June 10, 2023

Kimberley Tate watched her son and his friend play basketball from the other side of her glass backdoor. It was the beginning of the weekend and she was starting to count down the days until her only son left her. Since her husband died, it has only been the two of them. She was young when she had Sky so she had occasional boyfriends too but none of them lived up to her expectations. She wondered if her friends found her pathetic for that. Nathan Tate died when she was twenty-five. Forty years old and still haven't remarried?

"I'm pathetic." Kimberley thought. She turned away from the glass door to wipe her eyes. She couldn't make Sky see her crying like this. When she turned, she saw the picture of Nathan she kept above the dinner table staring back at her.

"I tried my best, Nate." Kimberley spoke to the picture. "Our baby boy is all grown. Twenty years old. He spent the last two years working as a cashier and attending a two year college. Don't worry, he graduated. But…he wants to join the academy. You know, the academy you worked at when you died. Yeah…I'm proud. Our son has a lot of guts just like you. His father died a ranger and now he wants to be a ranger. I couldn't talk him out of it. Honestly, why the hell do you Tate's have such thick skulls? I'm sorry, babe. I just can't handle the thought of losing him too."

Kimberley placed her hands in the pockets of her scrubs. She had just gotten back from her job at the hospital. She sucked up her tears and went outside to greet her son and his friend. The boys stopped playing when they heard her step out the door.

"Hey, mom!"

"What's up, Ms. Tate?"

"I'm good." Kimberley replied, relaxing in a lawn chair. "Thanks for asking, Dru."

Sky gave his mom a quick hug. He could see she still had tears in her eyeballs slowly emerging to fall. "Are you sure you're okay? This isn't about me joining SPD again, is it?"

"No…No. I'm fine." Kimberley lied and wiped her eyes again. Grown woman crying in front of her son and his best friend? Pathetic. "Speaking of SPD, I heard a certain Protégé is joining according to some magazine."

Dru and Sky exchanged looks. Dru had no idea what Kimberley was talking about but Sky did. He thought about it for a moment. There were two Protégés with SPD parents. Sydney couldn't be who she was talking about. To join SPD, you had to be at least eighteen and have a high school diploma. She wasn't eighteen and didn't have a diploma yet. So it had to be Bridge.

"Bridge?"

"You remember him?" Kimberley always smiled when Sky remembered someone or something from SPD when he was younger. Sky was about seven when Kimberley lost contact with all of her friends at SPD so he had a pretty decent memory about those days. Bridge was five. She wondered if he remembered anything. Even the smallest age gap between kids had different memories.

"Well, now that he's famous." Sky shrugged. "Why is he joining SPD? I mean…there has to be some reason. He sings and he's the lead guitarist in The Protégés. Why is he giving that up?"

Kimberley sighed. "I don't know either, honey. I read it in a magazine. If it's true, isn't that cool though? At least for me. I miss him and his parents, you know. Melody Carson was my best friend in high school. I wonder what she's doing now…"

"She works at a daycare." Dru jumped in the conversation. The two Tate's looked at him puzzled. "You don't read magazines often, huh? Bridge is famous like Sky said. I'm surprised you two haven't done any stalking on social media."

Kimberley and Sky looked at each other with an expression that said, "We're dumb."

"Anyways." Kimberley stood up and dusted off her pants. "You boys hungry? We can go bother the neighbors."

"Sorry, I should be heading home now." Dru waved them goodbye and grabbed his car keys. "See you next week."

Sky nodded before him and his mother went to go bother the neighbors. Their neighbor's name was Theresa. She was a little younger than Kimberley but she has lived next to them since Sky was born. She was married and had a daughter and two sons. Her daughter, Jessica, just started high school. Sky called her his little friend since she was born. It was going to be hard leaving her for SPD. When he stepped in their house, Jessica was already on his case.

"I hate you!" Jessica yelled at him.

"Here we go again." Kimberley just rolled her eyes and went to find Theresa in the kitchen.

"Why do you hate me this time?" Sky asked her casually. "I swear it was your baby brother that stole your teddy bear this time."

"No." Jessica shook her head. "I really hate you this time. How could you leave me my first year of high school?"

"I'm sorry." Sky frowned. He immediately knew what she was talking about. Her mother probably told her. He sat on the couch and took her light brown hand. "I promise I'll come visit. You also have my number."

"It won't be the same."

"Maybe…but besides, you're going to have so much fun in high school, you won't need me. You're going to get some boyfriend from the football team and forget all about me."

"Yeah, right." Jessica laughed. She gave Sky a hug. "I'm going to miss you."

"I'm going to miss you too." Sky returned the hug. "I'm going to miss you so much."

A little OOC for Sky, huh? I never pictured him being a pain in the ass until Jack showed up :P