Post by bloomingviolets on May 8, 2008 23:44:23 GMT -5
Title: The Night Before
Author: BloomingViolets
Rating: K+
Disclaimer: Disney owns the characters. I just play with them =)
Summary: Syd tells Z all the details of the night before. She leaves nothing out. Not the handcuffs, the bird poop, or the kiss.
Author Notes: Another Sky/Syd fic from me! I've never actually posted a fic here before. Most of my stories can be found at Cathy's site or on ff.net. My user name is BloomingViolets.
Enjoy!
xxx
“Alright, tell me everything,” Z said as the pink ranger sat in the seat across from her.
“What?” Syd grinned, a not so convincing ‘innocent’ expression forming on her face.
“Are you kidding? You and Sky were alone for hours last night. Everyone knows that when two people are alone for hours, especially if they are at a wild party, something interesting always happens. So…” Z waved a hand at Syd in a ‘gimme, gimme’ gesture. “Tell me everything! And don’t you dare leave anything out!”
“So, how was last night for you?” Syd asked, trying to change the subject as a blush formed on her cheeks. “Did you have fun?”
Her best friend gave her a glare that spoke volumes. “Are you seriously trying to get out of this conversation? I don’t think so! I waited a long time for this. Now, spill!”
“Which do you want to hear first? The threesome happening in Jack’s former bedroom or the part where we were on the roof and got locked out?” The pink ranger sighed, knowing that once Z set her mind on something, there was no stopping her. “Or do you want to hear about what happened when we were in the park and then bird feces dropped on Sky’s head?”
Z’s eyes widened with glee. “Bird poop landed on Sky’s head? And you witnessed a threesome? Why do you get to see all the interesting things? I had to take care of Jack all night and make sure that he didn’t die of alcohol poisoning or something!”
Sydney snickered. “Sucks to be you.”
“Oh man, such suspense,” the yellow ranger paused. “You know, why don’t you start at the beginning? I want to hear everything. I mean it, don’t leave anything out!”
“Fine, but no interrupting! It’s going to take awhile and I’m only going to tell this story once.”
“Please, we have all the time in the world.”
xxx
It was shaping up to be the party of the decade and in the pink ranger’s opinion, it was about time. The euphoria that everyone felt of their triumph over Gruumm had lasted several days now and tonight was the night that a celebration was being thrown in honor of the B Squad Power Rangers for their dedication and hard work. She had no idea who had planned the party but it was in full swing by the time she had finished getting ready and had arrived at the Recreation Room where it was being held.
People were shouting praises at her as she walked by, giving her high fives and whatnot. She grinned and nodded to the people that were cheering her on. Even though she was only one-fifth of a team that had saved the world, she took the cheering in stride and with her head held high. She just loved being at the center of attention and for once, it wasn’t for purely selfish reasons but to bask in the pride of knowing that she had helped the world become a better, safer place.
The interior was decorated with streamers, balloons and other odd accessories that looked completely out of place but Syd thought it made the Academy seem homey. There were twinkling lights strung across the halls and the atmosphere only made it seem more warm and cheerful. Loud music was blaring from nearby speakers and there was laughter all around.
She loved everything about it.
Her eyes wandered around the room, looking for her teammates. But with all the people moving about, it was almost futile to locate them. She moved her way through the crowd, hoping to spot at least one familiar face. She knew that Z had to be around somewhere – the yellow ranger had left for the party long before she had.
“Hey Syd!”
Jack had materialized out of no where and was suddenly standing next to her. The pink ranger let out a laugh as she gave him a hug – it was good to see him. Jack had only left SPD a week earlier and the team missed him terribly. It just wasn’t the same around the Academy with Jack gone. Still, Jack was doing what made him happy and if helping people in a different way other than SPD made him happy, then Syd respected his decision to leave. She released him from their hug and looked over at his choice of clothing for the night. The former red ranger looked incredibly sexy in his simple outfit consisting of a black t-shirt and dark jeans. And she had a feeling that Jack knew just how good he looked that night, judging from the smug expression on his face.
“Hey Jack!” she replied. “Looking good! Did you just get here?”
“Yep,” Jack nodded and took a deep breath, looking excited and ready to party. “I think I’m already drunk.”
The pink ranger rolled her eyes. “Get real, Jack.” She shook her head at him with amusement. “It’s impossible for you to be drunk if you just got here,” she said in a tone that she specifically reserved for him.
“Aww, come on Syd!” Jack complained. “None of that negative stuff. It’s a party! We need to get completely wasted and go wild and crazy. Let’s go get drunk and forget all about the stress and tension that we’ve been through these last couple of months!”
(“Typical Jack,” Z complained. “Only he can use practically anything as an excuse to get drunk and party like a wild animal.”
“You promised not to interrupt!”
The yellow ranger rolled her eyes and held up her hands. “Sorry, please continue.”
“Thank you.”)
