A/N: The next few chapters will be broken up like this – 0o0oInsert EpisodeTitle Hereo0o0. Mostly, I will focus on episodes with little Sky/Syd moments, but there will be a few twists not episode related.

My Mom is a Teacher

0o0oPost Beginningso0o0

It had been a long day, Syd thought. A long, strange day, as well as an exciting one. She was a ranger now. It meant responsibility, being a role model to the other cadets. Syd was proud of herself. She was really part of the ranger family now; part of the legacy.

She was thrilled that her morpher was for the pink ranger power. Not only was it her favorite color, it was her mother's color. Now she and her mom had the status of pink ranger to share, as well as their strong mother–daughter bond.

They had a whole team now: her, Bridge, Z, Jack...and Sky. Syd's happy mood lessened slightly; she knew Sky was furious that Jack had taken up the red ranger mantle. Sky had been at SPD for two years and Jack had been here for two minutes. Syd knew Sky had to be beating himself up.

The newly minted pink ranger went off in search of her oldest friend. On the way, she saw Bridge, Jack, and Z. The new green ranger was showing their teammates around, just as Sky had done for Syd so long ago. She smiled at them as she passed.

Syd found Sky in his room, beating the stuffing out of his punching bag. "Sky, it's nothing to be ashamed of," she said softly. "There are lots of great blue rangers. I know you wanted to be red; I know you wanted to follow in your dad's footsteps. But it's not the end of the world. You're still going to be great as a ranger, regardless of your color."

"Color is everything, Sydney," Sky snapped. "It tells everyone who you are. Everyone knows the red ranger is the best of the best. I know why Cruger gave me the blue morpher, too. It's because I spent too much time goofing off with you and Bridge. I should have been training myself, not playing lightball."

Syd glared up at him, angry at what he was suggesting. "Don't try to blame this on me and Bridge. Maybe Cruger knows you're a jerk and thought you didn't deserve to be in red."

0o0oDuring Wallso0o0

Sky helped Syd pile up the diamonds and then stalked off to sit on a crate. Syd grinned. Oh, she was gonna have some fun. Sky was grumbling to himself. "I should not be babysitting a bunch of reflective rocks. It's obvious Jack wants me to keep me as far from the action as possible. He feels threatened by me; knows I should have been the red ranger."

That struck a nerve with Syd, who liked the red ranger. He was pretty cool now that he had gotten over his ego, and funny. "Come on, Sky. Jack didn't have anything to do with that." "Whatever, Syd."

She picked up one of the smaller diamonds and tossed it at him. The moody blue ranger glared over at his teammate. "Whatever, Syd," she mimicked.

"Knock it off." Sky spoke clearly, each syllable precise and conveying his annoyance. He took a sip from his oddly shaped bottle.

Syd was annoyed, too. She hated that he had gone back to being like this.

"Cut it out," the blue ranger grunted.

"Or what? Gonna call my parents?" Syd teased. She loved messing with him.

"Don't test me," Sky warned his teammate, "Or you'll be sorry."

Syd stood up, marching over to him. Sky met her halfway. He twisted the lid off of his bottled water and dumped it over Syd's golden head. He started to laugh, clutching his sides. Syd wanted to laugh, too. It wasn't that she thought Sky spilling water on her was funny…it was that his prank was something like the old Sky would have done.

"It took me looking like this to get you to smile?" Sydney demanded of her friend. The smile instantly vanished from Sky's face. Syd frowned, "No, it looks good on you." Sky turned and sat on his crate again. "If you just spent a little more time with the team instead of sulking with your handbook –"

The current pink ranger was cut off by Sky putting a force field between them. Syd pouted, poking the blue shield.

0o0oA Few Days after A-Bridgedo0o0

Syd dressed carefully on the morning of Parents' Day. She knew her parents were planning on taking her to lunch and she wanted to look cute. In the end, Syd chose a pink off the shoulder top and a pair of hip huggers. She also put on a pair of white sandals to complete her look.

Her roommate watched as Syd put on her makeup. Z was envious of her pink teammate. She wished her parents were around to visit her.

Sydney skipped over to the door and then looked back at Z. The two girls were not exactly the best of friends, but they were learning to get along. Besides, they were teammates, and Syd knew Z wouldn't have parents to see today. "Want to come with?"

This caught the yellow ranger off guard. She hadn't expected Syd to want to share her parents. "I'll come to meet your parents, but I won't tag along. I know you don't get to see them often." Z tried to smile. Syd returned the gesture.

