Edit: So I totally forgot that Sam (Omega) even existed, sorry. But I blame the lack of proper sleep for it. Just changed a little bit of the story, nothing much.
Disclaimer: Still own absolutely nothing related to Power Rangers :T.
Summary: Near the last battle, the emotions around the S.P.D. base are filled with more negative thinking than good one. Bridge obviously is not taking that well, so is up to his friends to make things feel better for, well, all of them. They all needed some time to relax anyway.
Some time to celebrate
Things were getting difficult for them all, and they had to be on constant watch, always expecting for their morphers to signal they were needed to keep Gruumm at bay. The last battle would soon come up, they all knew, could feel it in the tense air that seemed to be wherever they went. Yes, the Ranger knew well they could die trying to protect the Earth against Gruumm's army, against his growing rage at the futile attempts he had done in the past to defeat the Rangers and be a step closer to conquer Earth. He was no longer playing, no childish games where he sent his monsters to attack, no, that was no longer necessary. He had everything he needed, he was just waiting for the perfect moment to attack, to try to take the Rangers off-guard and give out a blow that would mark the Earth's fate under his hands.
Knowing that made everyone on S.P.D. be on constant watch, not even trusting their shadows as they watched out for any possible danger lurking around the corner. The serious tone of the situation they were in was clear just by looking at Anubis 'Doggie' Crueger, who stayed up all night with Dr. Kat Manx keeping watch, always at the edge of their seat, jumping even at the smallest change that could signal Gruumm's new attack. Obviously the tension had everyone more grumpy and stressed than usual, it was normal after all; being kept with a constant tension twenty four seven took a tool on anyone's mood and physical state.
The one who got most affected by this, though, was Bridge. Beside the stress and nervousness that came with waiting for an attack of their enemy, he had to deal with the emotions of everyone else. And he hated it. As cheerful as he tried to be, as much as his friends tried to help, he couldn't help but feel tired and anxious, something that had been noticed by the others of course, but they decided to keep their distance after Sky pointed out how they were having a negative impact more than a positive one on Bridge. And after the other Rangers realized they tended to brood over their situation, all they could do was to try and let Bridge to have less negative feelings to handle. But as much as Bridge thanked that, he also disliked it, for it meant to be most of his time alone, lying in bed as he tried to shun everything out of his head.
"Hey, are you feeling better?" Bridge smiled when Sky entered the room they shared, and shifted his body so he would face Sky's bed instead of the dull wall.
"Feel better now that you are here." Sky couldn't help but smile at that, glad he could help in the slightest way at least. "How are the others?"
Bridge had found a haven in their room, where he would spend most of his time, trying to get away from all those negative feelings that made him feel exhausted. After Sky had discussed Bridge's state with Crueger, the Sirian blue dog had let the Ranger take rest for the time being, not asking for his daily chores to be fulfilled as he was well informed by Kat how all these situation could have an effect on Bridge. And he preferred it if one of his Rangers could be available, although slightly tired. It was for everyone's best interest if Bridge could get some rest at least.
Sky took seat on the foot of Bridge's bed. "They are fine, a little bit worried about you and worried about, well, the usual thing." Bridge nodded at that, pursing his lip. He didn't want to make the others worried.
"I'm sorry…" He muttered as his eyes closed, feeling the need to sleep a little bit.
"For what are you sorry?" Sky asked softly.
"For making you all worry."
Sky patted Bridge's leg, trying to gather positive emotions in this moment so he could cheer his friend in the slightest. "You can't help it, Bridge. Besides, I don't blame you, I'm also getting a little bit tired of all the brooding people are doing. They get on my nerves."
"Well, your company is always welcomed." And it sure was, for it brought certain quiescence to the turmoil Bridge was having inside his mind. Sky always seemed to be calm, and the colors of his aura tended to bring him more peace than anything else when he had read it a few times.
"As much as I'd love to stay here, I have to finish some chores. By the way, are you hungry?"
"No… I want to sleep." A long yawn escaped him as if to accentuate that.
"I'll let you sleep, then." And with that said, Sky stood, leaving Bridge to try and get some rest.
A small pressure on his shoulder was the first thing that he sensed, followed by someone shaking softly his arm, as well as some words being said that he couldn't quite understand. He groaned as he began to recover his senses, the shaking on his shoulder slightly firmer, the voice more understandable and loud.
"Hey, Bridge. Come on, man. Wake up." He rolled over, eyes squinting to see the blurry figure that threw shadow over him, blocking the annoying light of the room.
He rubbed his eyes, yawning. "Sky?" The man smiled upon seeing him awake, and Bridge returned the smile weakly, sleep still fogging his thoughts. "What are you doin' here?"
"I want to show you something. So let's go." His head signaled for the door of their room, and Bridge grunted as he stood, blinking many times in order to make some sleep go away.