She and Jack had stuck together for about an hour already and the pink ranger had gotten quite bored of watching her friend taking shot after shot and getting quite heavily inebriated. Sydney’s lips had yet to touch a drop of alcohol and as much as she wanted to celebrate with a shot of tequila, she didn’t want to get wasted without knowing if there was someone around to look after her – one had to be careful at parties such as these.
“There you are Syd! I’ve been looking everywhere for you!”
She looked up, surprised to find Boom hovering by the arm of the couch, his whole demeanor full of exuberance. Next to her, Jack took another shot, while drunkenly trying to flirt with the redheaded girl in front him. It was as if the former red ranger had forgotten all about her.
“Hi Boom!” she yelled over the loud music. “I’ve been sitting here for the last hour!”
Boom grinned at her and pointed to the corner of the room. The pink ranger looked at where he pointed and spotted the rest of her teammates sitting at a table, surrounded by people. Sky, in particular, looked extremely uncomfortable since there was a whole gang of girls surrounding him. “The others were looking for you!”
“Thanks Boom!” Sydney waved, already standing up and attempting to head over to where her friends sat. Before she could move though, Jack had stood up as well and slung an arm over her shoulder, stumbling as he did so.
“You know what, Syd?” Jack shouted into her ear. The loud music was making it hard to hear anything. “I bet if you get Sky to drink a bit of alcohol, he’ll loosen up enough to do anything you want!”
(“Excuse me?” Z interrupted. “What did he mean ‘anything’?”
“Wait, wait, I’m getting there.”
“But – “
“Do you want to hear this story or not?”
“Shutting up now.”)
“Excuse me?” Syd exclaimed. “What do you mean ‘anything’?”
But Jack had already left and now the former red ranger had climbed onto a table and was drunkenly dancing. There were several attractive girls now surrounding him and a few had even gotten up onto the table with him and were dirty dancing. Jack was starting to slowly take off his shirt and the pink ranger giggled, knowing that come the next day, Jack would definitely not remember anything that he was doing at the moment.
She took a moment to try and figure out what Jack's words meant, but in the end she decided that Jack was just being Jack and not to worry about it.
(“Oh my god, please tell me you took pictures! We can blackmail Jack for years with this!”
Sydney grinned. “Sure did. It was really lucky that I had my camera with me.”
“Excellent!”)
The pink ranger decided that Jack would be fine on his own and looked over to the table where her friends were sitting. She laughed when she saw Sky trying to discretely move away from the girl that was heavily coming onto him. Bridge and Z were sitting next to him and were making no moves to bail their friend out. In fact, the blue and yellow rangers looked to be laughing at their esteemed leader. Deciding that the new red ranger had had enough (and also to partly mark her territory – no one was allowed to flirt with Sky, except her!), Syd moved her way through the crowd to rescue her friend.
“Hey Sky!” She grinned as she moved to stand in front of him and grabbed his arm. “Want to dance?” The red ranger looked relieved as his attention moved onto her, leaving the girl that had been flirting with him to stomp away in annoyance.
Sky grinned and for the first time that night, Syd noticed just how handsome he looked. A blush formed on her cheeks as she looked at him. “So, do you want to dance?” she asked again.
“Actually,” Sky looked towards the doors longingly. “Want to take a walk somewhere? This party is not really my thing.”
As much as she wanted to stay at the party, she wanted alone time with Sky more. It didn’t take her long to agree. Involuntarily, visions of Sky professing his love to her ran through her mind and she blushed, shaking her head as if to erase the images from her mind. She held onto his arm as he led the way out of the Recreation Centre. But just before they reached the doors, a group of rowdy people slammed into them, spilling alcohol and other drinks all over their clothes.
Syd rolled her eyes and sighed. “Somehow, I knew that was going to happen. This always happens at parties.”
The pink ranger was expecting for the red ranger to get annoyed or angry at the group of people that had ran into them and was pleasantly surprised when all he did was shake his head and chuckled. “Why don’t we go get changed and then go to the park? It’s a nice night out.”
The two rangers headed towards their respective rooms and quickly changed. They met up ten minutes later and started walking down the hall towards the entrance of the Academy. On the way, they passed Jack’s old room – the one that Sky would probably move into in just a couple of days. The Commander had given the new red ranger a choice; he could either move into Jack’s old room or he could continue to share his room with Bridge. Sky had yet to see what the inside of the room looked like now that it was empty and just waiting for him to add his own personal touches.
Just looking at the doors to his soon-to-be new room had him excited. Sky grinned and started forward. “Come on, I want to see it.”
Knowing that Sky would want to look around (anything related to him being the red ranger made him giddy) and figuring that it couldn’t hurt, Syd followed her teammate. The doors slid open at their presence and what they discovered shocked them. Unfortunately, the room was otherwise occupied and Sky quickly turned around and pushed her out. The doors slid shut behind them and there was a moment of stunned silence as they stared at Sky’s soon-to-be new room.
Syd shook her head. “That was a threesome,” she said slowly.
“It sure was,” Sky replied, still staring at the doors. “That was… interesting… for lack of a better word.”