As the B Squad girls exited their room, Syd spoke up. "You should recognize my parents. They're kind of famous around here." The pair turned down another hallway, arriving at the main entrance of the academy. And there they were. Syd squealed and ran to her mom and dad and hugged them both.

Z turned to Sky, who had just joined them, flanked by Jack and Bridge. "Those are Syd's parents? The Hartfords? As in, the red and pink rangers from Operation Overdrive? But how? She doesn't even look like them!"

"She could be Mack's kid," Jack said fairly. "They have a similar hair texture and their eye color is close. Maybe Rose is her stepmother."

Sky shook his head. "Syd is adopted."

"No way," Z said, "Princess Sydney is adopted? I can't believe it. She's so spoiled."

"She's adopted all right. She's been with the Hartfords since she was a baby, a year old I think. She probably never mentioned it because it doesn't matter to her. And yeah, Syd can be spoiled, but she's really a sweet person."

Jack snickered. "You like her."

Sky didn't say anything. Syd had turned around to see her friends and was waving them over to her. "Come here, guys!"

When the other four arrived, Syd beamed. "Mom, Dad, this is Z, Bridge and Jack. And of course you already know Sky. Guys, there are my parents, Rose and Mack Hartford."

Jack extended his hand to Mack. "I'm a red ranger, too. Cool to meet you. You were a great ranger." Then Jack's eyes shifted to Rose. "And you are lovely, Mrs. Hartford. You're so much prettier in person than in the old videos we watch in our ranger history classes."

Rose smiled politely and looked over at Syd. "Why don't you show us around?"

Syd nodded. "I'll see you guys later, OK? I have my morpher on me if anything comes up." The pink ranger started down the hallway to the rest of the academy, her parents following close behind.

She showed her mom and dad the various training fields and obstacle courses. "God, these things make me so sore the next day," she grumbled. "But they build stamina and also ensure I go right to sleep at night."

As the tour continued, Rose asked a lot of questions. She did not want Syd to suspect that she had in fact helped lay the foundation for SPD and its technologies. Sydney answered the questions as best she could. She was so proud of what she and the others did here and it was nice to see that her mom fully supported her.

When they were outside the Command Center, Syd turned around to grin at her mother. "OK, Mom, just wait til you get inside this place. It's so high tech that I can only work about half the stuff in here. You're gonna freak."

"Well, then we should go inside and find out," Rose replied. She stepped into the room, taking it all in. The room had not changed much since Rose had last been here, some seventeen years ago. Syd pranced through the room, showing her parents the machine that projected holographic images of monsters.

Rose prodded at the machine, pretending that she had not helped Kat build it and had no idea how it worked. "Cutting edge," she said to her daughter. 'Of course it is,' Rose thought, 'I drew up the blueprints.'

"I know, right? And you should so talk to Dr. Manx some time. She's a genius." Syd was beaming now. "I think that's about it. Can we go to lunch?"

"Sure," Rose said quickly. The faster she got away from here, the less likely it was that she'd spill her secret. "Oh, I spoke to Jen a few days ago. She and Luke and Sky are around here somewhere. We thought you would like Sky and his family to join us, so we invited them along. Is that alright?"

Syd's smile grew wider. "That's a great idea. I love things like this. Our families being together, I mean. The last time we had a big gathering was for Sky's going away barbeque." She practically skipped as they went off to find Sky.

He was showing his mother the zord bay. Jen was poking around, asking questions, just as Rose had done. Luke was nearby, taking the sights in. Syd remembered that Luke was a contractor and had never been around ranger technology before. "Pretty cool, isn't it?" Syd asked with her friendly smile. "Sky is the lucky one, though. His zord can fly."

"Is that so? How do you fly this thing, Sky?" Luke seemed genuinely interested in his girlfriend's son, Syd could tell. She was glad to know that he didn't have to pretend. Aunt Jen deserved a nice guy.

Sky had set his face into a scowl. He was about to say something rude. God, couldn't he grow up? Couldn't he just see how much it would mean to his mother for him to be nice to Luke? Syd shot her crush a warning glance, which he seemed to interpret correctly, because at the last possible second, the blue ranger managed a smile.

He explained to Luke that it was a simple task, just like moving a joy stick in a video game. He opened the zord and invited Luke in. Mack followed, leaving the three pink rangers alone. "Thanks, Syd," Jen said quietly. "I love how you remind him of his manners." She sighed.

