TITLE: Getting Back On Track
AUTHOR: Carly
RATING: G
FEEDBACK: Is encouraged and welcomed!
DISCLAIMER: These characters don't belong to me sadly.
SUMMARY: Sky just wants the old Stingray back so he's happy again.
PAIRING/CHARACTERS: Sky, Stingray and brief appearances by Serena, Izzy and Sindi.
YEAR: 2004
NOTES: My new ship, hehe. I just had the urge to write Stingray/Sky stuff and this is what I came up with! I hope you all enjoy it.
UPDATED NOTES: I like to pair people together who aren't really supposed to be paired together on the show – Sky/Stingray is one of them. I think they'd be cute together though!
DATE: 7-10th September 2004
- - - -
"How about you teach me one of those ollie things on your skateboard?"
"Nah."
"Cart-wheeling down the hill at the park then?"
"I don't really feel like it."
"Dustbin diving?"
"You can if you want."
"Stingray! Work with me here!"
Sky gave her friend's legs an exasperated nudge. She had been sitting on the coffee table in front of him for the past ten minutes trying to get him out of the zombie-like trance he was in. Ever since he had begun taking the medication for his supposed ADHD he had become a totally different person.
She took the magazine he was pretending to read out of his hands and tossed it aside. "You've gotta do something other than sit and mope about the house all day. Why don't we go down to the Coffee Shop and grab a milkshake?"
He slowly mulled this over.
Sky glared at him. "If you tell me 'no' one more time I swear I will kick you in the shin."
Stingray managed a tiny smile. "Alright, we'll go."
They stood up and walked towards the front door.
"Ladies first," he said, gesturing.
"Thanks."
"No need to thank me, I'm just covering my tracks. Wouldn't want that violent streak to flare up again because I forgot my manners…"
She shot him an indignant look but laughed all the same. Anything resembling humour from him these days was a bonus.
- - - -
The two of them sat at a table in her granddad's shop sipping their drinks. Sky noticed Stingray staring into space. She sighed and looked around, spying Izzy at a nearby table cleaning up.
"Watch this," she said, grinning conspiratorially. "Ah, excuse me? Waitress?"
Izzy looked up and glowered at her. "What?"
"Now, now, that's no way to speak to a paying customer."
"I've got no time for your childish games, Sky. I know you didn't actually do much when you worked here, so you may not be able to tell I'm kind of busy."
Izzy wiped down the rest of the table and flitted past them.
"All I wanted to say was that I think you're doing a great job today." Sky held up her glass, smiling sweetly. "This chocolate milkshake is gold medal material, Izz."
She stopped in her tracks narrowing her eyes at Sky. "Excuse me?"
"I said you're doing a stellar job there. Good on you!"
"That's it! Whatever little scheme you're up to just quit while you're ahead, okay! Just run along and play in an op shop or wherever it is you loiter and leave me alone!"
With her voice getting alarmingly high by the end of her tirade, Izzy stormed off into the kitchen leaving Sky chuckling to herself. "Ah, the 'do nothing and watch them crack' plan. Works a treat every time."
She glanced over at Stingray expecting him to be showing some form of amusement but he could only muster a smile.
"Yeah, you got her a good one," he replied weakly.
She rolled her eyes. "A good one? That's it? That was some first class mind-messing there!"
"Sorry. Um… it was a spiggin good one?" he attempted halfheartedly.
"How about next time she comes out you…" but she trailed off when she noticed him looking at something behind her. Sky shifted around in her chair and saw her cousin at the door, debating whether or not to come over.
"Hey Serena," Sky called out, motioning her to them.
Serena uncomfortably walked towards their table but didn't sit down. "Hey Sky… Stingray."
"Hi Serena," he replied, sitting up a little straighter in his chair. "You wanna sit with us?"
"Uh… I better not. I'm supposed to be meeting mum over at the salon in a couple of minutes."
"Oh."
"Yeah, I've got to get something done to this mess," she said, tugging at curl of her hair.
"I think it looks nice like that," he said earnestly.
Serena blushed slightly. "Thanks. Um, I should get going. I just came in here to grab some drinks. Mum'll be waiting for me."
She gave them a short wave. They watched as she went to the fridge, paid for the drinks and left. Sky looked sadly at Stingray who was still staring at the door.
"Why'd she break up with me, Sky?" he asked in a quiet tone. "Am I that much of a freak now?"
She gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. "You're not a freak, don't let me hear you say that. I think she just didn't know how to handle this new Stingray that's appeared. He's just a bit more tranquil than the one we're all used to."
"Well that other guy was a no-hope loser who lost a baby and always acted like a hockey puck," he frowned. "At least this way everybody is safe."
"Stingray, you've got to put yourself first and stop worrying about what other people think."
"Easy for you to say, I don't see you putting lives in danger."
