Post by Kim on Apr 2, 2008 18:02:19 GMT -5
Last Revised: February 2, 2007
Summary: An unexpected showdown with a former foe leaves the team on the cusp of losing one of their own.
Rated: T
Ships: SS, BZ, JA
Disclaimer: Don’t own PR, if I did, I would have kept all my favorite characters on, and I’d have gotten to know Chris Violette lots better. I don’t own the song, it’s by Avril Lavigne and was done for the Eragon SDTK.
Dedication: To Angela…..for wanting Syd and Sky to get their happy ending!
You're not alone
Together we stand
I'll be by your side
You know I'll take your hand
When it gets cold
And it feels like the end
There's no place to go
You know I won't give in
I won't give in
Keep holdin' on
Cause you know we'll make it through
We'll make it through
Just stay strong
Cause you know I'm here for you
I'm here for you
There's nothing you can say
Nothing you can do
And there's no other way when it comes to the truth
So, keep holding on
Cause you know we'll make it through
We'll make it through
So far away
I wish you were here
Before it's too late
This could all disappear
Before the door's closed
And it comes to an end
With you by my side
I will fight and defend
I'll fight and defend, yeah, yeah
Avril Lavigne, Keep Holding On
--
He swallowed again, hoping to get the tightness in his throat to ease. It didn’t work. The pressure was still pushing against his chest, his throat felt constricted like it had been whenever one of the goons they’d been chasing got him into a choke hold, and his heart felt like it couldn’t possibly break into many more pieces than it was already in, but he knew if she didn’t make it, if she was dead when the doctors came out to talk to them, that heart would break more.
It had been a routine investigation; at least it had started that way. Someone had broken into a secure SPD warehouse near the waterfront. Cruger had assigned the four-person B Squad to check it out. That hadn’t worried him, what had worried him, even now, was the look on Cruger’s face when he’d said be careful. Not a one of them had paid attention to the Commander’s warning, not until it was too late.
The warehouse had been devoid of human life. There were guard robots everywhere, but they’d been deactivated. He’d sent Syd and Z to check something or another, and then he and Bridge had looked around near the back where a large, titanium plated vault was cracked open. It had taken the two of them five minutes to figure out what, correction WHO, had been taken from the vault.
Gruumm’s containment card had been placed, along with the others of his minions, in a special containment card holder, which, after a year of residing in a vault at SPD Headquarters had been transferred to an undisclosed location.
He could remember hearing the explosion and feeling his heart fly into his throat. Bridge had sent him a sharp look before the pair had bolted from the inside to find the girls. It still felt like a slow motion picture when he thought back on the scene they’d come upon. Z was on the ground, unconscious, her helmet several feet away from her body, which was barely managing to keep her bloody and battered Ranger suit on. And then there was Sydney. He felt the tears he thought he couldn’t cry anymore burning his eyes when he remembered seeing her. She’d been on her knees, Ranger uniform gone, her cadet’s uniform in tatters. She’d been facing him and Bridge as they’d bolted from the building. He could still remember those tortured blue eyes looking up at him, asking him for help even as she knew Gruumm was behind her, his staff ripping through her chest. She threw her head back and let out a soundless scream, her eyes locked on his as the Troobian Emperor yanked the staff from her body and watched as she collapsed onto the concrete below, her eyes still on Sky’s.
He let out a shaky breath and shook his head, hoping to clear the image from his mind, though he knew it was no use. He’d never forget the sight of Sydney falling lifelessly to the concrete, her once vibrant eyes blank and still on his face. It felt like a dream, all of it, but he knew it wasn’t. He could remember Bridge yelling at him to stop, but he’d just kept running, until he’d ended up on his knees next to her. He could remember the pristine white gloves of his suit had turned scarlet when he’d rolled her over onto her back. Her blood was on his hands. He wanted to vomit now as he’d wanted to then. The echo of Gruumm’s laughter still rang in his ears; it had been ringing out until the Troobian Emperor was gasping for breath and falling toward the concrete himself, his head sliding off his shoulders. Sky could remember looking up and seeing Shadow Ranger standing over the fallen body, the Shadow Saber dripping with blood.
“Sky?” Looking up, the Red Ranger found his predecessor crouching in front of him. “Sky, Bro, can you hear me? You need to let your morph go,” Jack told him, gesturing to the blood stained uniform he was still wearing. It was stained with Syd’s precious, life giving blood.
“Oh God! Syd!” he cried out weakly, the tears dripping down his cheeks. “Jack, Syd’s…Sydney’s…” he found he couldn’t bring himself to say it. He couldn’t utter the vilest words he’d possibly ever thought. There was no way for him to tell his friend that their bouncy, pink princess was dead. He felt the bile rising in his throat as he finally felt the sharp edge of the loss slice through the numbness that surrounded him. He choked back what he could until Jack was pushing his head down over what vaguely looked like a wastebasket.
“Sky, throw up, don’t swallow it,” Kat’s voice rang out in order. The Red Ranger merely followed orders and emptied the contents of his stomach, pitiful as they were, into the receptacle.
Sydney was dead. The only true light ever to enter his life had been snuffed out far too soon. He felt the crushing weight of dreams for the future shattering around him. Without Sydney, there was no future for him, nothing outside of SPD. Sydney had meant a home, a family, and a love that would save him from his demons. There would be no soft, warm, comfortable bed with her warm body in it now. All that he had was his single bed in the room he and Bridge shared inside the academy.
There would be no family now, no children running wild in the yard or tearing through the house. He’d never have a little girl with her mother’s heart shaped face and his eyes, or a son with her eyes and his nose and lips. What’s worse, the love he’d just been uncovering in his heart for the tough as nails, sweet as cotton candy Pink Ranger had no where left to go. He’d never gotten the chance to tell her he loved her, never gotten the chance to do more than ask her on a handful of dates. There would be no engagement, there would be no wedding, there wouldn’t be a first time for him to make love to her, to show her what was inside the heart he was slowly finding beat only for her.
The grief raged so high and so hot inside of him, he thought it would suffocate him. “Sky?” It was Kat again, her cool hands cupping his face as she tilted his head up so she could look at him dead on. “Schuyler?” He didn’t respond. There was no point in it anymore, nothing mattered. Sydney was gone, life was over.
“Sky?” This voice belonged to Z. Turning his head slightly, he took in the woman who had grown to become his little sister. She still looked battered and bruised, and her face was covered in tear stains, but there was a light in her eyes…the same light that had once been in Sydney’s but would never shine there again. Not now.
“Cadet Tate, listen to me,” Kat ordered, her voice firm even if he could detect a faint tremor in it. “You’ve got to pull yourself together, Sky. You can’t go in there with her if you’re falling apart like this. Do you hear me?”