“One of the girls in there was a C-squad cadet!”
Sky shook his head. “I am not moving into that room now that I know what’s been going on in there.”
(“Are you serious? A C-squad cadet was doing the dirty deed?” Z exclaimed.
“That’s not even the worst of it. She was wearing this really outrageous uniform, complete with handcuffs, a whip and metal rings in places on her body where there shouldn’t be.”
“Good friggin’ lord.”
“Tell me about it!”
“And how old was she?”
“I don’t know. Sixteen, maybe?”
“How scandalous!”
Syd shook her head. “Apparently she aspires to be a ranger by day and porn star by night.”
“Must be every little girl’s dream.”)
The walk to the park only took fifteen minutes, but to the pink ranger it felt like a lifetime of self-doubt and insecurities coming out in full force. The two rangers had been flirting back and forth for over a year now and not once had they talked about their new found feelings. It all began with the diamond incident - an incident that she remembered all too clearly.
Ah, the diamond incident.
That day had changed everything. The moment she seen him smile and laugh, she had changed and suddenly found herself wanting to see more of the Sky that no one ever saw. She had been so proud that she had been the one to make him smile and laugh even though it had been at her expense. After that day, she had done her best to try and make him smile more often. She did everything she could to include him on their activities, inviting him to lunch… the list was endless. And it seemed that he responded to her the most – if her imagination hadn’t been playing tricks on her. Everyone else got the ‘I’m superior’ attitude from him, but all she got were mocking remarks – which she supposed wasn’t much better, but at least it wasn’t as harsh.
They walked along in a comfortable silence, Syd sneaking glances at the man next to her every so often. What was it about him that appealed to her so much? When she really thought about it, she supposed it was a bit of everything. Hs sex appeal really did wonders for her heart. Here she was, Sydney Drew who could have any guy she wanted and she fell for the one guy that didn’t want to get into her pants right off the bat.
Life was really ironic sometimes.
The best part about him though, was probably the fact that he challenged her to become better than she was in every way. Gone was the self-centered brat she had been when she had joined the Academy. Sure, part of the reason for the change was their long, hard fought battle – but if she was honest with herself (and she was!) she knew most of the change was because she wanted to be the sort of woman that Sky Tate would want to date and be with.
It was a beautiful night; the kind of romantic night that she had always daydreamed about, in fact. The air was warm and the moon was high in the sky and shinning bright, casting its luminous glow all over the park. It was peaceful and Syd felt her nervousness and insecurities melt away as calmness and relaxation overtook her. A quick glance at Sky told the pink ranger that he was feeling exactly the same way.
They followed the path before them in silence and came to a stop at the tiny lake where she had almost once been captured by Mirloc. For a moment, she relieved the memories of the fateful day when Sky had pulled her back, away from the monster that had killed his father. His embrace had felt safe, she remembered. His mere presence had always felt safe and even though they had been in danger, she couldn’t deny the thrill that had gone through her from being in his arms.
She stared at the red ranger, taking in his strong features. His crystal blue eyes that looked grey in the moonlight were staring back at her with such intensity that she had to look away. Her gaze trailed down his front and she briefly admired his biceps. They shifted awkwardly, both knowing what they wanted to talk about, but not knowing how to approach the subject. She moved so that she was half facing Sky and half facing the lake.
“So, Grumm’s gone now.”
Sky’s voice slightly startled her but the pink ranger recovered just as quickly. She threw him a teasing glance. “Thanks for stating the obvious, Captain.”
The red ranger chuckled and she felt warm at hearing his laughter. There was another brief moment of silence and Sky took a step closer to her. “Syd…”
Sydney faced him then, barely able to breathe as she was just suddenly aware of how close he was to her. “Yeah?” she whispered.
The red ranger started to lean down and she took a sharp breath. Breath… she reminded herself. She felt his arms wrap around her waist, pulling her closer and she was aware of how fast her heart was beating. She closed her eyes and reached up, placing her arms around his neck and slightly shivered when she felt his breathe on her face. Another second…
“AARGGGG!”
Syd’s eyes flew open as she was suddenly ripped from Sky’s embrace. The pink ranger could only stare at her leader in shock as the red ranger began wiping frantically at his head. Looking up, she saw the seagull that had done its duty on Sky’s head, flying away, squawking into the night. It was almost as if the bird was laughing at Sky.
Although she was angry at the seagull for ruining what could’ve been the best moment of her life, she couldn’t help but laugh as she watched the red ranger thrusting his head into the lake and trying to wash off as much bird poop as possible.
It made a really funny sight.
(“Stop laughing.”
The yellow ranger had tears streaming down her face as she struggled to regain her composure. “That’s so hilarious! I would pay good money to see something like that happen to Sky.”
“You would.”
“Oh, don’t be such a downer. Didn’t you laugh at him?”
The pink ranger giggled. “Sure did. I was laughing for twenty minutes straight.”
“Please tell me you got pictures!”
Syd shook her head. “Nope. I could never do that to Sky!”