"Go where?" Sky just gave him a loop-sided smile, and took his gloved hand, dragging him to who knew where. "Sky, hey…" He tried to struggle, to take his hand back so he could get an answer out of the man.
"You'll enjoy this, Bridge, trust me." So, trusting in his friend, he let himself be dragged, all the while trying to remove that sleepy numbness his thoughts had. "Are you ready?" Sky asked, finally stopping as he smiled bright, his blue eyes shining with glee.
Bridge frowned, still not understanding all of this. "Ready for what? Sky, what's going on?"
"Oh, you'll soon find out." And without further ado, Sky moved once again, only for a short period of time, stopping when he crossed a door, entering an empty room.
"Find out wh—"
"Happy Birthday!" Bridge's words died when he saw people popping out of shadows or behind furniture, smiles wide on everybody's faces as they came streaming to hug him in a tandem.
Bridge could only form a small, shocked smile as he hugged back everyone, being at a loss for words. Was today his birthday? What day was it, anyway? He had been sleeping non-stop the past days he wasn't aware the day of his birthday had came up. Tears threatened to spill over his eyes at the surprise this had been. His friends were there, all smiling brightly at him, some of them still cheering and clapping. What had him more shocked was how good all this felt. The positive energy was stunning, really. Sky's wrapped arm around his shoulders only helped to heighten the positive emotions he was feeling.
"What… is all of this?" He asked, still not getting the whole idea of this, too overjoyed to actually come up with something else to say.
"Well, Cadet Carson, Tate told us about your birthday being today." Anubis Crueger said. Dr. Kat Manx nodded at his side.
"Yes, he figured out it would do you some good if you spent a while in a different surrounding." Kat explained, a toothy smile appearing on her features.
"Well, it would make you and us some good, Bridge." Jack said.
"That's right, with all that worry going on, I think we all deserve a small time for relaxation." Sam added.
Z then spoke up, arms crossed over her chest. "Right. Gruumm can wait for some hours while we enjoy a good Birthday Party."
Syd nodded at those words. "That's right. Beside, all this stress could make me have some wrinkles on my face, and we don't want that, do we?" Everybody let out a laugh at Syd's commentary.
"But… what about—"
"Bridge, let all those thoughts that trouble you fly away." Sky said, squeezing his shoulder softly. He then walked forward, to join his other friends. His hands rose up along with one eyebrow, a soft smile spread on his lips. "We all deserve some time to relax, as Jack said. And what better than to share it with your friends?"
Bridge smiled wide at that. Yes, they all deserved their own time to relax, to take a break from all the fighting and stressing and brooding over something that had yet to come.
Everybody turned their attention as the door opened, and Bridge found himself being hugged by a Boom that was wishing him to have a happy birthday. After passing the small surprise of being hugged all of the sudden, Bridge returned the hug, patting Boom's back.
"What took you so long, Boom?" Sky asked, an amused smile on his lips after seeing the surprised expression on Bridge's face.
"Oh, you know, just…" The man shoved his hands on the pockets of his coats and shook his shoulders. "RIC was just being kind of troublesome." His hands shoot up, as if to reassure them everything was fine in spite of that. "But now it's all done. Come on, RIC!" The robotic dog entered the room, barking as he stood on his hindquarters to put his front paws over Bridge's chest.
"Heeey, RIC. Nice to see you, buddy."
"So… who is ready to enjoy this party?!" Jack shouted enthusiastically, and cheers followed him.
They weren't many to make quite the party, they knew, but nevertheless they had decided to try their hardest to make it look like one—well, Jack, Syd, Z, Sky and Sam had decided to, and had somewhat convinced Crueger with Kat and Boom's help to cheer up like he never had before, to be less uptight and have a good, nice, and possibly loudly participation in this small party.
So after some small talk, they all went to grab some food and drink to sit on some kind of circle to share stories or simply talk about nothing.
"You planned all this, Sky?" Bridge asked in a soft whisper as Boom was explaining how he once had managed to flood Kat's laboratory.
Sky moved his attention away from the story to answer his friend. "Yeah. It was all done on the last minute, though. Two days ago I remembered your birthday was coming and this was all I could do."
Bridge's gaze moved away as a smile formed on his lips, feeling as if the cozy environment wrapped him in a feeling of security and care. It was odd for him. As much free time the B-Squad had in the past, they didn't really take their time to spend it with each other like this, it was on the rare occasion it happened, for they preferred to get their own time to make up for all that time that they would spend together on duty. But duty was duty and they could barely speak to each other for more than some minutes, so it never came to be like this.
"I hope you like it." Sky whispered after a while, eyes moving to give a fleeting glance at their friends.
"I love it." He said with sincerity clear in his voice. He did, it was probably the best feeling in the world, to be with those who you cared for while they reciprocated the feeling, and you could be spending a nice time with your friends. Certainly something he hoped would happen more frequently once all was over. "Thank you, Sky."