"It was a mistake, a silly mistake! Everyone makes them…"
"No!" he replied in a strangled voice, cutting her off. "Only stupid losers make ones that big, but I'm not a loser now, I'm normal. I just want to be normal, why can't you accept that?"
He got up and fled outside.
"Stinger! Stingray!" She got up and bolted after him.
- - - -
Sky followed him all the way to Lassiter's lake. He sat down on the walkway near the water and gazed vacantly in front of him, dangling his legs over the side. She watched him for a few minutes then quietly walked over and sat down beside him.
"Do you miss it sometimes?" she asked gently, breaking the silence.
"Miss what? Miss running around like a lunatic?"
"No. Don't you miss being you. I know the old Stingray's in there somewhere just bursting to get out and have some fun."
He glanced sideways at her. "I still have fun."
"Yeah… right," she scoffed. "Did I or did I not find you reading one of Mrs. Kennedy's university text books the other day instead of joining in on the cricket match out on the street?"
"So?"
"So, the pre-medication Stingray would have been using the book as a cricket bat while riding the wicket stumps around like a horse."
"That's exactly why I'm taking the pills, Sky. To not act like a Clinton. To be normal."
Sky gave him a fixated stare. "And what is normal? Hmm? You know what normal is to granddad? Talking casseroles around to the neighbours even though we're no longer living in the 1950s! Normal to Mrs. K is dating an ex-priest – and she was the one to earn him that ex title! Normal to psychotic Izzy is pretending that you're 26 when you're really 30! Now there's a person who needs to be medicated."
Sky was happy to see a faint hint of a smile flicker over Stingray's face.
"Normal is what you make of it," she continued. "Who's to say we're all supposed to live by the same rulebook anyway? If we all conformed to society's expectations of normal it'd be pretty depressing."
They went back into a quiet lull for a while just watching people go by.
"Do you think I should go off the medication?" Stingray looked at her questioningly.
"You already know what I think, Stinger. There's something you should question though, and it's that you might not even have ADHD in the first place. You could be doping yourself up for nothing."
Something sparked in his eyes and he stood up, nodding his head firmly. "Right. It's decided then."
"And…"
"And," he repeated, offering her a hand to help her up. "I'm going to be a zombie no more."
Sky took his hand while she lifted herself up and grinned at him. "That is the most fantastic news I've heard all day." She gave him a playful punch on the arm and they strolled away from the lake and on to the stony pathway.
"I better tell Suse when we get back, she'll want to know."
"Good idea."
Sky was about to say something else when she noticed that he'd stopped in his tracks.
"What?" she said, following his gaze until her eyes rested upon what he was looking at. Serena was sitting on one of the park benches with a guy from their English class. She was laughing at something he had just said and they were holding hands.
"I guess she's not at the salon then," Stingray said in an unreadable voice.
Sky looked forlornly from her cousin to her friend. "I don't think it's anything serious," she replied, trying to sound encouraging. "I'm sure she's just…"
"I don't care who she's with, why should I? We broke up and that's what people do, they move on. Serena can do what she likes."
He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked off in the other direction.
Sky exhaled wearily and gave another glance over at Serena, who was oblivious to them. 'You're my family and I love you', she thought. 'But sometimes I just don't understand you Serena'. She shook her head and hurried along to catch up with Stingray.
- - - -
They didn't end up going to Susan's place like she thought though. Rather, she ended up following him all the way to her granddad's allotment.
"Stingray?" she called out hesitatingly.
He didn't answer her. Sky watched as he went and unlocked the tool shed with his key and came back out with a pitchfork. He started slowly scraping away at the mounds of dirt in one of the garden beds. Meticulously at first but then his demeanor changed. He started to hammer the pitchfork into the ground making dirt and stray pebbles fly up everywhere.
"Hey! What are you doing?" she cried out.
Stingray still wouldn't speak to her though and kept on swinging violently at the ground. Sky was just about to move towards him when he dropped the pitchfork and yelled out in pain, clutching his right eye.
Sky looked horrified as she ran to see if he was alright. 'One of the pebbles must have flown up and hit him', she thought in a panic. She reached his side and grabbed his arms so she could drag them down and have a look at how serious his injury was. He was being stubborn though and wouldn't budge.
"Stingray! Let me look at your eye, you might have done some real damage to it!"
"Leave me alone, Sky!" he shouted. "It's just another stupid thing to add to my spiggin idiot list. I don't give a foccacia about it and you shouldn't either."
She continued to struggle with him. "No, I'm sick of you wallowing in self-pity! You're a good person, Stingray, and you've got a lot of people who care about you and don't think you're an idiot at all – so just let me see your damn eye already!"
He stopped fidgeting around and looked at her, slowly lowering his hands in the process. Sky barely had time to wince at the sight of the blood trickling down his face before Stingray had stepped forward, closing the gap between them, and kissed her.
