Team Building with Jack Landors (SPD, A Squad, #19, T)
characters: SPD’s A Squad (Syd, Sky)
prompt #19: sidekick
word count: 1600
rating: T
summary: Syd and Sky go out together.
Team Building with Jack Landors (sidekick)
by *Andrea
“Sorry we’re late,” Sky said, putting the blame exactly where it should never be. “Syd had to do her hair for the sixty-seventh time before she was fit to be seen in public.”
“Oh, please,” she declared. “The length of time it takes you to do your tie alone is more than I invested in my entire outfit!”
“Which,” Sky said smoothly, “says more about how often you’ve worn that dress than it does about my tie-knotting skills.”
“Sky Tate!” Her eyes widened, and she didn’t know whether to be offended or incredibly flattered. He had noticed her dress. That happened, what? Once in a blue moon? “Did you just imply that you’re tired of seeing me in something I’ve worn a total of three times?”
“Three times?” He glanced sideways at her. “Is that all? Because you’re indelibly connected with blue silk in my mind.”
She almost laughed, because that was both sweet and entirely typical. It wasn’t this dress that he remembered, then: it was anything she wore that was blue. “Well,” she teased, “Bridge will be very happy to hear that, but Z and I might have some problems.”
Syd wasn’t sure that was true, actually, since Z seemed to have some very liberal ideas about the line between friendship and dating. But Sky didn’t. Nor had he yet gotten over how much time Bridge was spending with Z--or, more precisely, how much time Bridge wasn’t spending with him now that he was spending so much of it with Z. So she thought it was best not to complicate things.
“It’s funny,” Sky said, and he wasn’t talking to her now. “I always wanted to be Red, you know? But I think I kind of... got used to Blue. I was proud of it. I keep forgetting that I’m not wearing it anymore.”
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed,” Syd added, “but he actually looks better in blue.”
“Oh, shut up,” Sky muttered.
“You do,” she insisted. “It’s your eyes. Those red t-shirts don’t do anything to bring out their color. And when you use your power? It totally clashes.”
“Do you see what I have to put up with?” Sky demanded of their silent audience. “She’s like this all the time. And now we have Jack--the Drews have adopted him, did you know that? You should see how much he obsesses over his hair! I swear, he fits right in.”
“Oh, you pay a lot to have your hair look like it does!” Syd exclaimed. “Don’t listen to him! Those are not natural highlights! And look--”
She reached up, but Sky flinched away, batting at her hands irritably, and she smirked at him. “Mr. Military here goes through, like, an entire jar of gel every day! And, ooh, you can still see where he got his ear pierced that one time!”
“What does this have to do with anything?” Sky demanded. “Stop touching me!”
“‘Stop touching me!’” she mimicked. “‘She started it!’ ‘Are we there yet?’ Grow up, Sky.”
“Jack is like this too,” Sky said, deliberately ignoring her. “One second he’s pushing me toward some sort of mental imbalance, and the next he’s telling me to relax. ‘Lighten up, Sky, it’s just a joke.’ It’s so fitting that they’re suddenly related.”
“Did you tell him about the marriage proposal?” Syd asked. “That was funny. Although you’ll be happy to know,” she said, raising a hand to ward off his indignation when he glared at her, “that I yelled at Jack for a good half hour for doing it to you in the first place.”
“That wasn’t a marriage proposal,” Sky informed her. “That was Jack being Jack.”
“Well, in case you haven’t noticed, Jack wants to marry you,” she retorted, “so those two things aren’t mutually exclusive.”
“Jack doesn’t know what he wants,” Sky muttered.
That gave her pause. “You don’t think so?”
“Why else is he still hanging around SPD?” Sky wanted to know. “You know he hates it there. With all the rules and the chain of command and having to salute every time he turns around. He just can’t figure out what he’d rather be doing.”
Syd stared at him. “Are you joking? Tell me you’re joking.”
“Do I look like I’m joking?” he demanded.
“Well, with you, it’s kind of hard to tell,” she informed him. “It’s not so hard with Jack, so I don’t know how you could have missed it.”
“It’s not hard to tell with Jack because he’s always joking,” Sky grumbled.
“Jack Landors is in love with you!” she exclaimed. “Of the five thousand other things he’d rather be doing than working for SPD, he’s not having trouble choosing--he’s having trouble leaving you! Why do you think that’s a joke?”