“She’s dead, Kat, I doubt she’s going to mind if I’m a mess,” he muttered his first coherent statement since they’d rushed Sydney into the infirmary of the academy.
The feline scientist shook her head at him. “Sky, listen to me, she’s not dead.”
His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open even as he looked up into Kat’s eyes. “W-w-what?”
Her smile was a mixture between heartbreak and hope. “Dr. Felix was able to stop the bleeding; he was able to get her heart started again. She’s alive, Sky, but she’s really weak.”
“How?”
“We don’t know,” Kat whispered, backing away as he struggled to stand from the chair he was sitting in. He pushed away Bridge and Jack’s assistance and stumbled toward the room Dr. Felix was just leaving, his body numb all over again, only this time, with the possibility that life would go on.
Her room was dimly lit when he entered. Ignoring Dr. Felix’s warning to not stay too long, he struggled to move his feet to get to her bed. He felt like he was walking through mud, or worse, quick sand. He all but collapsed onto the edge of her bed, his hands shaking as he reached out to touch her face. She was pale, his weary mind noted. Her skin was a sickly white color, but he knew it was from the loss of blood. With hands that were none to steady, he brushed her hair from her face and then cupped her cheeks. Leaning forward, he brought his face as close to hers as he could and let out a long held breath when he felt the warm exhale from her nose and mouth on his cheek. “Sydney,” he whispered, longing to see those cerulean blue eyes of hers.
He leaned his forehead against her chin, his eyes closed as he felt the up and down motion of her chest. Taking a deep breath, he sat up and took her hand, smiling for the first time since his own personal nightmare had begun. “I love you, Sydney. I know I haven’t told you that before, but I’ll be damned if I miss another chance to tell you.”
He sat there staring at her for the longest time before he sang his favorite part of the first song they’d danced to. “You're not alone, together we stand; I'll be by your side, you know I'll take your hand; When it gets cold, and it feels like the end, there's no place to go, you know I won't give in, I won't give in. Keep holdin' on, cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it through; Just stay strong, cause you know I'm here for you, I'm here for you; There's nothing you can say, nothing you can do; And there's no other way when it comes to the truth; So, keep holding on, cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it through…”
--
She could remember the searing pain, could remember seeing Sky shaking his head back and forth as she collapsed, but after that, everything was a thick blackness that she couldn't see or hear through. She vaguely remembered the feel of someone lifting her into their arms and of her being carried somewhere before she had briefly woken up in the operating room. She remembered Dr. Felix hissing out orders, and remembered Kat leaning over her, eyes full of worry, telling her she was going to be okay. She remembered nothing after that. There was an inky darkness that had surrounded her. In that darkness, she relived the battle with Gruumm over and over again.
It had started out as an ordinary investigation, except for Cruger's freaked out warning to be careful. Who knew that one of the most dangerous criminals ever to be locked in a containment card with all his goons had been sent from the maximum security of the Delta Base to an unsuspecting warehouse near the waterfront and locked in a vault? She seriously wanted to know what idiot had thought that was safe!
When they'd gotten there, Sky had sent her and Z to check the grounds while he and Bridge headed inside to see what was going on in there. She remembered walking around the outside of the building and momentarily seeing Krybots. She and Z had nodded to each other and then had rushed off to take them, only they'd found themselves face to face with Gruumm. The shock had coursed through her, and from the vibrations of Z's body, Syd had known she was shocked as hell too. A brief battle had gone on, with Gruumm taunting them; they had tried a joint attack. Z had reached him first, and he'd launched a blast of energy from his staff, sending the Yellow Ranger flying backwards. Her teammate had landed with a thump, her Ranger uniform burnt and smoking in places, her helmet flying across the yard they were in. Syd had been so surprised to see Z flying past her, that she hadn't had time to stop before she was less than a foot from Gruumm, who had his staff pointed at her. "Go ahead and run, little Ranger. I promise to give you a chance."
Sydney had instinctively known she was dead, but she had turned her back on him anyway, feeling his staff slam into her even as she did. Just when she'd pushed herself up to her knees, she'd seen Bridge and Sky come flying from the building. She saw Sky start shaking his head, her eyes meeting his visor. And then came the pain.
She could hear someone talking to her, but the voice was distorted and weak, and then she thought she could hear singing. No one she knew, except for herself, could sing relatively well, but the sound became clearer and clearer, and the voice was distinctly familiar. ‘Sky’ she thought, wanting nothing more than to open her eyes and look up at him. She could hear his voice crack with emotion she hadn’t heard from him since the night they’d defeated Mirloc. ‘Keep singing Sky, I can hear you’ she thought, her heart filling when she was able to make out the words to one of his favorite songs.
Letting his voice fill her with hope and love, Sydney found herself drifting off to sleep, memories of the past overtaking her.
“Jesus Syd! Can your swim suit get any skimpier?” Jack teased as she and Z took off their over shirts and shorts and set them on their towels.
She just grinned at her former leader. “Oh, I’m sure it could, I just haven’t found one yet,” she laughed. In all honesty, her bathing suit wasn’t THAT skimpy, but it came close. She could be like some of the women on the beach and be wearing a thong, but since Jack and Bridge were present, not to mention a few hundred other guys, she’d decided not to. No, wearing a thong would come later, when and if she ever managed to get Sky to her house and into the pool, alone. Her top covered and yet enhanced her breasts, the strings holding it together were thin and wouldn’t leave too big of a line on her skin when she decided to tan later. The bottoms were high cut at the front, but covered her behind, and still kept her modesty. The best part happened to be that the material was a mixture of pink, white, blue and red; it managed to touch on all three of their Ranger colors. Turning, Sydney saw Bridge and Sky coming down the walkway from the parking lot, each carrying a cooler.
“Sky, you’d better watch your woman, she’s trying to seduce every man on the beach!” Jack teased. Sydney shot him a glare while Z pushed him toward the water.
The Red Ranger happened to look up from where he was setting the cooler down between all their towels and caught sight of her. His face remained stoic, but his eyes narrowed at her, a light in them that spoke of everything he couldn’t and wouldn’t say out loud, but that she knew was there, and that she felt in return. “What?”
“I never realized you owned clothing like that,” he told her, straightening his posture.
“All you ever see me in anymore is SPD sanctioned uniforms. What did you expect?” she teased. “Besides, I’m getting the reaction I wanted.”
Sky just looked at her, shook his head, and then began drawing the tank top he wore off, tossing it on the towel as he kicked off his sandals. Sydney couldn’t help but stare. She had only ever caught glimpses of his muscular chest during his workouts; she’d never been able to fully appreciate it until now. ‘MINE!’ she thought greedily.
“You’re staring,” Sky teased, making her blush.
“You wish,” she muttered before turning to walk toward the edge of the water where Jack and Z were trying to coax Bridge into the water.
