or Bridge's reply.
Because if he knew, obviously they did, too.