Z snorted. “You should’ve taken pictures. I bet people around the Academy would’ve paid good money to see them.”
“You’re evil!”
The yellow ranger shrugged. “So anyway, what happened next?”
“Well, we headed straight back to the Academy where Sky took a quick shower and then we met up on the roof to talk things out.”
“You mentioned that you guys were locked out. How did that happen?”
“The stupid doors can only be opened from the inside. Luckily, my fists of iron got us out. Cruger is not going to be happy when he finds out he’s going to have to replace the rooftop doors with new ones.”
“Glad I’m not you.”)
When they met up on the roof, Syd knew that this time she was going to be getting the answers she had been waiting for ever since the diamond incident. They stared at one another, the romantic atmosphere from earlier was gone and all that was left was anxiousness and a little bit of fear. This was it. There was no turning back after tonight.
She could still hear the beat of the music that was blaring through the Academy walls. The party was still going strong but now she had no more desires to join in on the fun. She stood alert as Sky took a step closer to her. The red ranger seemed to have to have something to say but was struggling with the words. The pink ranger herself couldn’t think of a thing to say. At that moment, she silently cursed the seagull for putting them in this awkward situation, not matter how funny the incident had been before.
“Syd…” Sky started, and then trailed off. The red ranger sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He let his arm fall to his side and let out another sigh. “We’ve been through a lot together,” he said quietly.
She took a step closer to him. “Yeah, we have,” she replied back, just as quietly. Gently, she placed a hand on his arm. They exchanged a glance. And the moment their eyes connected, Syd knew everything he was trying to tell her without saying anything. “You don’t have to say anything, Sky. I already know.”
Her words seemed to have a negative effect on the red ranger. “No!” Sky took another step closer to her and wrapped his arms around her. “This is something that I have to tell you. I can’t keep it to myself anymore, Syd! You have to know…” He held her tight and she felt her breath hitch. “I love you.”
As soon as she heard the words, the pink ranger knew that she felt exactly the same way. Tears filled her eyes and she couldn’t help but think that everything they had gone through to lead up to this moment had been more than worth it. She wrapped her arms around Sky’s neck and took a deep breath. “I love you, too,” she whispered, her voice just a little shaky from her emotions.
Through her tears, she saw Sky’s face light up into a bright smile and she was blown away by how handsome he looked. This time there was nothing stopping them as the red ranger placed a hand on the side of her face, leaning close.
(“Hey guys! Whatcha doing?”
“Bridge!” Z yelped as the blue ranger came bouncing into the Common Room with a flourish. “You ruined it! You ruined the moment!”
“Moment?” Bridge stopped with a look of confusion on his face. “What moment? You and Syd were having a moment?”
“No!” Z pinned Bridge with her best glare. “Syd and Sky were having a moment!”
If possible, the blue ranger looked even more confused. “But Sky’s not even here.”
“Ugh,” the yellow ranger put a hand to her face and faced her roommate once more. “Never mind, finish the story, Syd! I believe someone was leaning?”)
The scene registered bit by bit, smaller pieces falling into place to form the bigger picture. His mouth was sweet and chaste as it moved against hers, then inviting as he touched his tongue to her lips. She lay a hand over his collarbone, followed its slope through the fabric of his shirt. When she reached his neck, his pulse jumped beneath her fingertips.
He pulled away, kissing the corner of her mouth as he did so. He stared down at her and she stared back, their words a jumble in the air between them.
Sky cleared his throat. “So, um, what does this mean?”
The pink ranger laughed and held him tighter. “I think this means you’re taking me out on a date tomorrow night.”
He grinned and placed another kiss on her forehead. “I think this means you’re probably right.”
xxx
“Wow.”
Syd grinned. “Yup, that was pretty much my reaction too.”
“I still wish you had taken pictures of the bird poop.”
“What bird poop?” Bridge spoke up from where he was sitting. “Tell the story again! I wanna hear what happened! Please Syd, tell the story again?”
“What story?” The Common Room doors slid open to reveal the red ranger in civilian clothing. Sky had come in only to hear the tail end of Bridge's question. Syd grinned and jumped up in excitement, rushing over to him. He greeted her with a kiss, before looking at his fellow teammates. “What story?” he asked, again.
“I was just telling Z what happened last night,” Syd explained, with a mischievous look in her eyes. “Specifically about what happened in the park.”
There was a horrified look on Sky’s face. “Syd! You promised you wouldn’t tell them about the pictures!”
“What?” Z sat up straight from where she was sitting and glared at Syd. “You lied to me! You did take pictures of the bird poop! Where are they? I wanna see them!”
The pink ranger gave a pointed glance at her new boyfriend, who looked sheepish. “Oops.”
Before the yellow ranger could protest anymore, Sky quickly wrapped an arm around Sydney and guided her towards the doors. “Oh, look at the time! We’re going to be late… for our dinner reservations... see you guys later!”