They played around in the water for a few hours before the girls went to lie in the sun and the boys played a game of volleyball. Ally joined them for dinner after she got off work and while Bridge was telling funny stories around the picnic they’d set up, Sydney found herself walking along the water’s edge, watching the sun set in the distance. It was the first time in a long time that she’d been able to have a few minutes of solitude.
“Cold?” someone asked from behind her before two arms gently enfolded her. His voice was as soothing and warm to her soul as his arms and chest were to her body.
“Yeah, but it’s too beautiful to pass up,” she murmured, leaning her head back against his shoulder. They stood in silence for a few minutes, just gazing at the horizon until they realized it was getting dark. “Time to go home?”
Sky sighed. “Unfortunately. Maybe we can come back next weekend,” he suggested, looking down into her eyes after she turned in his embrace. “Maybe just the two of us?”
“I have a better idea,” Sydney grinned, reaching up to wrap her arms around his neck.
“Oh?”
“How would you like to spend the weekend at my house? My parents will be out of town, so we’ll have it all to ourselves.”
The Red Ranger’s face flushed at the thought of being alone with her. For a second, Sydney thought he’d say no. “Sounds like a good plan.”
Syd smiled and stood on her tiptoes, nudging his face down to hers so she could kiss him. Sensing what she wanted, Sky cupped her bottom and pulled her closer to him, sealing his lips over hers. The kiss was a mixture of emotions – friendship, affection, relief, passion, trust, safety, but most of all, love and need.
“GET A ROOM!” the others called, bringing the Red and Pink Rangers from their little world for two back to reality.
“Can I use my fist of iron on him?” Syd asked as they turned and headed for their towels, her hand held firmly in Sky’s.
“By all means,” he laughed.
--
It felt like forever since the darkness had surrounded her. She could only guess it had been days, possibly weeks, since the attack by Gruumm. Every so often she caught voices floating around her in the darkness – her parents, Bridge, Z, Jack, Commander Cruger, Kat – but the one voice she could always distinguish was Sky’s. Over time she noticed that she could almost feel the despair rolling off him in waves. She couldn’t quite understand what was happening around her until one afternoon when the whole situation came to a head.
“Sky, you have no say in this,” Dr. Felix’s voice rang out loud and clear in her ears. “Her parents want her taken off life support. They don’t want her to remain a vegetable.”
“But I’m telling you she’s still alive! Syd’s still there!”
“Sky, her brainwave activity is next to nothing. I’m sorry, but Ms. Drew is, for all intense purposes, gone. You’ve got to let go.”
‘NO!’ she all but screamed, knowing they couldn’t hear her. She didn’t want to die, she didn’t want to be set free; she just wanted to be back in his arms. Despair filled her and her heart broke when she heard a noise she hadn’t ever – Sky’s crying. ‘Sky! I’m still here! Fight for me! Keep holding on! Please, don’t let go! I’m not ready to leave!’ she cried, pulling what she could of herself mentally into a ball. There had to be a reason for her to have been spared this long; there had to be a reason she hadn’t died on the spot. She couldn’t just die without knowing that reason. And she sure as hell wasn’t about to leave Sky, not after everything they’d been through. It wouldn’t end like this.
“Sydney.” His voice sounded loud, and she could hear the tremble in the strong, familiar tenor. She could only guess his mouth was right next to her ear. “Sydney, I know you can hear me. Your parents are taking you off life support, baby. You’ve got to fight, Sydney; you’ve got to keep hanging on by whatever thread you’ve been these last few weeks. Prove to them what I already know, that you’re still with us. Don’t you dare leave me, not now, not after everything we’ve been through just to be together; I need you, Syd. I want the dreams I’ve dreamt to come true, but they only can if you keep fighting. I want a family with you, Syd. I want it more than I’ve ever wanted anything, including being Red Ranger. Please don’t give up on us.”
One minute she was surrounded by darkness and the next minute there was a brilliant flash of light. ‘What’s happening?’ she wondered, but she couldn’t figure it out. Sky’s voice was no longer in her ear, and she couldn’t hear anything or anyone. ‘I love you, Schuyler’ she thought, tears coming to her eyes. She had a feeling the doctors had finally pulled her off life support and now she was dying.
--
Bridge and Z struggled to hold Sky back as Dr. Felix began shutting off the machines that were hooked to Sydney. Mr. and Mrs. Drew stood quietly next to her bed, holding tightly onto her and each other. Commander Cruger, Kat, Boom, Jack and Ally stood near the door, each watching the scene and feeling a searing pain tear through them. When Dr. Felix shut down the last of the machines, he hung his head. The last Ranger that had been lost on his watch had been Sky’s father, even if it didn’t seem like it he too, was feeling the effects of losing Sydney.
Sky stood there shaking his head back and forth as Syd’s parents bent down and kissed her cheeks and spoke softly to her. Just by looking at him, everyone else in the room knew that the dam was about to break and the flood waters were about to cut loose. Swallowing back his feelings, Sky turned to Z and wrapped his arms around her, knowing that she was having just as tough a time dealing with it because of the guilt. “It should have been me,” she whispered, tears finally leaking out. “It should have been me.”
“No, Z,” Sky whispered to her, hugging her tighter even as Jack and Bridge joined their embrace. “It wasn’t your fault; it wasn’t anyone’s fault except Gruumm’s.”
One by one, everyone else said their goodbyes to Sydney before silently leaving the room. Syd’s mother interrupted the group hug for only a few seconds, taking the time to hug each and every one of Sydney’s teammates tightly. She lingered on Sky, knowing how much his heart was breaking even if he hadn’t said anything yet. “She loved you, Sky,” Mrs. Drew whispered in his ear. “If you take nothing else away from this, take that. She loved you, with every breath in her.”
“I know,” he choked, squeezing the petite blonde before letting her go. When he straightened, it was just the four of them and Syd, just like always.
“I feel empty,” Jack muttered as they moved to sit on Syd’s bed. Sky and Z sat closest to her, while he sat with Sky and Bridge sat with Z. “After all the shit and crap and God knows what else we’ve been through over the last couple of years, who’d have ever thought this would happen.”
“All these weeks, our room has seemed so empty, but I clung to the fact that she was here, that she was recovering,” Z started as tears found their way down her cheeks. “I had hoped that she’d be coming back, that I’d walk in and hear her complain about the mess on my side of the room. Now she’ll never do that again.”
Jack leaned across Sydney’s still body and took Z’s hand, while Bridge leaned his head against her shoulder, his eyes on his best friend. “She was the first person at the academy to look past my powers and actually see me. She always made sure that I was included in activities beyond our training, and that my powers weren’t giving me grief. I know she thought I was weird at times, but she never really made me feel it like other people did.”
