A/N: this one has a little mature content, but also a very sweet moment between sky and z. don't judge my imagination. I have a friend who had a similar story.
Ch-5: Closer
"Wh…. WHAT THE FRICKING HELL IS GOING ON!" z exclaimed when she realized who the man was.
She looked at her older self in disbelief.
"seriously!" she said, "of all the douche bags in the universe, you find HIM!"
"okay kids, time for bed." Older Sky tried to joke.
"okay, shut up Mr. Tate." Younger Z snapped, and turned to older z, "You told us that you had a loving and caring husband, this is how you replay him? By cheating on him? With this dude?"
"okay, hold the phone, what did you say?" older sky asked, giving a very confused expression.
"you, and him" sky replied.
"no, what about the cheating part?"
"you're married and you're cheating on him. and older me, how damned horny were you that you decided to hook up with her?" sky asked.
And hearing that, the older duo burst into laughter,
"what's so funny?" the younger ones asked.
"you misunderstood us. We're married." Older Z said.
"exactly, and you're cheating on your LIFE partners." Sky added looking angry. Younger z, on the other hand, was beginning to get the bigger picture, realization dawning, she said, "no, no, no, no, NO, NO, NO!"
"yes and yes, " older sky said,
"I said you misunderstood, WE are married." Older Z said, gesturing at herself and sky, smirking at the reactions of the younger two.
"YOU, and HIM?" sky asked, confounded.
"well, we fell in love, and there's nothing stronger than love, is there?" he asked.
X_X_X_X_X
As the younger sky and z walked towards their own dorm room, they were both too shaken to speak. They didn't know what to say to the other. They were married to each other twenty years into the future. How'd that happen, they had never even imagined each other like that. Just the simple fact that as they were walking the halls, their older selves were naked with each other, doing the stuff that they had never even imagined for each other. It was just too much to take in!
The older ones had sent them off to their rooms as parents did to their kids when they wanted some 'alone' time.
"Wait a goddamned second!" sky suddenly spoke up, "does it mean that kid in green is my son?" he asked,
"surprised your son isn't that hell bent on doing everything exactly as prescribed in the SPD handbook?" z replied, surprised that her jabs hadn't been affected by this horrifying revelation.
"what is your problem? Why do you ALWAYS have to take cheap shots at me?" sky asked, frustrated.
Z realized how awful it must have sounded from coming from his future wife, "I, I'm sorry, I guess, we never actually recognized each other as human beings."
"I'm kinda sorry too, I guess I also over-reacted. I mean, it IS our habit to make fun of each other."
and the two burst into light laughter, the tension between them broken.
"gum?" she asked offering her a pack of lemon flavored chews.
"seriously? Twenty years into the future and you still have gum?" he joked, then added matter-of-factly, "And wasn't peppermint your favorite flavor?"
"well, they don't have peppermint here. At least they were out of them today." Z replied, then suddenly something odd struck her, "how do you know my favorite is peppermint?" she asked.
"oh please everyone knows." Sky replied.
"oh no they don't. Bridge does because he's a psychic, no one else does." She replied, "wait did he tell you?"
"of course he didn't tell me. Why on earth would he tell me what flavor gum you like?"
"then how do you know?"
"you always have a pair of it in your uniform's breast pocket."
"I didn't know you paid me that much attention." She replied. They had reached their room by then, sky swiped the key and opened the lock.
"I'm a ranger, I'm trained to pay attention." He replied. There was silence for a few moments, which he contemplated to be Z's mind trying to work out a suitable reply.
"hey sky, do you consider us friends?" she suddenly asked.
"what?" whatever he had expected, it wasn't this.
"are we friends, or are we just people who put up with each other because we have to?" she asked, sober.
"of course we're friends." He replied.
"can you keep a secret then?" she asked, and he saw that same uncertainty in her eyes as he had seen when he had inquired about her daughter.
The two were now sitting on the bedspread; there was only one bed in the room, guess a lot of guests didn't come to visit SPD. Or if they did, they were expected to sleep together.
"of course I can keep a secret, you can tell me anything." He replied, putting his hand on her shoulder.
"sky, I don't know why, but I have a feeling you will understand my story. I don't know why, but it is you I want to tell." she said, her voice cracking.
"tell me z, get it out, you will feel better."
"well, don't judge me, but, I was thirteen," she began, her voice a bare whisper, "I lived with my uncle and aunt, my parents had died a while back. They had a son, he was a jerk, but I didn't know what all he could do until I turned thirteen, as you know, girls reach puberty by that age, he started raping me, he used to do that every night, yes, every night." She said, sobbing, sky was speechless, he didn't know Z's life had been like that, he put his hand on her shoulder, and she buried her chest in his chest, trying to push out the horrible memories,
"you don't have to go on z," sky said, in a very gentle and caring voice. But she continued anyway.
"I got pregnant in a few weeks. And my uncle and aunt, they refused to believe that it was their son who had caused it, they called me a whore, a slut, a liar, and a lot of things, and kicked me out of the house, I was still pregnant." She continued sobbing. He gently patted her back, and she took comfort in him.
"there, there, Z, you're a strong girl, don't cry, don't cry," he consoled her, and they sat there for a whole hour, z, wrapped herself around him, sobbing, and him, consoling her. They both went to sleep that night; still holding each other's hands, both felt better that way, they realized that in one night, they had grown so much closer. Maybe the future they had seen hadn't been all that impossible after all.
A/N: there you go! pls review. and also, they are going to fall in love in this story itself. don't worry about that.