Laughing, Sydney followed Sky, holding his hand tight as she did so. Yes, everything they had gone through had definitely been worth it. Bird poop and all.
xxx
Author: BloomingViolets
Rating: K+
Disclaimer: Disney owns the characters. I just play with them =)
Summary: Syd tells Z all the details of the night before. She leaves nothing out. Not the handcuffs, the bird poop, or the kiss.
Author Notes: Another Sky/Syd fic from me! I've never actually posted a fic here before. Most of my stories can be found at Cathy's site or on ff.net. My user name is BloomingViolets.
Enjoy!
xxx
“Alright, tell me everything,” Z said as the pink ranger sat in the seat across from her.
“What?” Syd grinned, a not so convincing ‘innocent’ expression forming on her face.
“Are you kidding? You and Sky were alone for hours last night. Everyone knows that when two people are alone for hours, especially if they are at a wild party, something interesting always happens. So…” Z waved a hand at Syd in a ‘gimme, gimme’ gesture. “Tell me everything! And don’t you dare leave anything out!”
“So, how was last night for you?” Syd asked, trying to change the subject as a blush formed on her cheeks. “Did you have fun?”
Her best friend gave her a glare that spoke volumes. “Are you seriously trying to get out of this conversation? I don’t think so! I waited a long time for this. Now, spill!”
“Which do you want to hear first? The threesome happening in Jack’s former bedroom or the part where we were on the roof and got locked out?” The pink ranger sighed, knowing that once Z set her mind on something, there was no stopping her. “Or do you want to hear about what happened when we were in the park and then bird feces dropped on Sky’s head?”
Z’s eyes widened with glee. “Bird poop landed on Sky’s head? And you witnessed a threesome? Why do you get to see all the interesting things? I had to take care of Jack all night and make sure that he didn’t die of alcohol poisoning or something!”
Sydney snickered. “Sucks to be you.”
“Oh man, such suspense,” the yellow ranger paused. “You know, why don’t you start at the beginning? I want to hear everything. I mean it, don’t leave anything out!”
“Fine, but no interrupting! It’s going to take awhile and I’m only going to tell this story once.”
“Please, we have all the time in the world.”
xxx
It was shaping up to be the party of the decade and in the pink ranger’s opinion, it was about time. The euphoria that everyone felt of their triumph over Gruumm had lasted several days now and tonight was the night that a celebration was being thrown in honor of the B Squad Power Rangers for their dedication and hard work. She had no idea who had planned the party but it was in full swing by the time she had finished getting ready and had arrived at the Recreation Room where it was being held.
People were shouting praises at her as she walked by, giving her high fives and whatnot. She grinned and nodded to the people that were cheering her on. Even though she was only one-fifth of a team that had saved the world, she took the cheering in stride and with her head held high. She just loved being at the center of attention and for once, it wasn’t for purely selfish reasons but to bask in the pride of knowing that she had helped the world become a better, safer place.
The interior was decorated with streamers, balloons and other odd accessories that looked completely out of place but Syd thought it made the Academy seem homey. There were twinkling lights strung across the halls and the atmosphere only made it seem more warm and cheerful. Loud music was blaring from nearby speakers and there was laughter all around.
She loved everything about it.
Her eyes wandered around the room, looking for her teammates. But with all the people moving about, it was almost futile to locate them. She moved her way through the crowd, hoping to spot at least one familiar face. She knew that Z had to be around somewhere – the yellow ranger had left for the party long before she had.
“Hey Syd!”
Jack had materialized out of no where and was suddenly standing next to her. The pink ranger let out a laugh as she gave him a hug – it was good to see him. Jack had only left SPD a week earlier and the team missed him terribly. It just wasn’t the same around the Academy with Jack gone. Still, Jack was doing what made him happy and if helping people in a different way other than SPD made him happy, then Syd respected his decision to leave. She released him from their hug and looked over at his choice of clothing for the night. The former red ranger looked incredibly sexy in his simple outfit consisting of a black t-shirt and dark jeans. And she had a feeling that Jack knew just how good he looked that night, judging from the smug expression on his face.
“Hey Jack!” she replied. “Looking good! Did you just get here?”
“Yep,” Jack nodded and took a deep breath, looking excited and ready to party. “I think I’m already drunk.”
The pink ranger rolled her eyes. “Get real, Jack.” She shook her head at him with amusement. “It’s impossible for you to be drunk if you just got here,” she said in a tone that she specifically reserved for him.
“Aww, come on Syd!” Jack complained. “None of that negative stuff. It’s a party! We need to get completely wasted and go wild and crazy. Let’s go get drunk and forget all about the stress and tension that we’ve been through these last couple of months!”
(“Typical Jack,” Z complained. “Only he can use practically anything as an excuse to get drunk and party like a wild animal.”
“You promised not to interrupt!”
The yellow ranger rolled her eyes and held up her hands. “Sorry, please continue.”
“Thank you.”)