All eyes moved to Sky, wondering if he had something to say, but he was staring at Sydney’s composed and still face as if he’d blanked out on them. It was the first time in a long time that any of them had seen Sky look lost. “I never realized how much she meant to me, not until after we captured Gruumm the first time,” Sky started, reaching down to take her cold hand in his. He was mildly surprised when he found it warm to the touch still. His other hand reached out to touch her face while he spoke. “I remember, the first time I felt something beyond friendship for her was when we faced Mirloc. I’d just gone through setting my father’s murder free, and was feeling sorry for myself, and the first person to stand up against him for me was Syd.”
Z smiled through her tears. “She was so damn proud of you after that fight,” the Yellow Ranger croaked. “She told me that night, that she was proud of you for facing those demons of yours, and for coming out stronger because of it. I think that was the first time I realized something was happening between the two of you.”
Sky cleared his throat and tried to smile. “She’s always just been there,” he started. “I mean, I’d gotten so use to her being by my side, that I took it for granted.”
Jack chuckled and leaned closer to Sky. “I remember after Z and I joined the team, I use to think all the time why you and Syd always stood right next to each other when we were being briefed or fighting. It wasn’t until the whole thing with Mirloc that I saw it either; you two have been in love with each other for forever.”
“I knew it the whole time,” Bridge grinned. “I was just waiting for you two to get your heads out of your butts.”
Sky made a face at his long time roommate. “I just can’t believe this the end of the line,” he finally started again. “I was so sure she was still with us.”
“We all did, Sky,” Jack spoke up. “Every time we were here, it was like she was responding, but maybe we just saw what we wanted to see.”
“I don’t mean to bring this up, or maybe it’s just me, but does she seem still warm to you guys?” Z asked them. “I mean, I thought the body started cooling down after death?”
“It does, but in stages,” Bridge murmured, then took off his glove and waved it over Sydney. The others watched on in shock as Bridge’s face registered awe and then tears rolled down his cheeks.
“Bridge?” Sky uttered his name in a strangled voice.
“I think someone should go get Dr. Felix,” Bridge breathed, his eyes wide.
Jack looked concerned. “Why?”
The biggest smile possible bloomed on Bridge’s face as he let out a breath. “She’s still alive. Sky, check her pulse.”
With jerky movements, Sky’s trembling fingers went to Syd’s wrist, where he found the steady rhythm of her pulse. Shakily, he lifted his hand up to her neck to find her pulse there and was surprised when her body twitched and her head turned toward him. “Trying to take advantage of me while I’m laid up?” she teased softly.
“SYD!”
--
“Tired?”
Sydney couldn’t help but glare at him. He’d been asking her so many questions for the last couple of hours that she was ready to strangle him. “What do you think? I’ve only been at this since five-thirty yesterday morning,” she moaned, shifting her body to hopefully ease the discomfort she was having. She hated hospitals with a passion and had ever since she’d almost died in one three years prior. However, this one time it was necessary for her to be her, she didn’t want to put herself at any undo risk. She flashed back to a year ago when Z and Bridge had decided to deliver their little bundle of joy at home. Complications had risen and Z had had to be rushed to the hospital.
“I love you.”
Damn him, she thought as the anger seeped out of her. She was too tired to stay angry, plus, all she wanted was for him to hold her. “Hold me?” she whispered her request. He smiled and nodded before moving to the bed with her, settling behind her and letting her rest against his chest.
“Better?”
“Yes, thank you,” she whispered, leaning her head against his shoulder. She could feel herself drifting off to sleep, comforted by the warm breath against her ear and the strong, loving caress of his hands on her large, round belly.
“Get some sleep,” he whispered.
“I’m scared, Sky,” she mumbled, snuggling close. “I’m so scared.”
“The baby is fine, you’re fine, and everything is going to be alright. I’m not going to let anything happen to you, Syd, either of you.”
“I love you.”
“I know.”
--
“Well?” Z anxiously asked as Sky walked into the waiting room.
“Five pounds three ounces; he’s got my dark hair and Syd’s nose,” Sky grinned.
“What did you name him?” Bridge asked.
“Marcus Alexander Tate, after our fathers,” Sky grinned.
The others laughed and cheered until Commander Cruger spoke up. “Sky, is there something else?”
Nodding, Sky smiled wider than he ever thought possible. “Apparently, the ultrasound messed up, because she came out five pounds even with my nose and a mix between my hair and Syd’s.”
The others looked on in shock as they digested the fact that Syd and Sky were now the proud parents of twins. “TWINS?”
“Mackenzie Alexandra Tate.”
--
“They’re asleep,” Syd sighed happily, standing in the doorway of the nursery.
“Thank God,” Sky grinned, his arms slipping around his wife’s already shrinking waist. It had been a busy week for them. Sky’s promotion to Lt. Commander, the birth of their twins, trying to redecorate to accommodate for the daughter they hadn’t known they were going to have; it had left them both tired. “Come on, let’s go to bed while they’re sleeping.”
“I found my reason,” she whispered, halting Sky’s progress toward their room.
The former Red and Blue Ranger turned around and walked back over to her. “What are you talking about?”
They didn’t discuss what had happened three years ago, or hadn’t since just after Syd’s recovery, but the former Pink Ranger felt it was time to speak up about it. “I could hear you, when I was in the hospital, in that coma, I could hear you asking me to keep holding on, to not give up. I knew what was happening the day Dr. Felix said he was taking me off life support, and I thought ‘There has to be a reason I survived in the first place, a reason why I didn’t die from Gruumm’s attack’.”
Sky eyes were filled with dark emotions; he didn’t like thinking about the lowest point in his life, when he’d nearly lost his wife before he’d had a chance to make her his wife. “Syd?”
“They’re my reason,” she smiled through her tears. “All three of you are my reason. You’re why I didn’t give up, and they’re my reward for not going quietly into the night.”
Turning, Sydney snuggled against him. “Thank you.”
“For?”
“Encouraging me to keep holding on,” she whispered before their lips met.
--
Keep holding on
Cause you know we'll make it through
We'll make it through
Just stay strong
Cause you know I'm here for you
I'm here for you
There's nothing you could say
Nothing you could do
There's no other way when it comes to the truth
So, keep holding on
Cause you know we'll make it through
We'll make it through
Hear me when I say
When I say I believe.
Nothing's gonna change
Nothing's gonna change destiny
Whatever's meant to be
Will work out perfectly
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
La da da da, la da da da
La da da da da da da da da
Keep holding on
Cause you know we'll make it through
We'll make it through
Just stay strong
Cause you know I'm here for you
I'm here for you
There's nothing you could say
Nothing you could do
There's no other way when it comes to the truth
So, keep holding on
Cause you know we'll make it through
We'll make it through
Ahh, ahh
Keep holding on
Ahh, ahh
Keep holding on
There's nothing you could say
Nothing you could do
There's no other way when it comes to the truth
So, keep holding on
Cause you know we'll make it through
We'll make it through
Avril Lavigne, Keep Holding On
Summary: An unexpected showdown with a former foe leaves the team on the cusp of losing one of their own.