“He’s dramatic like this too,” Sky said as an aside. “In case you’re curious. I’ll bring him by sometime; you’ll see.”
“Luckily he’s not quite as socially inept as Sky,” Syd declared. “Or they never would have gotten together.”
“I know how to ask a guy out,” Sky snapped.
“You haven’t asked anyone out since Dru,” she retorted. “Maybe not even Jack, and you’ve been together for months. Does he always pick you up and pay?”
“What the hell business is it of yours?” Sky shot back.
“Dru was a horrible person who knew you were Ranger-track and said ‘yes’ whenever it was convenient for him!” she shouted. “I never liked him! He and Jack are nothing alike!”
Sky just stood there, gaping at her.
Syd lifted her chin and folded her hands in front of her. “Also, he had terrible fashion sense. He should never have worn those fatigues when he wasn’t on-duty. They were dull and boring and frankly, they made him look like a pigeon.”
A chuckle escaped, and Sky hid what was probably a smile behind his hand. “Maybe that’s what he was going for,” he offered. “Did you ever think of that?”
“What, that he wanted to be the Pigeon Ranger?” She eyed him. “No. Shockingly, that never occurred to me.”
“Know any Pigeon Rangers?” Sky asked, turning his head. “I haven’t heard of any, but then, I only found out Time Force was real two days ago.”
“Do you think he knew?” Syd wondered. “About Time Force, I mean?”
“I’d like to think you didn’t,” Sky said slowly. “I guess. I mean... well, it’s just another secret, isn’t it? If you knew, and you didn’t even tell Mom?”
“I don’t think he did,” Syd decided. “I mean, Collins must have known, and Myers, but why would they tell anyone? Even the people who replaced them?”
“Especially the people who replaced them,” Sky said, frowning a little. “I mean, what better way to protect the morphers than to give them to people who didn’t know anything about them? Time Force couldn’t ask for them back without revealing themselves. Better to just accept the disruption and hope the timestream healed itself behind them.”
“Instead of making it worse by confirming the stories and getting people all upset,” Syd finished. “But it must not have worked, right? If Commander Collins was sent back to contain whatever happened?”
Sky was quiet for a moment. “She’s married,” he said at last. “Do you think she wanted to come back?”
“Obviously,” she said, rolling her eyes. “But if you went undercover, SPD wouldn’t let Jack go with you just because you were married. I’m guessing Time Force wouldn’t let her travel a thousand years into the past just because she’s married, either.”
He didn’t have an answer for that, which kind of surprised her, but she wasn’t about to let him brood here. He came alone often enough; he could do it then. “Leave your wreath,” she said, nudging his arm. “We’ll be late.”
He started--definitely lost in thought--but he stepped forward as he retorted, “Yeah, and whose fault will that be?”
“Not mine,” she said, watching him set the wreath down and adjust it, just so. The red bow and the berries would last for days, maybe a week if it didn’t rain, and she could see that Sky’s mom had been by recently to weed and rake what the regular caretakers missed. “Merry Christmas, Mr. Tate.”
“Merry Christmas,” Sky echoed. “I’ll be back before the holiday to give you an update without Syd interrupting every two seconds.”
“What’s changed?” she wanted to know. “The city’s still in chaos, you’re still in love with Jack, and I’m dating Dan again. Life goes on.”
“Dan’s a girl, by the way,” Sky said. “If you were curious.”
“He’s not a girl!” Syd exclaimed.
“He’s a girl,” Sky repeated. “Sorry, Dad, but all your children are gay.”
“At least they’re not all obnoxious like you,” Syd declared. She linked her arm through his and threw a wink at the gravesite as they turned away. “Someone in the family had to get the charming genes.”
Sky snorted. “All evidence to the contrary.”
“Did you just say I’m not charming?” she demanded, placing her feet carefully as they walked back toward the path. Sky was surprisingly good at finding the easiest route for heels.
“Sure sounded that way,” he agreed. “Come on, Syd. Even Z is more charming than you.”
“And Jack isn’t more obnoxious than you,” she told him. “So there.”
“See if you say that the first time you try to get him dressed up,” Sky countered. “He’ll have to do his hair and his tie. And that’s if he can find anything to wear in the first place.”
Syd considered this as they turned toward the front of the cemetery. “You should take him shopping.”
“Oh, yeah.” The eyeroll was almost audible. “I can see that going really well.”