It took Sky a couple of seconds to register what was happening before she could react in surprise, placing her hands gently on her friend's chest to prise him off..
"Stinger, what are you…"
"I… I'm…" he stammered, stepping back and tripping over the pitchfork he dropped before.
Sky went to help him but he quickly clambered to his feet and shook his head in disbelief.
"I'm such a hockey puck! A spiggin, Clinton of a hockey puck!" He looked at her still shaking his head. "Sky, I'm sorry. Please don't hate me."
"Why would I… Stingray!"
She yelled out after him as he took off. Sky put her head in her hands and groaned. Running and chasing seemed to be a theme with them today. She picked up the discarded gardening tool and walked to the shed to put it away, deciding to let Stingray be for the time being so he could sort some things out in his head. She'd go and check up on him later and hopefully talk about what just happened there.
- - - -
That evening, Sky made her way to Number 28 and knocked on the door. Sindi answered and looked relieved when she saw who it was.
"Oh thank God it's you, Sky. Stingray's been holed away in his room for hours and he won't talk to anyone. Maybe you can try and see what's wrong?"
Sky stepped inside looking worried. "How's his eye?"
"How did you know about that?"
"I was there when he did it to himself. Is it really bad?"
"No, whatever it was hit him just above his eyelid," she replied. "Karl was here to 'talking' to Susan about the divorce, being a pain in the…"
She stopped as Sky raised her eyebrows in interest.
"Ahh… let's pretend I didn't say that! Anyway, Stingray burst in looking like a horror movie reject, and Karl took one look at him and went to his car to get his medical kit and fixed him up with a couple of stitches." She sat down at the kitchen table. "Ever since then he's been more sullen than usual, and that's saying something given how quiet he's been lately."
"I think I have a pretty good idea what's wrong," she sighed. "Do you mind if I go through?"
"Be my guest."
Sky smiled at Sindi and left her in the dining area, making her way down the hall to Stingray's room. She rapped lightly on the door.
"Stinger, it's me. Can I come in?"
No answer.
"Stingray?" She knocked again, louder this time. "Okay, I'm coming in whether you like it or not, we need to talk."
She gave him a couple more seconds just in case and then turned the doorknob.
He was sitting on the floor in the middle of what looked like a magazine explosion. Bits of ripped pages were everywhere. Sky went over and shifted some paper away with her foot before sitting down in front of him. He wouldn't look at her.
"It's a good thing you didn't hurt your eye, or else you could have been wearing a snazzy pirate eye patch just like Toadie did," she started lightheartedly.
"Why are you here?" he mumbled. "I wouldn't want to see me in a million years if I were you."
"Nice try buddy but you don't get rid of me that easily!" She leant forward. "You can look at me you know, there's nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about, believe me."
He lifted his head up and looked at her, still slightly uncomfortable. "You don't hate me for kissing you? I didn't mean to do it Sky, not that you're not babealicious or anything, but I just felt like such a loser after seeing Serena with that poser and then you said all that nice stuff to me, and, well…"
Sky broke into a smile and laughed at him. "It's okay, I get it. And I wouldn't be a good mate if I shut you out now, would I?"
Stingray gave her a grin. "Thanks, Sky."
"My pleasure."
His grin slightly faded though as a thought struck him. "You… you aren't gonna tell Boyd are you? Cause he's pretty buff these days and I'm 95 sure he could flatten me like an ant if he wanted to…"
"Tell him about what?" she winked at him.
Sky picked up some of the paper lying next to her and let it float down to the ground again from her hand like confetti. "So what's all the mess about? Did you have a run in with a paper shredder?"
He stretched his hand under the bed and dragged out a large bit of cardboard. "Not quite. I was feeling really bad about before so I made an apology present for you." He turned it around to reveal a collage of coloured magazine paper with a Superman S in the middle.
Stingray handed it to her. "The S stands for Sky. You've done a pretty cool job of helping me out lately to not be such a hufta… and I just wanted to say thanks."
Sky let her eyes roam over her present, her face beaming with happiness. She got on her knees and knelt forward to hug him. "I love it! Thank you."
He blushed as he hugged her back but looked pleased all the same. She knelt back then slid around to sit next to him, still looking at her picture.
"So what do you want to do tomorrow?" he asked after a while.
"Hmmm. I don't know."
"Bodysurf in Lassiter's lake?"
"Uh… how about no!"
"Throw water bombs at Serena's new hockey puck friend?"
Sky laughed.
"Hang out in the Coffee Shop and bug the hell out of Izzy?"
"Well…"
"If you say no I'm going to have to kick you in the shin," he said in mock-seriousness.
She shook her head in amusement and elbowed him. He pretended to look offended.
'Things are definitely getting back on track,' she thought happily.
The End