Rated: T
Ships: SS, BZ, JA
Disclaimer: Don’t own PR, if I did, I would have kept all my favorite characters on, and I’d have gotten to know Chris Violette lots better. I don’t own the song, it’s by Avril Lavigne and was done for the Eragon SDTK.
Dedication: To Angela…..for wanting Syd and Sky to get their happy ending!
You're not alone
Together we stand
I'll be by your side
You know I'll take your hand
When it gets cold
And it feels like the end
There's no place to go
You know I won't give in
I won't give in
Keep holdin' on
Cause you know we'll make it through
We'll make it through
Just stay strong
Cause you know I'm here for you
I'm here for you
There's nothing you can say
Nothing you can do
And there's no other way when it comes to the truth
So, keep holding on
Cause you know we'll make it through
We'll make it through
So far away
I wish you were here
Before it's too late
This could all disappear
Before the door's closed
And it comes to an end
With you by my side
I will fight and defend
I'll fight and defend, yeah, yeah
Avril Lavigne, Keep Holding On
--
He swallowed again, hoping to get the tightness in his throat to ease. It didn’t work. The pressure was still pushing against his chest, his throat felt constricted like it had been whenever one of the goons they’d been chasing got him into a choke hold, and his heart felt like it couldn’t possibly break into many more pieces than it was already in, but he knew if she didn’t make it, if she was dead when the doctors came out to talk to them, that heart would break more.
It had been a routine investigation; at least it had started that way. Someone had broken into a secure SPD warehouse near the waterfront. Cruger had assigned the four-person B Squad to check it out. That hadn’t worried him, what had worried him, even now, was the look on Cruger’s face when he’d said be careful. Not a one of them had paid attention to the Commander’s warning, not until it was too late.
The warehouse had been devoid of human life. There were guard robots everywhere, but they’d been deactivated. He’d sent Syd and Z to check something or another, and then he and Bridge had looked around near the back where a large, titanium plated vault was cracked open. It had taken the two of them five minutes to figure out what, correction WHO, had been taken from the vault.
Gruumm’s containment card had been placed, along with the others of his minions, in a special containment card holder, which, after a year of residing in a vault at SPD Headquarters had been transferred to an undisclosed location.
He could remember hearing the explosion and feeling his heart fly into his throat. Bridge had sent him a sharp look before the pair had bolted from the inside to find the girls. It still felt like a slow motion picture when he thought back on the scene they’d come upon. Z was on the ground, unconscious, her helmet several feet away from her body, which was barely managing to keep her bloody and battered Ranger suit on. And then there was Sydney. He felt the tears he thought he couldn’t cry anymore burning his eyes when he remembered seeing her. She’d been on her knees, Ranger uniform gone, her cadet’s uniform in tatters. She’d been facing him and Bridge as they’d bolted from the building. He could still remember those tortured blue eyes looking up at him, asking him for help even as she knew Gruumm was behind her, his staff ripping through her chest. She threw her head back and let out a soundless scream, her eyes locked on his as the Troobian Emperor yanked the staff from her body and watched as she collapsed onto the concrete below, her eyes still on Sky’s.
He let out a shaky breath and shook his head, hoping to clear the image from his mind, though he knew it was no use. He’d never forget the sight of Sydney falling lifelessly to the concrete, her once vibrant eyes blank and still on his face. It felt like a dream, all of it, but he knew it wasn’t. He could remember Bridge yelling at him to stop, but he’d just kept running, until he’d ended up on his knees next to her. He could remember the pristine white gloves of his suit had turned scarlet when he’d rolled her over onto her back. Her blood was on his hands. He wanted to vomit now as he’d wanted to then. The echo of Gruumm’s laughter still rang in his ears; it had been ringing out until the Troobian Emperor was gasping for breath and falling toward the concrete himself, his head sliding off his shoulders. Sky could remember looking up and seeing Shadow Ranger standing over the fallen body, the Shadow Saber dripping with blood.
“Sky?” Looking up, the Red Ranger found his predecessor crouching in front of him. “Sky, Bro, can you hear me? You need to let your morph go,” Jack told him, gesturing to the blood stained uniform he was still wearing. It was stained with Syd’s precious, life giving blood.
“Oh God! Syd!” he cried out weakly, the tears dripping down his cheeks. “Jack, Syd’s…Sydney’s…” he found he couldn’t bring himself to say it. He couldn’t utter the vilest words he’d possibly ever thought. There was no way for him to tell his friend that their bouncy, pink princess was dead. He felt the bile rising in his throat as he finally felt the sharp edge of the loss slice through the numbness that surrounded him. He choked back what he could until Jack was pushing his head down over what vaguely looked like a wastebasket.
“Sky, throw up, don’t swallow it,” Kat’s voice rang out in order. The Red Ranger merely followed orders and emptied the contents of his stomach, pitiful as they were, into the receptacle.
Sydney was dead. The only true light ever to enter his life had been snuffed out far too soon. He felt the crushing weight of dreams for the future shattering around him. Without Sydney, there was no future for him, nothing outside of SPD. Sydney had meant a home, a family, and a love that would save him from his demons. There would be no soft, warm, comfortable bed with her warm body in it now. All that he had was his single bed in the room he and Bridge shared inside the academy.
There would be no family now, no children running wild in the yard or tearing through the house. He’d never have a little girl with her mother’s heart shaped face and his eyes, or a son with her eyes and his nose and lips. What’s worse, the love he’d just been uncovering in his heart for the tough as nails, sweet as cotton candy Pink Ranger had no where left to go. He’d never gotten the chance to tell her he loved her, never gotten the chance to do more than ask her on a handful of dates. There would be no engagement, there would be no wedding, there wouldn’t be a first time for him to make love to her, to show her what was inside the heart he was slowly finding beat only for her.
The grief raged so high and so hot inside of him, he thought it would suffocate him. “Sky?” It was Kat again, her cool hands cupping his face as she tilted his head up so she could look at him dead on. “Schuyler?” He didn’t respond. There was no point in it anymore, nothing mattered. Sydney was gone, life was over.
“Sky?” This voice belonged to Z. Turning his head slightly, he took in the woman who had grown to become his little sister. She still looked battered and bruised, and her face was covered in tear stains, but there was a light in her eyes…the same light that had once been in Sydney’s but would never shine there again. Not now.
“Cadet Tate, listen to me,” Kat ordered, her voice firm even if he could detect a faint tremor in it. “You’ve got to pull yourself together, Sky. You can’t go in there with her if you’re falling apart like this. Do you hear me?”
“She’s dead, Kat, I doubt she’s going to mind if I’m a mess,” he muttered his first coherent statement since they’d rushed Sydney into the infirmary of the academy.
