-Squeals- Jadelyn Tate made me a fanfic trailer! It's awesome! Go watch it! www. youtube. com/ watch?v B2-EqdsLNrk (Remove the spaces)

Oh, side note: Sky is once again, twelve years old.

Robot

The sunlight was coming in through the window at the wrong angle.

His eyes shot open, his body tensing in alarm. A look to the nightstand did not turn up a clock, and neither did a quick survey of his room when he sat up. He scowled.

He was still buttoning up his jumpsuit when he stormed out of his room. He glanced at the wall clock in the living room and cursed loudly. "Who let me oversleep?" he demanded.

"I did."

He glared furiously at Vanessa as she sat at the kitchen table, sipping tea. "And did it ever occur to you that maybe I would have wanted you to wake me up?!"

"Of course it did." She gave him one of her 'How Stupid Can You Possibly Be' looks that he hated. "But this is an intervention."

"An intervention?" he echoed numbly. His eyes narrowed in indignation. "I'm not an alcoholic!"

"Never said you were. This isn't that kind of intervention," she said calmly, setting down her cup. She looked up at him. "You plan for today was a protein shake on the way to an hour of personal training, one hour of Squad warm up, four hours of Squad drills with an hour lunch break in between. Forty-five minute of Squad cool down followed by a fifteen minute announcements and feedback session. Two hours of paperwork and/or working with the Grunts, an hour visiting Wes, followed by one hour for dinner, then two hours with bonding with Sky and helping him do his homework. An hour of hiding in your room for 'me time', and then eight hours of sleep before you repeat the process all over again."

He stared at her as she listed his plan for the day. "What are you, psychic or something?"

She looked at him. "That's the exact same thing you've been doing everyday for the past six months. Except for Sundays, when Sky drags you out somewhere because you both have the day off."

"I have n - "

"Karone went through the surveillance videos," Vanessa interrupted. "It's been six months."

Silently he vowed that Karone would be punished for this. He didn't know how and he didn't know when, but he would exact revenge.

"Face it, Eric. You're stuck in a rut."

"I am not - "

"Sky's noticed," she informed him.

He froze. "That's a low blow," he muttered at last.

She shrugged. "Whatever works."

There was a long silence.

"So you stole my alarm clock and made me oversleep by an hour and a half?"

"Actually, Karone noticed your behavior and informed Ashley, who talked to Aisha, who told Jason while she told Andros, who both went to Tommy, who made the executive decision that you're banned from S.P.D. for today and possibly tomorrow if you don't behave, and asked me to explain things to you. Sky stole your alarm clock," she added in afterthought. She smirked at his expression. "We work at S.P.D., Eric; we have no secrets."

It took several minutes to work through the anger, annoyance, and indignation before he could find something to say. "So what am I supposed to do all day?"

She shrugged again. "Go for a walk. Play some video games. Read a book, see a movie ... Do whatever you want. Just turn off the autopilot and live for awhile, Eric. Stop making your friends worry about whether or not you know you're a real person." She paused. "Wes wouldn't want you to push yourself like this."

He glared at her, barely suppressing a snarl. "And that's beyond low."

She met his gaze steadily. "Just because Wes can't be around doesn't mean he wouldn't want you to take care of yourself. And since he can't tell you that, I will."

"I hate you," he growled.

"I hate you, too. But Wes will still be there if you visit him a little later. So relax for a day. Try to remember why you're still alive."

He eyed her oddly. "Why I'm still alive?"

"You tell me."


The walk through the park was scenic, but boring. He went through the part that Sky always refused to go unless he was on a Squad Drill, but refused to say why. He still couldn't see what the big deal was; it was just another big, open grassy area. Nothing special about it.

It was weird to see a movie by himself, but kind of refreshing to see what he wanted to watch, kid appropriate or not. Which, for the record, it wasn't. First time in ... almost four years now? And since it was an older movie he'd been wanting to see for awhile, the theater was practically deserted - just the way he liked it. Movie theatre popcorn on the other hand, most certainly did not improve over time.

He played video games at the theatre, and decided they needed some new ones after systematically winning each and every one - even the dancing game once he knew no one else was around. The games he had at home were better, which convinced him to find the nearest branch of the gaming store he used to frequent in search of more. He was pleasantly surprised to find a few new releases he hadn't known about, and left after spending more money than he probably should have.

