A/N: HERE WE GO! Finally!
EPILOGUE
"To be honest, I still can't believe Syd turned thirty" Z Delgado told the Commander of space patrol delta, as she looked into the mirror, and tried her earrings, "I mean she's literally the youngest of us!"
He looked at her, and just smiled, she wasn't really expecting a response either, so she continued, "you realize we aren't young anymore? I mean today, like officially, we're all thirty plus! We're practically oldies!"
"we're not OLD Z" he said, shaking his head, chuckling, "we just can't blame our irresponsible behavior on 'being in our 20s' anymore."
She turned around, to find him standing there, with a pair of moon earrings, with stars hanging by the ends, in his hand, "I think these are better than the trash in your hands"
"heyyy!" Z said, indignantly, "they're Syd's choice"
"which is why I call them trash" he said, solemnly.
"come on Sky! It's her birthday! I should wear something out of the whole outfit she chose for me to wear"
"I'm not letting you look like an idiot in front of everyone we know AND don't know" he said, shoving the earrings right in her face, and she pushed them away, "Sky!" she said, annoyed, then she pulled her master card, one he never had an answer to, "you're not my boyfriend, and I'm not gonna let a GUY control my life"
"not even if that guy loves you and cares about you?" he asked with puppy dog eyes.
"not even then" she said, indignantly,
"okayyyy" Sky dragged the word on for too long, making her suspicious.
"what have you done?" she asked, but right at that moment, a five year old boy, with brown hair, freckles, and a pair of astonishing blue eyes came bouncing into the room.
"Nico, this or that?" Sky asked, holding up his pair, and then pointing to the ones Z had.
Nico tilted his head, "hard one daddy" he said, very unconvincingly, and then pointed to Sky's. He smirked, and looked at Z, "you won't go again Nico's choice will you?" with the same puppy dog eyes look, that again failed to work their magic this time.
Z rolled her eyes, then she bent down to bring herself onto her son's level, "Nico? Did daddy tell you to choose the ones he was holding?" Nico giggled, and then nodded, and Z looked at Sky triumphantly, but then Nico spoke again, "but mommy I really do like the ones daddy has for you! I picked them out!" Z's eyes darted back to the little boy, and then to the earrings. Coming to think of it, they weren't really Sky's style.
"you did?" she asked, in her most loving voice, that she saved for Nico, and some times, for the Commander.
Nico's grin gave it all away, and Z got up, and joined Sky, "Alright, I'll wear these, only for that little angel there." she looked at Nico, who then ran out of the room laughing, "but if Syd's mad, she's gonna have to take it out on you" Sky smirked, and gently kissed Z on her cheek.
About one hour later, leaving Nico in the care of his nanny, Sky and Z drove to the Drew Mansion, where Syd's parents STILL held her birthday bash.
The party was already in full swing when the two walked in the doors, and were immediately greeted by their friends Daniel and Bridge, who seemed to have been waiting specifically for them to arrive.
"FINALLY!" Daniel began, "we thought you'd never show up!"
"actually we did think you'd show up, and so we waited for you to show up, but then you didn't show up, so we thought that you might not show up but we were hoping that you'd show up, and then we went in for a couple drinks, and then we thought you might show up again, and then the drinks wore off so we thought you might not show up again, but we really hoped that you'd show up becau—"
"BRIDGE!" all three of them yelled in unison, and he looked at them embarrassed, "I'm just glad you showed up" he settled for saying.
"anyway" Z started, "where's the birthday girl?"
"take a guess" Kat Manx commented, as she came up from behind, wearing a knee length dress, and a hair-band with Minnie Mouse's bow on it. With her, dressed in a white tuxedo, was Dr. Felix, her new and much, much better boyfriend. The four grinned.
Then Dr. Manx pointed at Sydney, and there she was all right, in a long frilly frock, not at all upset about turning thirty, and randomly flirting with a certain gentleman from the Navy.
To wish her, Sky and Z made their way to her, and she saw them, and then she hugged them, "you guys! You shouldn't have!" she replied, receiving their presents, with them knowing fully well that if they didn't, they'd have been off the guest list… maybe. Anyway, then she turned to introduce then to the guy from the Navy, "Sky, Z, this is Ryan Stewart, he's a lieutenant in the Navy. Ryan, this is the Commander of SPD, and the Head Trainer" she introduced Sky and Z respectively.
After the formalities, and all the 'nice to meet you's Z dragged Syd away, to give her, her own private birthday wish, "Downright Dirty, Happy Thirty, Miss Flirty" she said, and Syd burst into a HUGE grin, "how long did it take you to come up with that?"
"two bucks" Z replied, and Syd looked at her weirdly, "got it off a greeting card" she chucked, and then the two girls hugged again.
"can't believe that you're thirty" Z repeated what she had told Sky earlier that evening, Syd just grinned.
"I can believe you are though" she said, and Z pouted, "well, you have a kid, a husba—" Syd cut herself off before she could complete the statement, "you have Sky" she said, instead, "you have an amazing job and you have a nice house. I mean your life is practically complete. Look at me! Thirty, and standing in a party thrown by my PARENTS!" Z realized Syd was a little upset.