She and Jack had stuck together for about an hour already and the pink ranger had gotten quite bored of watching her friend taking shot after shot and getting quite heavily inebriated. Sydney’s lips had yet to touch a drop of alcohol and as much as she wanted to celebrate with a shot of tequila, she didn’t want to get wasted without knowing if there was someone around to look after her – one had to be careful at parties such as these.
“There you are Syd! I’ve been looking everywhere for you!”
She looked up, surprised to find Boom hovering by the arm of the couch, his whole demeanor full of exuberance. Next to her, Jack took another shot, while drunkenly trying to flirt with the redheaded girl in front him. It was as if the former red ranger had forgotten all about her.
“Hi Boom!” she yelled over the loud music. “I’ve been sitting here for the last hour!”
Boom grinned at her and pointed to the corner of the room. The pink ranger looked at where he pointed and spotted the rest of her teammates sitting at a table, surrounded by people. Sky, in particular, looked extremely uncomfortable since there was a whole gang of girls surrounding him. “The others were looking for you!”
“Thanks Boom!” Sydney waved, already standing up and attempting to head over to where her friends sat. Before she could move though, Jack had stood up as well and slung an arm over her shoulder, stumbling as he did so.
“You know what, Syd?” Jack shouted into her ear. The loud music was making it hard to hear anything. “I bet if you get Sky to drink a bit of alcohol, he’ll loosen up enough to do anything you want!”
(“Excuse me?” Z interrupted. “What did he mean ‘anything’?”
“Wait, wait, I’m getting there.”
“But – “
“Do you want to hear this story or not?”
“Shutting up now.”)
“Excuse me?” Syd exclaimed. “What do you mean ‘anything’?”
But Jack had already left and now the former red ranger had climbed onto a table and was drunkenly dancing. There were several attractive girls now surrounding him and a few had even gotten up onto the table with him and were dirty dancing. Jack was starting to slowly take off his shirt and the pink ranger giggled, knowing that come the next day, Jack would definitely not remember anything that he was doing at the moment.
She took a moment to try and figure out what Jack's words meant, but in the end she decided that Jack was just being Jack and not to worry about it.
(“Oh my god, please tell me you took pictures! We can blackmail Jack for years with this!”
Sydney grinned. “Sure did. It was really lucky that I had my camera with me.”
“Excellent!”)
The pink ranger decided that Jack would be fine on his own and looked over to the table where her friends were sitting. She laughed when she saw Sky trying to discretely move away from the girl that was heavily coming onto him. Bridge and Z were sitting next to him and were making no moves to bail their friend out. In fact, the blue and yellow rangers looked to be laughing at their esteemed leader. Deciding that the new red ranger had had enough (and also to partly mark her territory – no one was allowed to flirt with Sky, except her!), Syd moved her way through the crowd to rescue her friend.
“Hey Sky!” She grinned as she moved to stand in front of him and grabbed his arm. “Want to dance?” The red ranger looked relieved as his attention moved onto her, leaving the girl that had been flirting with him to stomp away in annoyance.
Sky grinned and for the first time that night, Syd noticed just how handsome he looked. A blush formed on her cheeks as she looked at him. “So, do you want to dance?” she asked again.
“Actually,” Sky looked towards the doors longingly. “Want to take a walk somewhere? This party is not really my thing.”
As much as she wanted to stay at the party, she wanted alone time with Sky more. It didn’t take her long to agree. Involuntarily, visions of Sky professing his love to her ran through her mind and she blushed, shaking her head as if to erase the images from her mind. She held onto his arm as he led the way out of the Recreation Centre. But just before they reached the doors, a group of rowdy people slammed into them, spilling alcohol and other drinks all over their clothes.
Syd rolled her eyes and sighed. “Somehow, I knew that was going to happen. This always happens at parties.”
The pink ranger was expecting for the red ranger to get annoyed or angry at the group of people that had ran into them and was pleasantly surprised when all he did was shake his head and chuckled. “Why don’t we go get changed and then go to the park? It’s a nice night out.”
The two rangers headed towards their respective rooms and quickly changed. They met up ten minutes later and started walking down the hall towards the entrance of the Academy. On the way, they passed Jack’s old room – the one that Sky would probably move into in just a couple of days. The Commander had given the new red ranger a choice; he could either move into Jack’s old room or he could continue to share his room with Bridge. Sky had yet to see what the inside of the room looked like now that it was empty and just waiting for him to add his own personal touches.
Just looking at the doors to his soon-to-be new room had him excited. Sky grinned and started forward. “Come on, I want to see it.”
Knowing that Sky would want to look around (anything related to him being the red ranger made him giddy) and figuring that it couldn’t hurt, Syd followed her teammate. The doors slid open at their presence and what they discovered shocked them. Unfortunately, the room was otherwise occupied and Sky quickly turned around and pushed her out. The doors slid shut behind them and there was a moment of stunned silence as they stared at Sky’s soon-to-be new room.
Syd shook her head. “That was a threesome,” she said slowly.
“It sure was,” Sky replied, still staring at the doors. “That was… interesting… for lack of a better word.”
“One of the girls in there was a C-squad cadet!”