The book store took awhile of browsing to find the particular game guide the clerk had warned him he would need. He looked for books on getting revenge, but came up empty. It actually took him several minutes to remember the suggestion that he try reading a book, so he browsed the martial arts section for awhile before making himself to continue to look around. He found the comic book section by accident, and was forced to refortify himself with one of the frou-frou coffees they sold at the café before returning to browse what they had for nearly an hour. Comics lead into the sci-fi section, and he begrudgingly chose an actual book to read in case Vanessa tried to demand physical evidence or something.

He hadn't expected to spend another five hours reading. Stupid Douglas Adams and his dumb - okay, kinda -okay, really funny book series. Maybe he'd pass it along to Sky when he finished it.

He was late for dinner by the time he was heading home. To the point that he called ahead, and asked Sky if he wanted him to pick up anything.

"Anything but Chinese."

It wasn't until he was almost home, take out from that fried chicken place they liked in his passenger seat, when it suddenly hit him that he hadn't actually done much of anything that he wanted to do today. Frozen in surprise, he sat at a stoplight for too long until someone honked at him. Shaking himself awake again, he pulled into a parking lot for a moment and stopped the car.

He leaned back, staring up at the roof of his SUV. What did I want to do today, he wondered.

The immediate responding thought was that he wanted to see if he could push F Squad to shave another five seconds off their time on the targeting drill.

He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Great. Vicky and the S.P.D. Invasion Squad were right - he was stuck in a rut. When was the last time he did something for himself, besides playing video games for an hour before bed?

He paused, frowning at the dashboard. "I don't even like SUVs," he muttered to himself. "Why am I driving one?"

But he already knew the answer to that. When he had told Mr. Collins that he was moving to S.P.D., he'd been offered one of newer models of SUV the Silver Guardians used - to help with chauffeuring Sky around, Collins had said. And he'd taken it, because like he'd ever bothered to buy a car when he had the SUVs to borrow from work, and carpooling was easier anyway.

When was the last time I did something for myself?

He realized with a sort of distant horror that he didn't know.

The sound of his cell phone going off startled him. "Myers," he answered shortly.

"Eric?" Sky sounded concerned. "You said you'd be home ten minutes ago. Where are you? Is everything all right?"

Was he really that bad? Ten minutes late getting home, so something must be wrong?

"I'm fine," he heard himself answer. "Just taking the scenic route."

"Oh." There was an awkward and somewhat disbelieving sigh. "Well, as long as you're okay ... "

"I'm fine. I'll be home soon."

He looked at the cell for a long moment after he hung up.

"Try to remember why you're still alive."

He leaned his head against the steering wheel with a long sigh. "And what if I don't know?" he murmured. "What if ... what if I'm still wondering why it's ... " Why it's always Wes that's mean to go, he finished silently. Why I'm always the one left behind.

The smell of fried chicken reached his nose, and he restarted the car with a sigh. Left behind or not, he had a kid to feed. And hungry kids rarely waited.

Maybe ... maybe he'd take tomorrow off, too. Spend some time reading.

And of course, plan his revenge against Karone for instigating his forced day off in the first place.


"Hey, Wes," he said quietly, taking the other man's hand as he sat down. "Sorry I didn't come yesterday - Vanessa and S.P.D. decided it was necessary to make me take a day off. Which I did, and I took today off too, so don't freak out on me. The closest I've been to S.P.D. today was walking past H Squad to see how Sky was doing on my way here, and then when I snuck it to Karone's office to - leave her a present."

He smirked, wondering what she would think of his retribution. Not only was Douglas Adams funny, but hey, who knew the guy could be inspirational too? And how lucky was he that they just happened to have written the perfect song to go with his 'present'?

He wondered if the smell was making Kat hungry.

The smirk faded into a faint smile. "You should have seen Sky today, Wes." He chuckled, thinking of it. "That kid ran rings around the rest of his Squad. Dru was the only one who could keep up with him, and even he had to struggle. And then you know what the brat did? He turns around and calls the rest of his Squad lazy. And Zack was too busy laughing to tell him to knock it off."

He shook his head. "I swear, that kid's getting too full of himself. I'm not sure which one of us he gets it from, either - could be you, could be Vanessa. Maybe even me." he admitted.

The sound of rustling next to him caught his attention, and he looked up at the bed, annoyed that one of the Docs hadn't warned him before they came in.

Wes' eyes were open.

They were wide with fear and confusion, and his lips were moving. The heart monitor sped up, and he seemed to choke on whatever he was trying to say. His hands fisted against the sheets.

Eric leapt to his feet, eyes wide in shock and growing moist. "Wes?!"