Bright Skies (Multi - Season Crossover/Power Rangers, prompt #68: Lovers, T)
-Glances at the clock- Well, I's feeling marginally better. I've also discovered that there are not *nearly* enough Sky/Jack and Sky/Dru vids on YouTube.
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/: #68: Lovers
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/: Re-watching Idol provided many amusing revelations. For instance, Jell-O shall never be the same again.
"Something's wrong," Eric murmured in his ear, an arm wrapped intimately around him. "Harrington's arrival is suspicious."
"I agree," Wes whispered back, tilting his head as though Eric was trying to nibble at his ear. "MIA for a year, and no official report? And now he can't even give us a real reason for being here?"
Eric nodded, pretending to nuzzle his neck before subtly writing down his response on the paper resting between them. After a moment he slid it across the table to Kimberly.
She read it and gave a soft sigh. "That's a good idea, but do we have the manpower for that?" she asked, adding her own message.
From Kimberly the note went to Taylor, then Vanessa, Adam with Zack reading over his shoulder, Karone, and finally Aisha. "If we had enough volunteers to run through a setup drill, just to make sure it'll work out, we could," Adam commented.
Kimberly giggled softly, and everyone glanced at her. "Sorry," she murmured, trying to hide a smile. "I just realized that Jell-O has become the new smoothies."
"Don't mention Jell-O," Wes and Vanessa groaned in unison as Zack laughed.
"What's wrong with Jell-O?" Karone asked curiously.
"Nine months of Jell-O cravings, that's what," Vanessa grumbled.
"Nine months of 1:00am Jell-O runs," Wes muttered in agreement.
Eric snorted, and he elbowed him lightly.
"Kim talked to Jack this morning. Dru tried to say he was in Command looking for Cruger, and Jack let him know he was suspicious. Sky's not talking to Jack now, but Kim convinced Jack to back down and apologize until he can prove something," Eric added quietly.
"Did she tell Jack we're suspicious, too?" he asked softly.
Eric added to the note again.
"How can you compare Jell-O and smoothies?" Taylor asked warily.
Kimberly chuckled softly. "You know how we all get Color Cravings? Well, right about the time we were Chosen, we all started drinking color-coded smoothies. For some reason, I just couldn't seem to stop drinking strawberry smoothies."
"Licorice and blackberry for me. Ernie always had the coolest flavors." Zack looked thoughtful for a moment as he studied B Squad's table. "Hey, is it just me, or are Z and Syd acting ... closer than usual?"
Wes snorted, trying not to choke on his drink. "But Ryan already promised Syd to Jack," he murmured, fighting a grin.
"Do I wanna know?" Aisha asked, sounding amused.
He shook his head. "Probably not. Old joke."
The sound of the alarms going off made them all pause. "Back to work, everybody," Kimberly sighed. She shook her head. "I hate being in charge."
Zack wrapped an arm around her comfortingly. "Because you can't slack off with the rest of us?" he asked sympathetically.
Eric leaned over like he was going to kiss Wes on the cheek as they both moved to get up. "Everyone agrees; something's going on. Harrington's lying. Adam says Rocky won't listen, though."
He tried not to sigh. "He did always love the Terrible Trio," he murmured as they hurried to find out what was going on.
****
"I can't believe it," Rocky said quietly, sounding tortured. "I mean, how could this have happened?"
He had slouched down in a corner and was now leaning heavily against Adam as his husband stroked his hair with a sympathetic expression. Aisha sat on his other side holding his hand, while Zack leaned over the back of the couch to squeeze his shoulder.
"Hey man, none of us could have guessed what would have happened when Dru was transferred," Zack reminded him gently.
"And Birdie's the one responsible for that," Taylor agreed, scowling at the drink in her hand.
Kimberly rubbed her temples with a sigh. "Not that he cares," she grumbled. "I had to deal with *that* conversation while Cruger was still recovering."
"And Birdie still has a head?" Karone asked, looking surprised. "I mean, he did take away one of our cadets and let this happen to him. You didn't tear into him for that?"
"Oh, I tried," Kimberly told her wryly. "I accused him that if Dru had never been taken from Newtech in the first place, he would never have had a chance to meet up with the sort of people who convinced him that money was more important than honor." She sighed again. "And he told me that if we'd done our job training him in the first place, he wouldn't have needed to be transferred."
"Are you kidding me?" Eric demanded.
"Tell me you let him have it," Shane begged.
"He ended the call before I could," she muttered darkly.
"I just keep thinking ... " Rocky whispered. "Maybe ... maybe if I'd done something differently, this never - "
"Stop it."
Everyone was looking at him in surprise, but Wes didn't care. "Stop it, Rocky," he repeated sharply. "If you keep thinking about what could have been different, you'll never *stop* thinking." He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to push away the memories. "And focusing on what you can't change doesn't help the things you *can*. We each make our own destiny, remember? And right choices or wrong, Dru made his."
Slowly, Rocky began to nod. "You're right," he agreed softly.
Wes swallowed. "That doesn't mean I wanted to be," he reminded him.
"Dru was working for Broodwing."
Everyone turned to stare at the door. Sky stood at what would have been attention had it been anyone but Sky - for him, the pose was slouched and made on instinct alone. "He said Broodwing taught him that money and power were the most important things in the world."
Rocky made a pained sort of sound, and Adam leaned over to kiss his forehead soothingly.
Sky cleared his throat awkwardly. "Dad, can I talk to you for a minute? Alone?"
"Sure, Sky. My office?" he offered, even as part of him wondered why Sky wanted him. Eric was his confidante.
Sky just nodded, following silently as he left the officer's common room.
He'd barely closed the door behind them before Sky was in his arms, clinging to him and sobbing. He wrapped his arms around his son instinctively, calling for the privacy lock. "Sky?" he asked softly, rubbing his back.
"He said he didn't need me anymore," Sky choked out. "After all this time, waiting and hoping he was okay, and now he doesn't need me anymore."
Oh, Sky ...
He hugged his son close, letting him cry. He didn't tell him it was going to be all right, because it wasn't. He didn't say anything, because that wasn't what Sky needed.
So he let Sky cry, and tried not to cry over his son's broken heart with him.