Bright Skies (Multi - Season Crossover/Power Rangers, prompt #30: Music, T)
Originally, this started out as part of the last chapter. But it was getting so long I decided to make it into its own. ^.^;;
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/: Post - Wes/Eric, Rocky/Adam, Shane/Dustin, Hunter/Cam, Carter/Dana, Andros/Ashley, Zhane/Karone, Carlos/Ronny, Jason/Taylor, Conner/Ethan, Justin/Rose, Tommy/Kimberly, Tyzonn/Mack, Cassie/OC, Nick/Maddison, Zack/Aisha, Trent/Kira, Post - Billy/Cestria. Future Ryan/Carter and Billy/Hayley. More couples will most likely be mentioned, but not shown.
prompt/: #30: Music
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
Author's Notes/: Here is the long awaited conversation between Wes and Eric that everyone keeps pestering me for. I rather enjoyed writing it. And I apologize to any Danny fans for offering him up as a sacrificial lamb, but
phantom_blue suggested him. ^_~ For anyone who hasn't read Fade to Darkness: Darkness calling, Litania is from the planet Gannos, where she is a princess of one of the ruling countries, therefore making her son a prince.
The song used is Will You Still Love Me? by Chicago.
"Admit it; you cried," Wes teased as he slid into his seat.
"For the last time, I did not!" Vanessa snapped.
There was a snort from somewhere across from him, and Wes looked up to find Ryan regarding them in amusement while Sydney examined her plate warily. "Well, at least we know we're sitting in a familiar group," Ryan commented with a grin, nodding to the place cards.
Glancing over them, Wes was amused to note that he, Vanessa, and Sky just *happened* to be seated next to Elizabeth, Sydney, Jaz, and their parents. "Smart move keeping the kids together," he murmured to Vanessa as he leaned over to poke Sky. "Hey. Napkin," he reminded him.
Sky sighed impatiently and set down his fork.
"Mommy, why are there chairs with flowers on 'em?" Elizabeth asked Rose as her mother set down a plate for her.
Rose frowned. "Chairs with flowers on them?"
Elizabeth nodded. "At Bridge's table."
There was a pause as the gathered adults caught on to what she was asking about, followed by an awkward silence.
"Do you remember the stories I used to tell you about Zordon?" Justin asked Elizabeth finally, leaning in to look her in the eyes.
She nodded eagerly. "He made you a Power Ranger, an' he was the greatest person *ever*!"
Justin smiled, and his eyes glimmered suspiciously. "He was," he agreed. "Well, Zordon can't be here today, even though we really wish he could. So Uncle Jason and Aunt Taylor left that pretty little yellow flower on that chair where he'd be sitting if he could be."
Elizabeth blinked. "Oh."
"What about the other chairs?" Sky spoke up.
"One of those is for Trini, Jason's teammate that I told you about," Wes answered softly. "The one with the wreath on it is for Princess Shayla, a very special woman who made Taylor a Ranger, and watched over her team. She couldn't be here today either."
"Was she like Zordon?" Sydney asked softly, watching them with wide eyes.
"That's right," Ryan told her, smoothing her hair. "Princess Shayla was Taylor's Zordon."
There was another pause as the four children processed this.
"Do you think it'd be okay if I said hi t' Zordon an' Princess Shayla, Daddy?" Elizabeth asked suddenly.
Justin froze. "What?"
"I wanna go say hello, an' tell 'em I wish they were really here," she explained.
"An' Trini," Sky put in quickly as Wes looked at him in surprise. "We gotta say hi t' Trini, too."
"Ooh, me too!" Sydney cried. "I wanna go too!"
Justin swallowed hard, forcing a smile at his daughter that was distinctly watery. "I think they'd like that very much," he told her.
She nodded, quickly bouncing out of her seat. "Come on, Sky! Come on, Sydney! Jaz, you too!"
"Bethie, wait up!" Sky insisted as the other three scrambled after her. "Wait for us!"