The feline scientist shook her head at him. “Sky, listen to me, she’s not dead.”
His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open even as he looked up into Kat’s eyes. “W-w-what?”
Her smile was a mixture between heartbreak and hope. “Dr. Felix was able to stop the bleeding; he was able to get her heart started again. She’s alive, Sky, but she’s really weak.”
“How?”
“We don’t know,” Kat whispered, backing away as he struggled to stand from the chair he was sitting in. He pushed away Bridge and Jack’s assistance and stumbled toward the room Dr. Felix was just leaving, his body numb all over again, only this time, with the possibility that life would go on.
Her room was dimly lit when he entered. Ignoring Dr. Felix’s warning to not stay too long, he struggled to move his feet to get to her bed. He felt like he was walking through mud, or worse, quick sand. He all but collapsed onto the edge of her bed, his hands shaking as he reached out to touch her face. She was pale, his weary mind noted. Her skin was a sickly white color, but he knew it was from the loss of blood. With hands that were none to steady, he brushed her hair from her face and then cupped her cheeks. Leaning forward, he brought his face as close to hers as he could and let out a long held breath when he felt the warm exhale from her nose and mouth on his cheek. “Sydney,” he whispered, longing to see those cerulean blue eyes of hers.
He leaned his forehead against her chin, his eyes closed as he felt the up and down motion of her chest. Taking a deep breath, he sat up and took her hand, smiling for the first time since his own personal nightmare had begun. “I love you, Sydney. I know I haven’t told you that before, but I’ll be damned if I miss another chance to tell you.”
He sat there staring at her for the longest time before he sang his favorite part of the first song they’d danced to. “You're not alone, together we stand; I'll be by your side, you know I'll take your hand; When it gets cold, and it feels like the end, there's no place to go, you know I won't give in, I won't give in. Keep holdin' on, cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it through; Just stay strong, cause you know I'm here for you, I'm here for you; There's nothing you can say, nothing you can do; And there's no other way when it comes to the truth; So, keep holding on, cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it through…”
--
She could remember the searing pain, could remember seeing Sky shaking his head back and forth as she collapsed, but after that, everything was a thick blackness that she couldn't see or hear through. She vaguely remembered the feel of someone lifting her into their arms and of her being carried somewhere before she had briefly woken up in the operating room. She remembered Dr. Felix hissing out orders, and remembered Kat leaning over her, eyes full of worry, telling her she was going to be okay. She remembered nothing after that. There was an inky darkness that had surrounded her. In that darkness, she relived the battle with Gruumm over and over again.
It had started out as an ordinary investigation, except for Cruger's freaked out warning to be careful. Who knew that one of the most dangerous criminals ever to be locked in a containment card with all his goons had been sent from the maximum security of the Delta Base to an unsuspecting warehouse near the waterfront and locked in a vault? She seriously wanted to know what idiot had thought that was safe!
When they'd gotten there, Sky had sent her and Z to check the grounds while he and Bridge headed inside to see what was going on in there. She remembered walking around the outside of the building and momentarily seeing Krybots. She and Z had nodded to each other and then had rushed off to take them, only they'd found themselves face to face with Gruumm. The shock had coursed through her, and from the vibrations of Z's body, Syd had known she was shocked as hell too. A brief battle had gone on, with Gruumm taunting them; they had tried a joint attack. Z had reached him first, and he'd launched a blast of energy from his staff, sending the Yellow Ranger flying backwards. Her teammate had landed with a thump, her Ranger uniform burnt and smoking in places, her helmet flying across the yard they were in. Syd had been so surprised to see Z flying past her, that she hadn't had time to stop before she was less than a foot from Gruumm, who had his staff pointed at her. "Go ahead and run, little Ranger. I promise to give you a chance."
Sydney had instinctively known she was dead, but she had turned her back on him anyway, feeling his staff slam into her even as she did. Just when she'd pushed herself up to her knees, she'd seen Bridge and Sky come flying from the building. She saw Sky start shaking his head, her eyes meeting his visor. And then came the pain.
She could hear someone talking to her, but the voice was distorted and weak, and then she thought she could hear singing. No one she knew, except for herself, could sing relatively well, but the sound became clearer and clearer, and the voice was distinctly familiar. ‘Sky’ she thought, wanting nothing more than to open her eyes and look up at him. She could hear his voice crack with emotion she hadn’t heard from him since the night they’d defeated Mirloc. ‘Keep singing Sky, I can hear you’ she thought, her heart filling when she was able to make out the words to one of his favorite songs.
Letting his voice fill her with hope and love, Sydney found herself drifting off to sleep, memories of the past overtaking her.
“Jesus Syd! Can your swim suit get any skimpier?” Jack teased as she and Z took off their over shirts and shorts and set them on their towels.
She just grinned at her former leader. “Oh, I’m sure it could, I just haven’t found one yet,” she laughed. In all honesty, her bathing suit wasn’t THAT skimpy, but it came close. She could be like some of the women on the beach and be wearing a thong, but since Jack and Bridge were present, not to mention a few hundred other guys, she’d decided not to. No, wearing a thong would come later, when and if she ever managed to get Sky to her house and into the pool, alone. Her top covered and yet enhanced her breasts, the strings holding it together were thin and wouldn’t leave too big of a line on her skin when she decided to tan later. The bottoms were high cut at the front, but covered her behind, and still kept her modesty. The best part happened to be that the material was a mixture of pink, white, blue and red; it managed to touch on all three of their Ranger colors. Turning, Sydney saw Bridge and Sky coming down the walkway from the parking lot, each carrying a cooler.
“Sky, you’d better watch your woman, she’s trying to seduce every man on the beach!” Jack teased. Sydney shot him a glare while Z pushed him toward the water.
The Red Ranger happened to look up from where he was setting the cooler down between all their towels and caught sight of her. His face remained stoic, but his eyes narrowed at her, a light in them that spoke of everything he couldn’t and wouldn’t say out loud, but that she knew was there, and that she felt in return. “What?”
“I never realized you owned clothing like that,” he told her, straightening his posture.
“All you ever see me in anymore is SPD sanctioned uniforms. What did you expect?” she teased. “Besides, I’m getting the reaction I wanted.”
Sky just looked at her, shook his head, and then began drawing the tank top he wore off, tossing it on the towel as he kicked off his sandals. Sydney couldn’t help but stare. She had only ever caught glimpses of his muscular chest during his workouts; she’d never been able to fully appreciate it until now. ‘MINE!’ she thought greedily.
“You’re staring,” Sky teased, making her blush.
“You wish,” she muttered before turning to walk toward the edge of the water where Jack and Z were trying to coax Bridge into the water.