“Me too,” she said with a smirk. “I’ll go with you.”
prompt #19: sidekick
word count: 1600
rating: T
summary: Syd and Sky go out together.
Team Building with Jack Landors (sidekick)
by *Andrea
“Sorry we’re late,” Sky said, putting the blame exactly where it should never be. “Syd had to do her hair for the sixty-seventh time before she was fit to be seen in public.”
“Oh, please,” she declared. “The length of time it takes you to do your tie alone is more than I invested in my entire outfit!”
“Which,” Sky said smoothly, “says more about how often you’ve worn that dress than it does about my tie-knotting skills.”
“Sky Tate!” Her eyes widened, and she didn’t know whether to be offended or incredibly flattered. He had noticed her dress. That happened, what? Once in a blue moon? “Did you just imply that you’re tired of seeing me in something I’ve worn a total of three times?”
“Three times?” He glanced sideways at her. “Is that all? Because you’re indelibly connected with blue silk in my mind.”
She almost laughed, because that was both sweet and entirely typical. It wasn’t this dress that he remembered, then: it was anything she wore that was blue. “Well,” she teased, “Bridge will be very happy to hear that, but Z and I might have some problems.”
Syd wasn’t sure that was true, actually, since Z seemed to have some very liberal ideas about the line between friendship and dating. But Sky didn’t. Nor had he yet gotten over how much time Bridge was spending with Z--or, more precisely, how much time Bridge wasn’t spending with him now that he was spending so much of it with Z. So she thought it was best not to complicate things.
“It’s funny,” Sky said, and he wasn’t talking to her now. “I always wanted to be Red, you know? But I think I kind of... got used to Blue. I was proud of it. I keep forgetting that I’m not wearing it anymore.”
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed,” Syd added, “but he actually looks better in blue.”
“Oh, shut up,” Sky muttered.
“You do,” she insisted. “It’s your eyes. Those red t-shirts don’t do anything to bring out their color. And when you use your power? It totally clashes.”
“Do you see what I have to put up with?” Sky demanded of their silent audience. “She’s like this all the time. And now we have Jack--the Drews have adopted him, did you know that? You should see how much he obsesses over his hair! I swear, he fits right in.”
“Oh, you pay a lot to have your hair look like it does!” Syd exclaimed. “Don’t listen to him! Those are not natural highlights! And look--”
She reached up, but Sky flinched away, batting at her hands irritably, and she smirked at him. “Mr. Military here goes through, like, an entire jar of gel every day! And, ooh, you can still see where he got his ear pierced that one time!”
“What does this have to do with anything?” Sky demanded. “Stop touching me!”
“‘Stop touching me!’” she mimicked. “‘She started it!’ ‘Are we there yet?’ Grow up, Sky.”
“Jack is like this too,” Sky said, deliberately ignoring her. “One second he’s pushing me toward some sort of mental imbalance, and the next he’s telling me to relax. ‘Lighten up, Sky, it’s just a joke.’ It’s so fitting that they’re suddenly related.”
“Did you tell him about the marriage proposal?” Syd asked. “That was funny. Although you’ll be happy to know,” she said, raising a hand to ward off his indignation when he glared at her, “that I yelled at Jack for a good half hour for doing it to you in the first place.”
“That wasn’t a marriage proposal,” Sky informed her. “That was Jack being Jack.”
“Well, in case you haven’t noticed, Jack wants to marry you,” she retorted, “so those two things aren’t mutually exclusive.”
“Jack doesn’t know what he wants,” Sky muttered.
That gave her pause. “You don’t think so?”
“Why else is he still hanging around SPD?” Sky wanted to know. “You know he hates it there. With all the rules and the chain of command and having to salute every time he turns around. He just can’t figure out what he’d rather be doing.”
Syd stared at him. “Are you joking? Tell me you’re joking.”
“Do I look like I’m joking?” he demanded.
“Well, with you, it’s kind of hard to tell,” she informed him. “It’s not so hard with Jack, so I don’t know how you could have missed it.”
“It’s not hard to tell with Jack because he’s always joking,” Sky grumbled.
“Jack Landors is in love with you!” she exclaimed. “Of the five thousand other things he’d rather be doing than working for SPD, he’s not having trouble choosing--he’s having trouble leaving you! Why do you think that’s a joke?”
“He’s dramatic like this too,” Sky said as an aside. “In case you’re curious. I’ll bring him by sometime; you’ll see.”