For several moments, no one said anything. Wes watched silently as the four children skidded to a stop at the large table where the wedding party had been seated, turning to the three empty chairs. There seemed to be some sort of debate for a moment, and he thought he saw Sydney make an awkward attempt at a curtsy before Taylor and Jason joined them.
"Are you gonna be okay?" Rose asked finally, squeezing Justin's arm gently.
He nodded, giving them all a pained smile. "Yeah. Just thinking about the day he died." He lifted his left wrist, flicking it slightly to reveal his Turbo Morpher. He stared at it for a long moment. "Just ... remembering how he said goodbye."
Rose gave him a hug, and he leaned into it gratefully.
The rest of them were saved from struggling to find something to say as the kids returned, clambering back into their seats.
"Aunt Taylor looks so pretty in her fancy dress. I wanna get married someday ... " Sydney sighed dreamily.
"Of course you will, Princess," Ryan promised her. "Once I'm too old to beat them up, you can start looking for a boyfriend."
Justin choked on his drink, coughing for a moment as he tried to hide a smile.
Rose looked at him, amused. "Admit it. You're going to do the *exact* same thing to Elizabeth's boyfriends."
"What boyfriends?" Justin asked innocently. "*Oh*, you think I'm actually letting her out of the house once she hits puberty." He paused. "Yeah, no. Not happening."
Wes and Ryan snickered as Rose elbowed him sharply. "Very funny," she muttered.
"You thought so," he teased back.
Litania frowned at them all. "You don't *want* your children to find a partner?"
"Nope," Ryan returned immediately, sounding cheerful. "I'm not sharing my princess with *anyone*."
"But what about a prince?" Sydney demanded. "Daddy, you promised me someday my prince was gonna come on a white horse and sweep me off my feet and we'd get married an' have lotsa babies."
"And *someday* you will," Ryan agreed. "Just not anytime in this century."
"Strange Earthians," Litania muttered, shaking her head at them all.
Jaz was frowning in concentration. "You halfta marry a prince?" he asked Sydney suddenly.
She nodded, looking very serious. "Daddy says only the bestest, strongest prince in the land is strong enough for his princess."
Jaz considered this. "Well ... I'm a prince on Mama's planet."
Everyone else at the table froze.
"I could marry you!" he finished brightly.
Sydney looked him up and down for several minutes, studying him intently. "Daddy says you halfta be the bestest an' strongest," she reminded him. "You got a long way to go."
Justin leaned forward to bury his face in his arms, shoulders shaking with silent laughter.
Jaz puffed his chest out proudly. "I c'n do it!"
"You have to match up to my standards," Ryan told him solemnly, his eyes sparkling with amusement.
Jaz nodded. "I will," he declared fiercely. "An' then I'll come an' fight for Princess Sydney's hand!"
Vanessa buried her face in a hand. Wes reached over to rub her shoulder as he bit his lip so hard he was afraid it was about to start bleeding. Justin had not looked up since Sydney's critique, Rose was hiding behind her glass, and T.J. regarded his son with a bemused expression. Only Litania and the children seemed to be taking him seriously, his mother nodding along to his declaration.
"You'll have to train hard," she warned him.
Jaz nodded again. "I will!"
Wes couldn't take it anymore. "Excuse me," he choked out, rising from his seat and heading for the bathroom.
As soon as the door was shut behind him, he leaned back against the wall and laughed until his stomach ached. Eventually he straightened, wiping at the tears in his eyes as he let out the last few chuckles. Man, he loved those kids ...
He headed for the sink to rinse his face and froze at the sight someone watching him in amusement. "Eric."
"Wondered how long it would take you to notice me. Your observation skills always did suck," Eric commented.
Wes stared at him for a minute. Now that Sky wasn't here, he wasn't sure what sort of conversation to be expecting. His mouth ended up responding for him. "Only when you were around, because with you I knew I never needed to watch my back."
They both paused, and he looked away uncomfortably as Eric studied him for several minutes.
"Look, I know this still doesn't mean anything, but I'm sorry," Wes blurted out suddenly. "I ... I just .... wanted to say that," he muttered at last.