Sky shook his head. “I am not moving into that room now that I know what’s been going on in there.”
(“Are you serious? A C-squad cadet was doing the dirty deed?” Z exclaimed.
“That’s not even the worst of it. She was wearing this really outrageous uniform, complete with handcuffs, a whip and metal rings in places on her body where there shouldn’t be.”
“Good friggin’ lord.”
“Tell me about it!”
“And how old was she?”
“I don’t know. Sixteen, maybe?”
“How scandalous!”
Syd shook her head. “Apparently she aspires to be a ranger by day and porn star by night.”
“Must be every little girl’s dream.”)
The walk to the park only took fifteen minutes, but to the pink ranger it felt like a lifetime of self-doubt and insecurities coming out in full force. The two rangers had been flirting back and forth for over a year now and not once had they talked about their new found feelings. It all began with the diamond incident - an incident that she remembered all too clearly.
Ah, the diamond incident.
That day had changed everything. The moment she seen him smile and laugh, she had changed and suddenly found herself wanting to see more of the Sky that no one ever saw. She had been so proud that she had been the one to make him smile and laugh even though it had been at her expense. After that day, she had done her best to try and make him smile more often. She did everything she could to include him on their activities, inviting him to lunch… the list was endless. And it seemed that he responded to her the most – if her imagination hadn’t been playing tricks on her. Everyone else got the ‘I’m superior’ attitude from him, but all she got were mocking remarks – which she supposed wasn’t much better, but at least it wasn’t as harsh.
They walked along in a comfortable silence, Syd sneaking glances at the man next to her every so often. What was it about him that appealed to her so much? When she really thought about it, she supposed it was a bit of everything. Hs sex appeal really did wonders for her heart. Here she was, Sydney Drew who could have any guy she wanted and she fell for the one guy that didn’t want to get into her pants right off the bat.
Life was really ironic sometimes.
The best part about him though, was probably the fact that he challenged her to become better than she was in every way. Gone was the self-centered brat she had been when she had joined the Academy. Sure, part of the reason for the change was their long, hard fought battle – but if she was honest with herself (and she was!) she knew most of the change was because she wanted to be the sort of woman that Sky Tate would want to date and be with.
It was a beautiful night; the kind of romantic night that she had always daydreamed about, in fact. The air was warm and the moon was high in the sky and shinning bright, casting its luminous glow all over the park. It was peaceful and Syd felt her nervousness and insecurities melt away as calmness and relaxation overtook her. A quick glance at Sky told the pink ranger that he was feeling exactly the same way.
They followed the path before them in silence and came to a stop at the tiny lake where she had almost once been captured by Mirloc. For a moment, she relieved the memories of the fateful day when Sky had pulled her back, away from the monster that had killed his father. His embrace had felt safe, she remembered. His mere presence had always felt safe and even though they had been in danger, she couldn’t deny the thrill that had gone through her from being in his arms.
She stared at the red ranger, taking in his strong features. His crystal blue eyes that looked grey in the moonlight were staring back at her with such intensity that she had to look away. Her gaze trailed down his front and she briefly admired his biceps. They shifted awkwardly, both knowing what they wanted to talk about, but not knowing how to approach the subject. She moved so that she was half facing Sky and half facing the lake.
“So, Grumm’s gone now.”
Sky’s voice slightly startled her but the pink ranger recovered just as quickly. She threw him a teasing glance. “Thanks for stating the obvious, Captain.”
The red ranger chuckled and she felt warm at hearing his laughter. There was another brief moment of silence and Sky took a step closer to her. “Syd…”
Sydney faced him then, barely able to breathe as she was just suddenly aware of how close he was to her. “Yeah?” she whispered.
The red ranger started to lean down and she took a sharp breath. Breath… she reminded herself. She felt his arms wrap around her waist, pulling her closer and she was aware of how fast her heart was beating. She closed her eyes and reached up, placing her arms around his neck and slightly shivered when she felt his breathe on her face. Another second…
“AARGGGG!”
Syd’s eyes flew open as she was suddenly ripped from Sky’s embrace. The pink ranger could only stare at her leader in shock as the red ranger began wiping frantically at his head. Looking up, she saw the seagull that had done its duty on Sky’s head, flying away, squawking into the night. It was almost as if the bird was laughing at Sky.
Although she was angry at the seagull for ruining what could’ve been the best moment of her life, she couldn’t help but laugh as she watched the red ranger thrusting his head into the lake and trying to wash off as much bird poop as possible.
It made a really funny sight.
(“Stop laughing.”
The yellow ranger had tears streaming down her face as she struggled to regain her composure. “That’s so hilarious! I would pay good money to see something like that happen to Sky.”
“You would.”
“Oh, don’t be such a downer. Didn’t you laugh at him?”
The pink ranger giggled. “Sure did. I was laughing for twenty minutes straight.”
“Please tell me you got pictures!”
Syd shook her head. “Nope. I could never do that to Sky!”
Z snorted. “You should’ve taken pictures. I bet people around the Academy would’ve paid good money to see them.”