"how about this? In your 20s, you learned a lot, grew as a person, and had tons of fun! Now keep that shit up. No need to worry, you are still the awesome person I used to know!"
"thanks Z" Syd said, smiling, and at that moment, Sky arrived with that guy, Ryan something? And they started talking to the girls again. then in time, Sky and Z drew away from the conversation, leaving Syd and Ryan to talk.
"see? She didn't even notice" Sky chucked when they were out of earshot, and Z grinned, "well, she's Syd. Why'd I even think she would?"
The two spent a nice time at the party, chatting with people, feeling terribly old, meeting Sam and Brianna, the soon to be Omega and Nova Rangers at SPD, respectively, and their other young, friends, who had just entered their twenties a year or two back. Z was Brianna's trainer, along with that of many other cadets at SPD, after all, she was the head, and she believe dthe girl had true postential. She had topped the academy four years in a row, and was ready to enter the Ranger Squad the following week. Z was about 99% sure she'd make the Red Ranger, the 1% off chance of Sky pulling a Cruger-like move, and choosing someone from the streets for it instead.
Then they joined their own group of old friends, Bridge, Daniel, and Kat joined by Jack, who was out on parole, (his coke stock had been busted) and finally, after an eternity, Syd.
"Ready rangers?" Jack joked, and all others laughed, raising their glasses, "to the Power Rangers! That amazing connection that brought us together, not just as a team, but as friends!" he said, and they all smiled, and laughed, and chatted, as if they had not a care in the world. They were all grateful for what they had, right here, in their hearts. Anybody part of the Ranger family was family.
It was only after half an hour, that everyone dispersed, and got into mingling with the other guests as well. It was Sydney Drew's party, and of course, it was not going to end before two at night, before Syd's official concert. There were still three hours to that, and Sky and Z looked at each other, unsure of what to do, because, apart from the rest of the old B-Squad, who all seemed to be busy with other people, the other guests were terribly boring.
He found an idea forming in his mind. "Z?" he asked, "Syd's gonna be greeting other people, Bridge and Daniel are busy chatting by that bar, and I don't think with all that sugar between them, they'd notice us gone, as for Jack, he might be… you know?" Sky tilted his eyebrows, "anyway, what I am saying is that we're at a mansion, with too many extra rooms, and well, Nico's away, and safe, and there's nobody to bother us you know?" he asked, looking at her mischievously.
She saw that glint in his eye, and understood what he was hinting at, "come on Sky, we can't just hook up in someone random person's room" she said "we're thirty"
"so what? come on Z! its been a while since we've gone all out! all we get to do are little quickies" he made a puppy dog face again, and this time Z gave him the liberty to sway her with it. she averted her gaze, blushing a little, "well, it is true that we haven't gotten much time to ourselves these days. Hmmm… maybe its not such a bad idea after all" she said, throwing her arms around his neck, pushing her lips against his.
They pulled apart, "let's get a room" he said.
"are you sure there'd be extra rooms or something?"
"three people, three hundred rooms. Pretty sure they've never been used in their life" Sky said, matter-of-factly, "but Sky, remember, it's the DREWS" she said, emphasizing, and then burst into a grin, he also joined in, "but we'd get one right now. don't worry. And let's hurry. I don't wanna waste any more time" he said, pulling her out of the party hall, and into a deserted hallway. The lighting was beautiful, and there were a lot of paintings hanging through and through. Seems the Drews were art collectors.
Anyway, that wasn't what interested Sky and Z, as they got busy within themselves, he wrapped his arms around her waist, and kissed her passionately, she pushed her tongue inside his mouth, and they tongue kissed. She locked her arms around his neck, and they pulled into the nearest room, still making out passionately, but were interrupted suddenly by the realization of another couple of pair of eyes in the room.
Super embarrassed, they abruptly broke apart, and faced the other couple, and were surprised to see who they were.
Brianna Manners, the top cadet of the SPD academy, sat on the bed, the sleeves of her dress hanging way too much down her shoulder than they were supposed to, Sam stood behind her, beside the bed, his tuxedo jacket on the floor, his bow tie undone, and his blond hair quite ruffled. She looked like she had been crying, and he looked like he had been trying to hold back the tears, and not doing a very good job at it.
Sky and Z looked awkwardly at those two, 100% sure they had walked into the wrong room at the wrong moment, and among the wrong people.
"we'll just… go" Sky said, stumbling around Z, and taking her hand, ready to leave. But then Sam stopped them, "no need. We'll go." He got up, but then halted, as Brianna spoke again, "please Sam! DON'T!" she said.
he looked pained, "Brianna! Why are you messing this up?"
"I'm not messing anything up! Sam this is how it just is. I am in love with you, and we promised we'd by perfectly honest with each other! I am! I'm telling you that I don't just want this friends with benefit arrangement anymore! I want to take romantic walks, look at the twinkling lights, buy flowe—"
He cut her off mid sentence, "Brianna you know me, this stuff freaks me out! It just reminds me how fake it all is. People say and do it to take advantage of me! I've had this way too many times!"