There was a long, drawn out sigh. "All I want to know is *why* Wes," Eric said finally. "Why didn't you tell me?"
Wes turned to lean back against another wall. "Because I was afraid you wouldn't go through with it if you knew there was a chance we might lose them," he sighed. "I know; it's a stupid reason. I just ... I wanted us to have a family together so much. And I kept thinking that I changed my destiny twice already, so why couldn't I do it again? I wanted so much for Alex to be wrong, that I just ... thought I could protect them on my own."
"That's not how it's supposed to work," Eric said after a moment, his jaw clenching in a way that couldn't possibly be painless.
"I know," Wes whispered, closing his eyes. "And I regret that decision every day. I know I'll regret it for the rest of my life. Because if I wasn't naive enough to believe I could keep changing my future, I wouldn't have lost everything."
Eric snorted. "You didn't lose everything."
Wes glanced at him. "I lost you," he told him quietly.
They stared at each other, Eric in surprise and Wes with regret.
"I want to forgive you," Eric said at last, his voice incredibly soft.
Wes' eyes widened.
"I was there, you know," he muttered. "I mean ... when you were hurt. And when Sky was born."
Wes looked at him, and suddenly he just *knew*. "You were the one who brought the Silver Guardians to the hospital. And when I woke up ... That wasn't a dream."
Eric shook his head. "I just ... couldn't face you then."
Their eyes caught again, and Wes could see the agony in Eric's. "I *want* to forgive you," Eric repeated, looking tortured. "But I don't know if I can."
A cold feeling slowly settled over Wes, followed by a numbness that he suspected was supposed to mask the sensation of his heart shattering. "So that's it then," he whispered, and his voice cracked.
Eric flinched, taking a step toward him. "Wes, I - "
"Wes! There you are!"
They both jumped, and Eric snapped to a defensive position as they turned to the door. Danny stared back at them his eyes abruptly going wide. "Oh. Oh! Um, Sky needs you Wes. Vanessa said it was really important, so ... "
Wes blinked slowly. "Sky needs me for what?" he asked, clearing his throat to try and force some levity back into his voice.
Danny fidgeted. "Um ... I don't know. But I know they said it was really important, so we should hurry."
Eric's eyes narrowed. "Look, Danny. I appreciate the thought, but we're trying to have a conversation here. Now would you mind just - "
"But it's for Sky," Danny insisted.
"It's okay, Danny," Wes told him, and he was surprised by how normal he suddenly sounded. "I'm coming. We were finished here, anyway."
"Wes, wait - " Eric protested.
But he was already out the door.
****
He wasn't sure what made him do it.
The night was finally starting to drag on. He'd been introduced to Lord Jason of Triforia and his daughter, Lady Tel, apparently the descendents of a lord that Jason Scott had helped out of a tight spot at some point. Jason of Triforia had apparently even been named after him out of respect for ... whatever it was he'd done. Something to do with Powers and lifespan changes.
After that he'd been stuck in the middle of a very awkward conversation between Billy, Hayley, Aurico, and his partner Cestro. Hayley had done all the talking, eager to learn more about their culture, while Billy had made stiffly polite conversation with a formality that made ice seem warm. The Aquitians had just gazed back at him serenely, and none of them brought up whatever the problem was. Which was strange, because he remembered reading in one of Billy's files that he'd lived on Aquitar for several years as a friend of the Aquitian Rangers.
He'd taken the time to catch up with Mack and Hunter, and Carter, who'd come back for a visit. He learned that Casey and Theo were 'off' again, and did his best to console the younger man even though he knew they'd be back together before the month was up. He fussed over the very pregnant Maddison and asked her and Nick if they were ready for twins. He helped Leo break up some sort of argument that had interrupted between his twins and Sky and Elizabeth, then got into a discussion about the difference between raising kids on Earth and raising them on Mirinoi. Eventually he managed to find Kimberly and Tommy, making sure that she was really all right and giving them his congratulations - after learning through Zhane that it wasn't his imagination no one had even known they were actually more than friends now, or when that had happened. He broke up *another* fight among the kids as he, Rocky, and Conner tried to figure out if Cole and Merrick were really a couple, or just living together because it was convenient. He'd tried asking Cole about it and found himself talking about the new litter of wolf pups the pack that lived with them had, and how they'd brought two of them along because Ruby was sick and Rosa just adored Cole too much to be left behind, while Shadow - which was apparently the large, black wolf that seemed to follow Merrick everywhere - was Merrick's companion.