Sky's hand moved to squeeze softly Bridge's gloved hand. "It's nothing, Bridge. I'm glad to be able to help a good friend."
"Ohhh, right!" Boom got everyone's attention once again. "I almost forgot. The reason why I came late is… RIC, show them." The dog barked, and a small beeping sound came out of him. "He can make buttery toast now." Boom grinned widely, and Bridge couldn't help himself and leaned forward, eager to see. Everything that involved buttery toast and machines, Bridge would love it.
"Boom…" Syd started.
"Yeah?" Boom asked, too excited to realize what could possibly be the reason why everybody's excited expression had morphed to one of utter confusion.
"Why does the toast comes out of there?" Kat questioned.
"What's wrong with it?"
"Boom, have you never thought it would be odd to take toast out of RIC's butt?" Z asked, and everybody's gaze moved from the toast under RIC's tail to Boom.
"No, why would—ohhhh."
"Yeah, man: 'Ohhh'." Jack said, giving another glance at the toast.
"Oh, well, those are details. I mean, it can later be fixed. But it can make buttery toast now!"
Bridge leaned in and took the toast out of RIC's butt, shrugging as he took a bite out of it. Everyone else just looked kind of unsettled by that. "Well… although it might be an odd place to take the toast off, it tastes just as good." Boom's smile returned at those words. "Thank you, Boom, it's a nice detail of your part. I really appreciate it."
Boom flushed at those words slightly, feeling proud of himself. "It's nice to see you like you like my gift."
"Gift? We had to give Bridge gifts?" Jack questioned, standing from his place. "Nobody told me that."
"Huh? Guys, no. No need to give gifts, this all is more than I could have asked for or dreamed of." Bridge blurted, hands moving from side to side to emphasize his point.
"Ohhh, caught you, man!" Jack moved from his place, hand sliding along the back of the couch as he walked around it.
"What?"
"We all have our little present to give you!"
Bridge blushed at that. Gifts, for him? He had to be dreaming. "Really, guys. It's fine if you don't—"
"Come on, Bridge!" Z said, following Jack. Syd, Crueger and Kat did the same. "Let us pamper you for today."
Bridge smiled sheepishly and shook his head. He wasn't used to this, to this attention and shows of affections. It was all so out of his comfort zone. Nevertheless, he liked it. It felt nice to have people that liked you and showed it.
Sky took his hand and made him stand, almost dragging him to the table where some boxes were laid. "Time to open the presents, then!" Sky said cheerfully, leaving Bridge's hand to clap and whoop with the others. "But first, I want to toast for all the good moments we have had." He rose his cup of soda, followed by the others.
"Then," Syd started, "I want to toast for the great friends S.P.D. has given me." And her blue eyes moved along the people in the room.
"I toast," Z begun, "for the great place S.P.D. has become to me, a place I can dare call a home."
"For the moments we are able to share with each other." Jack then turned his gaze to both sides, looking at his friends. "The good and the bad ones."
"For the family S.P.D. has become." Boom said.
"I toast for these kind of moments. Whatever happens next, I am grateful for the great times you guys have enabled me to enjoy." Kat said smiling, sharp teeth showing.
Crueger nodded. "For my Rangers here, because B-squad has taught me many things. For Dr. Kat Manx and Boom here, that have done many things for us in order to get nearer to victory."
Sam then spoke next, "I'd like to toast for you guys. Even if I'm not able to raise a cup for you, I'd like to add to this toast what you have taught me: that courage and friendship, and the will to overcome whatever problem arises, is more important than just power alone."
Bridge smiled and nodded in agreement to all those things. "For you guys, who are my friends and are like family to me."
"For all of us." Sky added, and they once again cheered before gulping down their drinks before moving to open up the gifts they have brought for Bridge.
A raucous team they were when they wanted to be, indeed.
For these moments, they all forgot about what was threatening Earth, all those worries thrown out of the window. This time, at least, was for them all to enjoy. They could think about Gruumm and Earth's fate later, later they would return to the worry and anxiousness that had been a permanent state on S.P.D. for the past days. But now they were all here to celebrate Bridge's birthday, to relax. Not only were they doing this for one of their friends, they were also doing it for themselves, because they had their own right to have a good time after all they had done, they had their right to be able to forget about Gruumm for some hours at least.
Beside, who knew what tomorrow or today would bring? For all they knew, these could be their last moments enjoying themselves; their last moments of sharing a good time together and be themselves. And they would make sure to make the most of these self-indulgent moment they were having with the ones they cared about, with friends.
You guys have no idea how many ideas I've come up with regarding Bridge's birthday... between all those ideas, I've decided this one is the lucky one to be shown to the world (:.
Hope you enjoyed it! And sorry for any possible grammar mistakes there might be.
Just a note... I wonder how Sam lived so long, providing he only had his morphed form and light form... how did he ate or drink...?