"well, I'm not like everybody else! You've said so yourself!"
"what's wrong with what we're doing? It's working! We don't have to fight, w—"
Now she cut him short, "maybe I want to fight!" he said, "but I don't"
"so what are you gonna do? Never actually feel anything? How you gonna do that?" she asked, turning around, and facing him with steely eyes,
"I'll figure it out…" he spoke, "I don't need you to take care of me! I can take care of myself"
"you're so messed up"
"this is what I do. Why don't you go out and find some other guy for yourself who's not gonna break your heart?" he taunted.
"because I love you" and then the two sank into silence again, without giving the other two spectators as much as a glance.
Sky and Z looked at each other uneasily, this conversation felt a little too familiar for both of them. The plaza, the little Paris, the everything from that evening came flooding back into their memories, as well as the misery that it had caused afterwards. They remembered it all crystal clear, and here it was, the very same scene replaying right in front of their eyes. Different setting. Different characters. Same scene.
NO! Sky and Z could not let another pair suffer from the heartbreak they suffered those few painful days.
"Sam, Brianna, let us tell you a story" Z said, sitting by Brianna on the bed, and Sky and Sam joined in.
and so in a span of one hour, fifteen minutes, the two, in short, narrated the very same story that I, SKYLAND2704 narrated to you in over a year. The youngsters listened carefully, to the story, believing it to be a carbon copy of the one they themselves had lived. It was a strange coincidence, but there nonetheless.
Finally, when Sky and Z narrated their settlement on the no labels thing, Sam and Brianna looked at them surprised, "wait, so you're telling us, that it worked?" he asked Z, relating with her side of the story, Z looked at Sky instead, and smiled, "what do you think?" she asked.
"did you not just see them entering the room making out?" Brianna said.
Sam nodded, "and your friends? Were they okay with it?"
"what have they got to do with it? this is our life, and we know how we live it. they understand they cope. First time we told them about this, they were like, 'aide moi mon dieu'," Sky mocked Syd's reaction in particular, and he and Z chuckled.
"and now?"
"now we live together, have a baby, well, a five year old, baby or not, and we are Sky and Z, that's all we are, besides happy. Not husband and wife, not friends, not best friends, not lovers, not boyfriend and girlfriend. Just plain Sky and Z," she said,
"and the chances of fighting are also quite less, we don't have any anniversaries to remember, we don't have gifts to buy"
"whatever we do we do of our free will, there's no compulsion to take the fun out of it"
'but don't you ever think you're missing out? a wedding? Or honeymoon or something?" Brianna asked.
"if we feel we're missing anything, we'll talk it out. we'll then decide. And to be honest," Z turned to look at Sky, "I'm not as afraid of getting married, as I was back then."
Sky smiled, "I just want you by my side, married or not, doesn't matter to me" he kissed her, softly.
"Of course there's no hundred percent guarantee that it will work, but it worked out so well for us, you two could at least try it out."
"but both of you will have to maintain an effort to keep this going. Any slacking, and you know where it goes," Sky added, and then Sam looked at Brianna, "I love you too. and I'm willing to give this a shot if you are"
"I wanna try. I wanna save US" she said, and the younger couple sat holding hands. Sky and Z, realizing their work was done, quietly slipped out of the room, and closed the door behind them, so that no one else disturb them (No they didn't latch it)
"so now what?" she asked him.
"were you serious about that wedding thing?"
"dead serious" she said, and Sky controlled a smile. He had longed to see Z in a wedding gown all his life, but he had never let it show.
"I'll pick out the gown" he stated, "no questions no objections"
"but the groom's not supposed to see the gown."
"when do we do stuff that people are 'supposed to'?" he asked, and she chuckled, "but right now, should we go get another room or something? Because if I am right, we still HAVE two and a half hours left. So shall we?" he said, but then paused, another idea, "or would you like to sneak away with me for a walk to the La Belle Ville Lumiere, with the twinkling lights Brianna mentioned?"
"hmmmm" she crossed her arms, pretending to be considering the idea, and then laughed quietly in the end, "I'd love to." and she softly tangled her fingers with his, grasping his hand, and smiling at him, as they headed out into the cool september air, to the Little Paris, Ville Lumiere. He was all she had ever needed, and she was all he did. Both were fortunate enough to have realized this fact, and grateful that they did. She loved him so much! He loved her back just as much, maybe even more. Nico was pretty lucky to be born to these two!
Love, was a strange thing. Figuring it out, Stranger still, but strange things have happened, and no stranger would this be either, for they were together now, and would stay. Forever.
THE END
A.N: Yes! The story is over! Friends with Benefits is over and I just can't get over it! Thank you to everyone who took the time of putting up with me and my crap, and reading/reviewing this story! It really means a lot! Thank you! You kept me going!
SKYLAND2704 out!