Now he'd danced with Vanessa a few times, danced with every female member of the wedding party and Cole, who seemed to think that all bridesmaids were required to dance. And Rocky, who seemed to think someone needed to make Cole less conspicuous, as though that were even possible. He'd stopped various kids from getting into trouble *six* times, eaten more food than should have been healthy, enjoyed a slice of wedding cake before someone tripped and made him drop it, and was now past the sated feeling and into not-quite restless. He was one of the few who had; he frowned at the corner where Cole had curled up against Merrick's shoulder, snuggling close and obviously asleep as the other man stroked his hair and their wolves snoozed around them. The bride and groom were long gone, and other guests were finally starting to trickle out. Judging by the drowsy blinking that was starting to set in, Sky had finally worn off the sugar rush from the cake, so it was about time to be leaving himself.
He hadn't seen Eric again since they'd talked; every time they'd gotten anywhere near one another, someone or something had come up, and Wes found himself dragged off somewhere. It was a little too often to be casual, and he was fairly certain there was some sort of conspiracy running through S.P.D. to keep them separated. Probably instigated by Vanessa to protect him. He was a little annoyed, but then, they'd both already said everything they needed to say.
And yet for some reason he found himself approaching Eric as the other man got up from his seat. He smiled when Eric froze upon catching sight of him. "Dance with me?" he requested softly. "Just one, before you leave."
Eric stared at him for a long moment. At last his shoulders sagged, and he sighed. "Fine," he muttered. "But just once."
The moment the music came on, he knew it had to be a selection from Taylor's mother, because the soft, romantic song wasn't Jason or Taylor's taste. Eric stiffened and made as if to leave, but he caught his arm. "Come on, Eric," he said gently. "It's just a dance. Please?"
Eric took a slow, deep breath, and at last moved to put his arms around him. Wes let him lead; after years of dealing with Eric's issues, he'd learned that 'masculine pride' wasn't as important as keeping the peace. He moved closer as the vocalist began to croon the lyrics, and silently wished things could be different.
"You and me, two hearts drawn together bound by destiny ... "
He smiled to himself, resisting the urge to rest his head on Eric's shoulder the way he would have done years ago, when they would have been at home in Eric's old house, and he would have conned him into dancing to the radio. He'd always loved dancing together because it afforded so many opportunities to be close to one another. And whether he admitted to it or not, Eric wasn't a bad dancer himself.
"'Cause I am just a man who never understood I never had a thing to prove ... "
He chuckled softly. "This is your song, Eric."
There was a soft humph, but he couldn't hear any real annoyance in it.
"Will you still love me for the rest of my life? ... "
Yes, he thought to himself with another sigh, and this time it wasn't as amused. I will, Eric. Now matter what happens, I'll always love you. And ... I'm just going to have to learn to live with the fact that it's over now.
"No, I can't go on, if I'm on my own ... "
The feeling of warmth was suddenly gone as Eric broke his grip and stepped back. "I can't do this anymore," he muttered. "I just ... I gotta go."
"Eric, I - "
"Save it."
Wes stood there, watching Eric walk away from him for the second time in his life. And he let him go.
****
"You okay?"
Wes sighed, leaning back on the porch swing to stare up at the sky. There weren't as many stars here as there had been in Silver Hills, but at least they hadn't been completely masked by the city lights yet. "No," he said finally as Vanessa waited for him to answer her. "But I'll live for now."
She sat beside him, leaning over to wrap him in a hug. He put his arms around her, resting his chin on her head. Together, they watched the stars in silence.