A/N: I know it's starting to become painfully obvious. I guess I'm not so good at subtleness as I thought I was…
This ch is mostly filler

Chapter 18: Scheming

It was two days after Syd telling Z that she had begun dating Joseph, and they hadn't talked at all, these days, and nothing but fakey-fake smiles, and fakey-fake polite words were exchanged between them.

This day was going to be different from all others at SPD, for when the rangers, Bridge, Daniel, and Syd were chilling in the common room: Bridge was reading a comic, Daniel was obsessing over his hair not turning out well, after bleaching them, and Syd was talking to Joseph on the phone. Sky and Z walked into the room at that moment, and everyone was surprised, to see them holding hands.

"guys we have an announcement" she said, a wide grin adorning her face.

"we" Sky pointed at the two of them, "are officially dating" he said.

"WHAT?" Bridge spit out his soda, Daniel looked up from his hand-mirror, Syd seemed so shocked, her pupils dilated.

"yeah" Z said, planting a small kiss on his lips.

"what?" Daniel repeated.

"Sky, you and me? Chat?" Bridge asked, taking Sky's hand and dragging him out (kinda like Sky had done in the first chapter)

"Bridge what the heck?" Sky asked, when they were out of earshot.

"I told you that whole sex-friends thing wasn't going to work! Plus you know what Cruger says, no relationships in teamwork."

"that's not what Cruger says. That's what the handbook says" Sky explained, "plus the rule is no-distractin—" he was cut off by Bridge yelling, "whatever! I told you this won't work out! I told you that you'd fall for her, or that she'll fall for you, but this won't work out! I'm telling you!"

"Bridge relax" Z said calmly coming up from behind, "it's nothing big" she said.

"BUT IT IS BIG!"

"Bridge," Z said, very, very slowly, "We, are, just, pretending, to, date, so, that, we, can, get, back, at, Joseph, and, Syd" she said.

"what?" now he was confused.

"we're pretending to be in a relationship so that we can go on a double date, and do whatever it needs to ruin their relationship"

"yep" Sky said, grave serious, "cuz I'm not gonna let pretty pink princess build a castle of her dreams on top of the rubble of Z's"

Bridge chuckled, "got it"

"what are you laughing about?"

"you won't get it"

"what is it?"

"leave it, guys, I'm just glad that you two are 'not' in love"

"what is that supposed to mean?" Sky asked, suspiciously.

"nothing." He scoffed, "don't you have some relationship to break-up or something?" Bridge asked, and pushed Sky and Z away.

When they were gone, he laughed quietly to himself, "there's something there, definitely. I can sense it a mile away"

Meanwhile, Sky and Z made their way back to the common room, and over to Syd and Daniel, who were still on the couch, still surprised from what Sky and Z had said.

"you two are serious?" Daniel asked, when they entered.

"pretty much, yeah" Z smiled, "I realized that I really, really liked him." she held his arm, and leaned on him.

"I love her too." he said, and didn't realize that his tongue had slipped, and he had said he loved her, "I meant like" he corrected, looking at Z, embarrassed.

"and when did you two realize it?" Syd asked, a little suspicious.

"when you so ruthlessly crushed her feelings." Sky said, coldly.

"he came to me, to cheer me up, and we realized that we felt more for each other than what we let on" Z said, and in some part of him, some deep, deep part of him, that was buried deep within, Sky wished that story was true.

"really?" Syd asked, still disbelieving, "well, I'm very glad that it worked out with you two!"

She was NOT happy. It was so clear to see, even DANIEL noticed it.

"cool, real cool for you guys!" Daniel said, he sounded genuinely happy.

Sky smiled, and then went with Z and sat on the couch, planning to make-out, part of the act. Z whispered to him, "don't you think you overdid your lines with the whole love part?"

"yeah, I realized, but hey, at least it was believable." He grinned, like it was all part of the act.

"shall we kiss?" Sky asked, and Z didn't hesitate for a second, and pressed her lips against his. The kiss was soft, at first, both keeping their tongues to themselves, but then, she opened her lips to let in his tongue. Z had found, in that blue rain, that she really liked having to kiss him in public, without there being the idea of them having mindless sex afterwards. This was why she agreed when he proposed the idea of them pretending to be dating: she liked having him as more than a friend, and not just behind the closed bedroom doors.

Then suddenly, there was coughing, from Syd, "unhn-hmm?" she said, and Sky and Z broke apart their kiss, to look at Syd very innocently,

"yeah?" Sky asked, annoyed on being interrupted.

"go get a room you two" she said, irritated,

"whatever do you mean Sydney Drew?" Z asked, ever so innocently.

"can you go an make out with the hottest guy at SPD in your own room?" Syd askd, and Sky looked at her slyly, lifting his eyebrows, playfully, "I'm the hottest guy in SPD?"

"maybe" Syd was in a tough spot, she had admitted to something she had never even dreamed she would. WUDDAFAQ?

"can you like not tell Joseph I said that?" Syd was down to almost begging, cuz she knew that her relationship with Joseph would me more than over if it had, and they had slept together for just three nights in a row! And no, she couldn't let a guy break up with her!

"well, you do seem to think I'm hot. We can't lie exactly, can we?" Sky asked, innocently.

"well, you know what? Let's go on a double date, and there I'll prove that I don't think you're anything more than my teammate." She couldn't sway Sky over to be her boyfriend, like she had done with Joseph, Sky was SUPER loyal, and he had always been.

"alright…" Z seemed fakely unsure about it.

"fix up a date, and we'll see you there" Sky grinned.

Then they made their way out, out of earshot, Z laughed, "SCORE! She fell for it, just like we thought she would!"

"why are all of Syd's responses like those preprogrammed in a robot? It's like we can anticipate every next word she says!" Sky said, equally happy, "we'll take them down more easily than we had thought. Nobody can be happy if they've hurt my Z Delgado."

"you know something?" Z asked, not apprehending what he had said, he looked at her, in her eyes, and stopped smiling,

"you're the best friend I ever had." She said, and hugged him, tightly.

He wrapped his arms around her too, her hair almost touching his lips; he gave her a soft kiss on her forehead.

"you're the best friend I ever had" he replied, and he felt like adding a few more words, but he knew that those words would be crossing the limit. So he just stood there and hugged her back.