They played around in the water for a few hours before the girls went to lie in the sun and the boys played a game of volleyball. Ally joined them for dinner after she got off work and while Bridge was telling funny stories around the picnic they’d set up, Sydney found herself walking along the water’s edge, watching the sun set in the distance. It was the first time in a long time that she’d been able to have a few minutes of solitude.
“Cold?” someone asked from behind her before two arms gently enfolded her. His voice was as soothing and warm to her soul as his arms and chest were to her body.
“Yeah, but it’s too beautiful to pass up,” she murmured, leaning her head back against his shoulder. They stood in silence for a few minutes, just gazing at the horizon until they realized it was getting dark. “Time to go home?”
Sky sighed. “Unfortunately. Maybe we can come back next weekend,” he suggested, looking down into her eyes after she turned in his embrace. “Maybe just the two of us?”
“I have a better idea,” Sydney grinned, reaching up to wrap her arms around his neck.
“Oh?”
“How would you like to spend the weekend at my house? My parents will be out of town, so we’ll have it all to ourselves.”
The Red Ranger’s face flushed at the thought of being alone with her. For a second, Sydney thought he’d say no. “Sounds like a good plan.”
Syd smiled and stood on her tiptoes, nudging his face down to hers so she could kiss him. Sensing what she wanted, Sky cupped her bottom and pulled her closer to him, sealing his lips over hers. The kiss was a mixture of emotions – friendship, affection, relief, passion, trust, safety, but most of all, love and need.
“GET A ROOM!” the others called, bringing the Red and Pink Rangers from their little world for two back to reality.
“Can I use my fist of iron on him?” Syd asked as they turned and headed for their towels, her hand held firmly in Sky’s.
“By all means,” he laughed.
--
It felt like forever since the darkness had surrounded her. She could only guess it had been days, possibly weeks, since the attack by Gruumm. Every so often she caught voices floating around her in the darkness – her parents, Bridge, Z, Jack, Commander Cruger, Kat – but the one voice she could always distinguish was Sky’s. Over time she noticed that she could almost feel the despair rolling off him in waves. She couldn’t quite understand what was happening around her until one afternoon when the whole situation came to a head.
“Sky, you have no say in this,” Dr. Felix’s voice rang out loud and clear in her ears. “Her parents want her taken off life support. They don’t want her to remain a vegetable.”
“But I’m telling you she’s still alive! Syd’s still there!”
“Sky, her brainwave activity is next to nothing. I’m sorry, but Ms. Drew is, for all intense purposes, gone. You’ve got to let go.”
‘NO!’ she all but screamed, knowing they couldn’t hear her. She didn’t want to die, she didn’t want to be set free; she just wanted to be back in his arms. Despair filled her and her heart broke when she heard a noise she hadn’t ever – Sky’s crying. ‘Sky! I’m still here! Fight for me! Keep holding on! Please, don’t let go! I’m not ready to leave!’ she cried, pulling what she could of herself mentally into a ball. There had to be a reason for her to have been spared this long; there had to be a reason she hadn’t died on the spot. She couldn’t just die without knowing that reason. And she sure as hell wasn’t about to leave Sky, not after everything they’d been through. It wouldn’t end like this.
“Sydney.” His voice sounded loud, and she could hear the tremble in the strong, familiar tenor. She could only guess his mouth was right next to her ear. “Sydney, I know you can hear me. Your parents are taking you off life support, baby. You’ve got to fight, Sydney; you’ve got to keep hanging on by whatever thread you’ve been these last few weeks. Prove to them what I already know, that you’re still with us. Don’t you dare leave me, not now, not after everything we’ve been through just to be together; I need you, Syd. I want the dreams I’ve dreamt to come true, but they only can if you keep fighting. I want a family with you, Syd. I want it more than I’ve ever wanted anything, including being Red Ranger. Please don’t give up on us.”
One minute she was surrounded by darkness and the next minute there was a brilliant flash of light. ‘What’s happening?’ she wondered, but she couldn’t figure it out. Sky’s voice was no longer in her ear, and she couldn’t hear anything or anyone. ‘I love you, Schuyler’ she thought, tears coming to her eyes. She had a feeling the doctors had finally pulled her off life support and now she was dying.
--
Bridge and Z struggled to hold Sky back as Dr. Felix began shutting off the machines that were hooked to Sydney. Mr. and Mrs. Drew stood quietly next to her bed, holding tightly onto her and each other. Commander Cruger, Kat, Boom, Jack and Ally stood near the door, each watching the scene and feeling a searing pain tear through them. When Dr. Felix shut down the last of the machines, he hung his head. The last Ranger that had been lost on his watch had been Sky’s father, even if it didn’t seem like it he too, was feeling the effects of losing Sydney.
Sky stood there shaking his head back and forth as Syd’s parents bent down and kissed her cheeks and spoke softly to her. Just by looking at him, everyone else in the room knew that the dam was about to break and the flood waters were about to cut loose. Swallowing back his feelings, Sky turned to Z and wrapped his arms around her, knowing that she was having just as tough a time dealing with it because of the guilt. “It should have been me,” she whispered, tears finally leaking out. “It should have been me.”
“No, Z,” Sky whispered to her, hugging her tighter even as Jack and Bridge joined their embrace. “It wasn’t your fault; it wasn’t anyone’s fault except Gruumm’s.”
One by one, everyone else said their goodbyes to Sydney before silently leaving the room. Syd’s mother interrupted the group hug for only a few seconds, taking the time to hug each and every one of Sydney’s teammates tightly. She lingered on Sky, knowing how much his heart was breaking even if he hadn’t said anything yet. “She loved you, Sky,” Mrs. Drew whispered in his ear. “If you take nothing else away from this, take that. She loved you, with every breath in her.”
“I know,” he choked, squeezing the petite blonde before letting her go. When he straightened, it was just the four of them and Syd, just like always.
“I feel empty,” Jack muttered as they moved to sit on Syd’s bed. Sky and Z sat closest to her, while he sat with Sky and Bridge sat with Z. “After all the shit and crap and God knows what else we’ve been through over the last couple of years, who’d have ever thought this would happen.”
“All these weeks, our room has seemed so empty, but I clung to the fact that she was here, that she was recovering,” Z started as tears found their way down her cheeks. “I had hoped that she’d be coming back, that I’d walk in and hear her complain about the mess on my side of the room. Now she’ll never do that again.”
Jack leaned across Sydney’s still body and took Z’s hand, while Bridge leaned his head against her shoulder, his eyes on his best friend. “She was the first person at the academy to look past my powers and actually see me. She always made sure that I was included in activities beyond our training, and that my powers weren’t giving me grief. I know she thought I was weird at times, but she never really made me feel it like other people did.”