“Luckily he’s not quite as socially inept as Sky,” Syd declared. “Or they never would have gotten together.”
“I know how to ask a guy out,” Sky snapped.
“You haven’t asked anyone out since Dru,” she retorted. “Maybe not even Jack, and you’ve been together for months. Does he always pick you up and pay?”
“What the hell business is it of yours?” Sky shot back.
“Dru was a horrible person who knew you were Ranger-track and said ‘yes’ whenever it was convenient for him!” she shouted. “I never liked him! He and Jack are nothing alike!”
Sky just stood there, gaping at her.
Syd lifted her chin and folded her hands in front of her. “Also, he had terrible fashion sense. He should never have worn those fatigues when he wasn’t on-duty. They were dull and boring and frankly, they made him look like a pigeon.”
A chuckle escaped, and Sky hid what was probably a smile behind his hand. “Maybe that’s what he was going for,” he offered. “Did you ever think of that?”
“What, that he wanted to be the Pigeon Ranger?” She eyed him. “No. Shockingly, that never occurred to me.”
“Know any Pigeon Rangers?” Sky asked, turning his head. “I haven’t heard of any, but then, I only found out Time Force was real two days ago.”
“Do you think he knew?” Syd wondered. “About Time Force, I mean?”
“I’d like to think you didn’t,” Sky said slowly. “I guess. I mean... well, it’s just another secret, isn’t it? If you knew, and you didn’t even tell Mom?”
“I don’t think he did,” Syd decided. “I mean, Collins must have known, and Myers, but why would they tell anyone? Even the people who replaced them?”
“Especially the people who replaced them,” Sky said, frowning a little. “I mean, what better way to protect the morphers than to give them to people who didn’t know anything about them? Time Force couldn’t ask for them back without revealing themselves. Better to just accept the disruption and hope the timestream healed itself behind them.”
“Instead of making it worse by confirming the stories and getting people all upset,” Syd finished. “But it must not have worked, right? If Commander Collins was sent back to contain whatever happened?”
Sky was quiet for a moment. “She’s married,” he said at last. “Do you think she wanted to come back?”
“Obviously,” she said, rolling her eyes. “But if you went undercover, SPD wouldn’t let Jack go with you just because you were married. I’m guessing Time Force wouldn’t let her travel a thousand years into the past just because she’s married, either.”
He didn’t have an answer for that, which kind of surprised her, but she wasn’t about to let him brood here. He came alone often enough; he could do it then. “Leave your wreath,” she said, nudging his arm. “We’ll be late.”
He started--definitely lost in thought--but he stepped forward as he retorted, “Yeah, and whose fault will that be?”
“Not mine,” she said, watching him set the wreath down and adjust it, just so. The red bow and the berries would last for days, maybe a week if it didn’t rain, and she could see that Sky’s mom had been by recently to weed and rake what the regular caretakers missed. “Merry Christmas, Mr. Tate.”
“Merry Christmas,” Sky echoed. “I’ll be back before the holiday to give you an update without Syd interrupting every two seconds.”
“What’s changed?” she wanted to know. “The city’s still in chaos, you’re still in love with Jack, and I’m dating Dan again. Life goes on.”
“Dan’s a girl, by the way,” Sky said. “If you were curious.”
“He’s not a girl!” Syd exclaimed.
“He’s a girl,” Sky repeated. “Sorry, Dad, but all your children are gay.”
“At least they’re not all obnoxious like you,” Syd declared. She linked her arm through his and threw a wink at the gravesite as they turned away. “Someone in the family had to get the charming genes.”
Sky snorted. “All evidence to the contrary.”
“Did you just say I’m not charming?” she demanded, placing her feet carefully as they walked back toward the path. Sky was surprisingly good at finding the easiest route for heels.
“Sure sounded that way,” he agreed. “Come on, Syd. Even Z is more charming than you.”
“And Jack isn’t more obnoxious than you,” she told him. “So there.”
“See if you say that the first time you try to get him dressed up,” Sky countered. “He’ll have to do his hair and his tie. And that’s if he can find anything to wear in the first place.”
Syd considered this as they turned toward the front of the cemetery. “You should take him shopping.”
“Oh, yeah.” The eyeroll was almost audible. “I can see that going really well.”
“Me too,” she said with a smirk. “I’ll go with you.”