"He's my best friend, and I love him to pieces, but he can be a real jerk." Syd cracked a smile at Jen, who returned it. "I don't think it's you and I don't think it's Luke. I think Sky just misses Uncle Wes."

"I know he does. But what was I supposed to do? I waited ten years to go out again…and I love Luke." Jen looked at the zord sadly. "I just wish Sky could see it. I wish he would give Luke a chance, especially because…"

"What?" Rose questioned, curious as to what Jen had to say. "Especially because what?"

"It's a secret," Jen said quickly. "You'll find out soon, though," she added in a low voice as the men came out again.

At the restaurant, things were quiet until about halfway through the meal when Jen cleared her throat. "I think of you as family," she told the Hartfords as she reached for Luke's hand, "So that's why I'm telling you first: Luke and I are getting married."

Syd reacted first, getting up from her chair and standing beside Jen's chair. She hugged the older woman. "That's wonderful!" Syd loved weddings – they gave her an excuse to dress up.

Rose and Mack were offering their congratulations now. Sydney looked over at Sky. He was fighting to keep his expression neutral. "That's just great, Mom," he said stiffly.

"There's no reason to be like that," Jen snapped, her temper flaring. "You might be an adult, but you act like a four year old sometimes."

Sky shook his head in disbelief and stood up. "I have to be getting back now. Come on, Syd." He glared at his teammate, clearly saying that she would be at the top of his loser list if she stayed here.

Syd smiled apologetically at her parents, Jen, and Luke. "He gave me a ride here, so I do have to leave with him. I'm so sorry to run out on you." She hugged her mom and dad and beamed at Jen. "Congratulations, again."

Sky was halfway out of the restaurant when his pink teammate finally caught up to him. "You are so self-centered, you know. It's always about you: why you should be red ranger; that you're the only one who misses your dad. Well, Sky there are nine billion other people on this planet and here's a newsflash for you: you are not any more important than anyone else."

"My mom married my dad. She made him promises, Syd, promises that she's breaking by marrying Luke. She is supposed to love my dad as 'long as they both shall live.' I don't think she's showing it very well."

Syd shook her head. "Jen will always love Wes. He was her husband, and the father of her son. But just because she's getting married again doesn't mean she loves your dad any less." She reached up, cupping his cheek in one hand. "She's the only mom you'll ever have, Sky."

Later, Syd made her way to the Command Center. It was late, and she couldn't sleep through Z's snores. At least, that was what she told herself. Syd knew the real reason she had insomnia tonight. The normally perky blond had a hurting heart.

She sat down at one of the monitors and searched through the video files until she found one she recognized from ranger history class. The pink ranger pulled up the file and started to watch it.

And there they were, the people who had brought her into this world, Carter and Dana Grayson. Syd watched the red and pink Lightspeed Rescue rangers fight side by side. "Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad." Syd sighed wistfully as the door slid open again. To her surprise, she was joined by Sky.

"Hey," he said quietly, "You can't sleep, either?" The blue ranger sat down next to her, "I talked to my mom. We're all good now. Thanks for that, Syd."

She smiled, but it wasn't quite her normal one. Sky caught this instantly. "You OK?"

"Just thinking about my mom and dad. My real mom and dad, I mean. The Graysons. How weird is it that my biological parents wore the same colors my adoptive parents did? How weird is it that they died in some accident and I got rangers as my guardians?" Syd folded her arms on keyboard and then put her rested her head on them.

Sky looked down at Syd quizzically. She had never really spoken about the Graysons since that night twelve years ago. She had accepted Rose and Mack as her parents and only mentioned the Graysons once during ranger history.

"My mom told me they were rangers on the night before I came to SPD. Being rangers must have been how they knew each other," she had said quietly to herself.

"Syd, please don't act like it matters to you all of a sudden. Aunt Rose and Uncle Mack are your parents, and they love you. You gave them a family. And you know as well as I do that if your mom heard you talking like that it would break her heart."

The pink ranger turned to face him. She stared at him for a moment before flinging herself into his arms. "You're right," Syd said against Sky's chest, "Mom and Dad love me."

Sky didn't care that the Command Center was under constant surveillance and that they were sure to be discovered. He held Syd, rubbing her back to comfort her. Since he was already breaking one rule by embracing Syd in a public area of the academy, he might as well break two. "Do you want to go to the wedding with me? As my date?"