All eyes moved to Sky, wondering if he had something to say, but he was staring at Sydney’s composed and still face as if he’d blanked out on them. It was the first time in a long time that any of them had seen Sky look lost. “I never realized how much she meant to me, not until after we captured Gruumm the first time,” Sky started, reaching down to take her cold hand in his. He was mildly surprised when he found it warm to the touch still. His other hand reached out to touch her face while he spoke. “I remember, the first time I felt something beyond friendship for her was when we faced Mirloc. I’d just gone through setting my father’s murder free, and was feeling sorry for myself, and the first person to stand up against him for me was Syd.”
Z smiled through her tears. “She was so damn proud of you after that fight,” the Yellow Ranger croaked. “She told me that night, that she was proud of you for facing those demons of yours, and for coming out stronger because of it. I think that was the first time I realized something was happening between the two of you.”
Sky cleared his throat and tried to smile. “She’s always just been there,” he started. “I mean, I’d gotten so use to her being by my side, that I took it for granted.”
Jack chuckled and leaned closer to Sky. “I remember after Z and I joined the team, I use to think all the time why you and Syd always stood right next to each other when we were being briefed or fighting. It wasn’t until the whole thing with Mirloc that I saw it either; you two have been in love with each other for forever.”
“I knew it the whole time,” Bridge grinned. “I was just waiting for you two to get your heads out of your butts.”
Sky made a face at his long time roommate. “I just can’t believe this the end of the line,” he finally started again. “I was so sure she was still with us.”
“We all did, Sky,” Jack spoke up. “Every time we were here, it was like she was responding, but maybe we just saw what we wanted to see.”
“I don’t mean to bring this up, or maybe it’s just me, but does she seem still warm to you guys?” Z asked them. “I mean, I thought the body started cooling down after death?”
“It does, but in stages,” Bridge murmured, then took off his glove and waved it over Sydney. The others watched on in shock as Bridge’s face registered awe and then tears rolled down his cheeks.
“Bridge?” Sky uttered his name in a strangled voice.
“I think someone should go get Dr. Felix,” Bridge breathed, his eyes wide.
Jack looked concerned. “Why?”
The biggest smile possible bloomed on Bridge’s face as he let out a breath. “She’s still alive. Sky, check her pulse.”
With jerky movements, Sky’s trembling fingers went to Syd’s wrist, where he found the steady rhythm of her pulse. Shakily, he lifted his hand up to her neck to find her pulse there and was surprised when her body twitched and her head turned toward him. “Trying to take advantage of me while I’m laid up?” she teased softly.
“SYD!”
--
“Tired?”
Sydney couldn’t help but glare at him. He’d been asking her so many questions for the last couple of hours that she was ready to strangle him. “What do you think? I’ve only been at this since five-thirty yesterday morning,” she moaned, shifting her body to hopefully ease the discomfort she was having. She hated hospitals with a passion and had ever since she’d almost died in one three years prior. However, this one time it was necessary for her to be her, she didn’t want to put herself at any undo risk. She flashed back to a year ago when Z and Bridge had decided to deliver their little bundle of joy at home. Complications had risen and Z had had to be rushed to the hospital.
“I love you.”
Damn him, she thought as the anger seeped out of her. She was too tired to stay angry, plus, all she wanted was for him to hold her. “Hold me?” she whispered her request. He smiled and nodded before moving to the bed with her, settling behind her and letting her rest against his chest.
“Better?”
“Yes, thank you,” she whispered, leaning her head against his shoulder. She could feel herself drifting off to sleep, comforted by the warm breath against her ear and the strong, loving caress of his hands on her large, round belly.
“Get some sleep,” he whispered.
“I’m scared, Sky,” she mumbled, snuggling close. “I’m so scared.”
“The baby is fine, you’re fine, and everything is going to be alright. I’m not going to let anything happen to you, Syd, either of you.”
“I love you.”
“I know.”
--
“Well?” Z anxiously asked as Sky walked into the waiting room.
“Five pounds three ounces; he’s got my dark hair and Syd’s nose,” Sky grinned.
“What did you name him?” Bridge asked.
“Marcus Alexander Tate, after our fathers,” Sky grinned.
The others laughed and cheered until Commander Cruger spoke up. “Sky, is there something else?”
Nodding, Sky smiled wider than he ever thought possible. “Apparently, the ultrasound messed up, because she came out five pounds even with my nose and a mix between my hair and Syd’s.”
The others looked on in shock as they digested the fact that Syd and Sky were now the proud parents of twins. “TWINS?”
“Mackenzie Alexandra Tate.”
--
“They’re asleep,” Syd sighed happily, standing in the doorway of the nursery.
“Thank God,” Sky grinned, his arms slipping around his wife’s already shrinking waist. It had been a busy week for them. Sky’s promotion to Lt. Commander, the birth of their twins, trying to redecorate to accommodate for the daughter they hadn’t known they were going to have; it had left them both tired. “Come on, let’s go to bed while they’re sleeping.”
“I found my reason,” she whispered, halting Sky’s progress toward their room.
The former Red and Blue Ranger turned around and walked back over to her. “What are you talking about?”
They didn’t discuss what had happened three years ago, or hadn’t since just after Syd’s recovery, but the former Pink Ranger felt it was time to speak up about it. “I could hear you, when I was in the hospital, in that coma, I could hear you asking me to keep holding on, to not give up. I knew what was happening the day Dr. Felix said he was taking me off life support, and I thought ‘There has to be a reason I survived in the first place, a reason why I didn’t die from Gruumm’s attack’.”
Sky eyes were filled with dark emotions; he didn’t like thinking about the lowest point in his life, when he’d nearly lost his wife before he’d had a chance to make her his wife. “Syd?”
“They’re my reason,” she smiled through her tears. “All three of you are my reason. You’re why I didn’t give up, and they’re my reward for not going quietly into the night.”
Turning, Sydney snuggled against him. “Thank you.”
“For?”
“Encouraging me to keep holding on,” she whispered before their lips met.
--
Keep holding on
Cause you know we'll make it through
We'll make it through
Just stay strong
Cause you know I'm here for you
I'm here for you
There's nothing you could say
Nothing you could do
There's no other way when it comes to the truth
So, keep holding on
Cause you know we'll make it through
We'll make it through
Hear me when I say
When I say I believe.
Nothing's gonna change
Nothing's gonna change destiny
Whatever's meant to be
Will work out perfectly
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
La da da da, la da da da
La da da da da da da da da
Keep holding on
Cause you know we'll make it through
We'll make it through
Just stay strong
Cause you know I'm here for you
I'm here for you
There's nothing you could say
Nothing you could do
There's no other way when it comes to the truth
So, keep holding on
Cause you know we'll make it through
We'll make it through
Ahh, ahh
Keep holding on
Ahh, ahh
Keep holding on
There's nothing you could say
Nothing you could do
There's no other way when it comes to the truth
So, keep holding on
Cause you know we'll make it through
We'll make it through
Avril Lavigne, Keep Holding On
;D ;D ;D