“You’re evil!”
The yellow ranger shrugged. “So anyway, what happened next?”
“Well, we headed straight back to the Academy where Sky took a quick shower and then we met up on the roof to talk things out.”
“You mentioned that you guys were locked out. How did that happen?”
“The stupid doors can only be opened from the inside. Luckily, my fists of iron got us out. Cruger is not going to be happy when he finds out he’s going to have to replace the rooftop doors with new ones.”
“Glad I’m not you.”)
When they met up on the roof, Syd knew that this time she was going to be getting the answers she had been waiting for ever since the diamond incident. They stared at one another, the romantic atmosphere from earlier was gone and all that was left was anxiousness and a little bit of fear. This was it. There was no turning back after tonight.
She could still hear the beat of the music that was blaring through the Academy walls. The party was still going strong but now she had no more desires to join in on the fun. She stood alert as Sky took a step closer to her. The red ranger seemed to have to have something to say but was struggling with the words. The pink ranger herself couldn’t think of a thing to say. At that moment, she silently cursed the seagull for putting them in this awkward situation, not matter how funny the incident had been before.
“Syd…” Sky started, and then trailed off. The red ranger sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He let his arm fall to his side and let out another sigh. “We’ve been through a lot together,” he said quietly.
She took a step closer to him. “Yeah, we have,” she replied back, just as quietly. Gently, she placed a hand on his arm. They exchanged a glance. And the moment their eyes connected, Syd knew everything he was trying to tell her without saying anything. “You don’t have to say anything, Sky. I already know.”
Her words seemed to have a negative effect on the red ranger. “No!” Sky took another step closer to her and wrapped his arms around her. “This is something that I have to tell you. I can’t keep it to myself anymore, Syd! You have to know…” He held her tight and she felt her breath hitch. “I love you.”
As soon as she heard the words, the pink ranger knew that she felt exactly the same way. Tears filled her eyes and she couldn’t help but think that everything they had gone through to lead up to this moment had been more than worth it. She wrapped her arms around Sky’s neck and took a deep breath. “I love you, too,” she whispered, her voice just a little shaky from her emotions.
Through her tears, she saw Sky’s face light up into a bright smile and she was blown away by how handsome he looked. This time there was nothing stopping them as the red ranger placed a hand on the side of her face, leaning close.
(“Hey guys! Whatcha doing?”
“Bridge!” Z yelped as the blue ranger came bouncing into the Common Room with a flourish. “You ruined it! You ruined the moment!”
“Moment?” Bridge stopped with a look of confusion on his face. “What moment? You and Syd were having a moment?”
“No!” Z pinned Bridge with her best glare. “Syd and Sky were having a moment!”
If possible, the blue ranger looked even more confused. “But Sky’s not even here.”
“Ugh,” the yellow ranger put a hand to her face and faced her roommate once more. “Never mind, finish the story, Syd! I believe someone was leaning?”)
The scene registered bit by bit, smaller pieces falling into place to form the bigger picture. His mouth was sweet and chaste as it moved against hers, then inviting as he touched his tongue to her lips. She lay a hand over his collarbone, followed its slope through the fabric of his shirt. When she reached his neck, his pulse jumped beneath her fingertips.
He pulled away, kissing the corner of her mouth as he did so. He stared down at her and she stared back, their words a jumble in the air between them.
Sky cleared his throat. “So, um, what does this mean?”
The pink ranger laughed and held him tighter. “I think this means you’re taking me out on a date tomorrow night.”
He grinned and placed another kiss on her forehead. “I think this means you’re probably right.”
xxx
“Wow.”
Syd grinned. “Yup, that was pretty much my reaction too.”
“I still wish you had taken pictures of the bird poop.”
“What bird poop?” Bridge spoke up from where he was sitting. “Tell the story again! I wanna hear what happened! Please Syd, tell the story again?”
“What story?” The Common Room doors slid open to reveal the red ranger in civilian clothing. Sky had come in only to hear the tail end of Bridge's question. Syd grinned and jumped up in excitement, rushing over to him. He greeted her with a kiss, before looking at his fellow teammates. “What story?” he asked, again.
“I was just telling Z what happened last night,” Syd explained, with a mischievous look in her eyes. “Specifically about what happened in the park.”
There was a horrified look on Sky’s face. “Syd! You promised you wouldn’t tell them about the pictures!”
“What?” Z sat up straight from where she was sitting and glared at Syd. “You lied to me! You did take pictures of the bird poop! Where are they? I wanna see them!”
The pink ranger gave a pointed glance at her new boyfriend, who looked sheepish. “Oops.”
Before the yellow ranger could protest anymore, Sky quickly wrapped an arm around Sydney and guided her towards the doors. “Oh, look at the time! We’re going to be late… for our dinner reservations... see you guys later!”
Laughing, Sydney followed Sky, holding his hand tight as she did so. Yes, everything they had gone through had definitely been worth it. Bird poop and all.
xxx
