Chapter Seven

Jack knocked carefully on the door. "Sky, you in there?"

The door had been locked and that usually meant that Sky had Changed. If there was one thing he knew about Sky, it was that his second in command was a creature of habit. Sky had his routines and he stuck to them. Usually, anyway. If the pattern held, Sky would be out running tonight, but after the events of the past week and a half, not to mention his still healing injuries, he might have changed his mind. In the infirmary for a couple of days, it had been long enough for it to be almost full moon time by the time he was released from Doctor Felix's care and that had made things both more complicated and less so. Jack hesitated, then stepped through the door. He'd done this a couple of times and Sky had never specifically told him not to… if Sky wasn't there, he'd leave. If he was, so much the better.

"Sky?"

The room seemed to be empty, but the window was closed. Sky never closed the window when he went out, never. So that meant he should be here.

A moment later, Jack felt himself falling and landing hard on the floor, one blond wolf sitting on top of him. He waved slightly with his free hand, firmly repressing the automatic reaction brought on by this sudden experience of déjà vu. "Hi," he said easily and Sky stared at him before letting out the exasperated huff that was the wolf equivalent of Sky rolling his eyes and getting off him. Obviously someone was feeling better. During his time in the infirmary Sky had done nothing but sleep and even after he'd left the infirmary he'd been more withdrawn than Jack had become accustomed to. It wasn't the standoffish arrogance that had marked the early days of B squad, that he could have dealt with, instead it seemed more like Sky was trying to avoid everyone and he got skittish if anyone but Jack got too close. He wished he could feel surprised by that, but he wasn't. It was just one more way his relationship with Sky was changing.

It was just fortunate that Gruumm was still dealing with the failure of his plans once again, because Sky had all but become a hermit, barely leaving his room if he didn't have to and not letting anyone in, with a couple of noticeable exceptions. Z had been in there once and had come out a little more relaxed. It seemed that the two of them had had a pretty serious conversation, with the result that whatever misunderstandings had existed between them had been fixed. She was the only person Sky had let in apart from Jack. Not even Bridge or Syd had been allowed in.

Sitting up, Jack made a show of brushing himself off, an action that seemed to amuse Sky for some reason, and he shifted so he was leaning against the wall. He'd learned the hard way not to stand while Sky was Changed and in his room: it was too much of a challenge. That wasn't why he was here though, so he causally leant back against the wall, arms resting on his knees. "So," he said. "How you doing?"

Sky gave him a long look, one that didn't need translating and Jack snorted slightly. "Right. Stupid question. You're always fine." He was more than aware of the brittle edge to his voice and he hoped that Sky hadn't picked up on it.

No such luck. Sky got up and padded over to where he was sitting, curling up next to him for a couple of minutes, before he changed his mind and moved so he was lying half on and half off of Jack's lap, much to the red ranger's surprise. His initial protests were ignored, which was not a surprise, and in the end he resigned himself to the situation. Absently, he started scratching between Sky's ears, the tension he'd been feeling since Sky first disappeared finally easing.


Sky squirmed a little as he got comfortable on Jack's lap. This was nice. Jack was safe, as were the others, but Jack was sad. That was wrong, Jack shouldn't be sad. This was the only way he knew that could fix that, which was why he was currently trying to get comfortable in such a small amount of space. He sighed in contentment as Jack started scratching between his ears. This was nice. He let out a protesting whine when Jack stopped and insistently shoved his head against Jack's hand, a silent order to keep going. Jack laughed softly which was much better and oh yes, he thought as Jack resumed the petting, that felt very nice. He felt his tail thump against the floor in pleasure as Jack dug his fingers in a little more, his short nails scraping lightly at his skin. Mmm, more please.

He hadn't been aware of how much he had needed this after his latest ordeal, but now he was revelling in it, and he hoped Jack wouldn't stop any time soon. Clambering onto Jack's lap a little more, he was relieved when Jack's slight protest didn't result in him stopping and he settled down happily. He was home and he was safe.


Okay, this is the last chapter for this story, but the series itself isn't done yet. There's a couple more stories left before that happens.