Hi all,

Thank you so much for the great reviews. RedLion2 and MustangAce, you guys are awesome. I really appreciate the time and effort you put into your reviews. Thank you!

There isn't much further to go in this story, I know what is going to happen, I just have to find the time to put it all together in story format. If only there were a few more hours in a day, just a couple :)

Enjoy!

Failte

The ride back to the castle had been quiet and tense. Sky pressed her forehead against the window, closing her eyes and trying to get the image of a smiling Erik with Kendall Lockwood out of her mind. When they arrived back at the castle, she shook her head at Cady, who wanted to talk, and disappeared into her room.

Cady carried her bags to her room, fuming. What is wrong with Erik? She thought as she flung her shopping bags into the corner. Who does he think he is? I know he can be a jerk, but I never thought he could be such an insensitive creep! And Kendall? What the hell is that? She's only seventeen! What is going on in his head?

Her angry pacing was interrupted by a knock on her door. "What!"

The door slid open and Tristan walked in, his eyebrows raised in a look of curious concern, "I take it things didn't go well?"

"That son-of-a-bitch!"

"Cady!" He stopped in his strides across the room. Tristan couldn't remember a time when he had heard her swear so vehemently. "What is going on?"

"Erik! That son-of-a-bitch!"

"Cady, calm down and tell me what happened."

Taking a deep breath, the angry princess turned to face him, her hands on her hips and an angry glare on her face. "Erik is already traipsing around Pollux with another girl! We saw their picture in a magazine."

"Now, calm down, Cady, we don't know the whole story. I seriously doubt that Erik is seeing another girl…"

"They looked pretty cozy."

"I still don't think he…"

"It's Kendall Lockwood, Delora's best friend. They've known each other forever. She is beautiful and sweet and…"

"And she's not Sky." Tristan closed the distance between them and laid his hands on her shoulders. "Let me talk to him. Don't jump to conclusions."

"You look at the picture and tell me not to jump to conclusions."

"How about I talk to him?"

"Only if you tell him he's nothing but a pig."

Tristan smirked and kissed the tip of her nose, "I'll see if the opportunity comes up."

"Don't get cute with me, I'm not in the mood for cute."

He slid his hands down her arms, taking her hands in his, "I can't help it, I'm naturally cute."

The corner of her mouth quirked up, "Stop it. I'm serious, Tristan, I never thought Erik would do this, that he could be so cruel."

"Honey," Tristan pulled her into his arms and rested his chin on the top of her head. "You have to understand that Erik is going through a rough time."

"So is Sky."

"He is trying to come to terms with what happened to him, what he is going to do next, and where his relationship with Sky fits into all this."

"But at the moment he doesn't have a relationship with Sky."

"That's not true."

Cady tilted her head back to look up at him, "She was the one who found the picture and she was pretty upset. If he doesn't fix it now, it really is going to be too late."

Tristan glanced at the clock on her bedside table, "All right, it's not too late on Pollux, I'll call him now."

She lifted herself up on her toes and gave him a quick kiss, "Thanks, hon."

"What do I get if I call him a pig?"

"Um…my undying admiration."

"Yeah, well, we'll have to work on that." He gave her a longer, lingering kiss. "I'll let you know what I find out."

"Thank you, Tristan."

"Any time, Gorgeous." Tristan left Cady to unpack her purchases to go and find a free phone. On his way to Castle Control, he ran into Allura. "Ma'am, could I possibly use the videophone in your office?"

"Oh, of course, Tristan, is everything all right?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm going to call Pollux, see if I can get in touch with Erik."

"Cady told you about the picture, huh?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

Allura hesitated a moment, "Well, I don't agree with anyone getting involved in their business, but then again, I do wish they'd get back together."

"I'm not planning on sticking my nose in anywhere it doesn't belong, I was just going to see what was going on with him."

"Good luck, and let me know if there is anything we can do to help Erik."

"Yes, Ma'am," Tristan nodded to her before continuing his journey through the castle hallways.

Ten minutes later, he sat at Allura's desk and waited for Pollux's castle control to connect him to the small house where Erik and his family lived. He spent the time looking around the Queen's office, Tristan had only ever been in here once before. It was much more feminine than the Commander's office, the walls were painted a muted green with white trim. The bookshelves and desk were all white and shaped with curving lines. Photographs of the original Force were interspersed with pictures of the six Whitaker children at various stages of life. His favorite was one of Cady when she had to have been about six, dressed in her mother's crown and jewelry, her face made up and grinning at the camera.

"Hello?"

Tristan turned his attention back to the videophone screen and smiled at the image of Romelle. "Hi, Ma'am, I was wondering if Erik was around."

Romelle smiled softly, "I'm sorry, Tristan, you just missed him. He went out with a couple of his friends."

"Oh."

"Yes, isn't it great? We're so happy to see him getting out and about more often."

"Yeah, that's great. Could you please ask him to give me a call when he gets back in?"

"Of course, it shouldn't be too late, he has a busy day tomorrow."

"Thank you, Ma'am."

"You tell everyone I said Hi."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Oh, Tristan, you're family now, you can call me Aunt Romelle, like the other children do."

He smiled, "Yes, Ma'am. Uh, thank you, Aunt Romelle."

"I'll talk to you later."

"Good bye." Tristan sat back and watched the screen fade to black. I guess it's good that he's getting out and about, but what is he doing? Is he really done with Sky?

"You know," Gideon said as he lay across the floor of the rec room. "We should go camping. We haven't gone camping in a long time."

"Yeah!" Nicky turned his attention from the dogs where Figment and his puppy, Speck, were tugging on a knotted piece of rope.

Declan's eyes never left the televiewer screen where he was playing a video game, "When do you want to do it?"

"Let's do it this weekend," Gideon rolled onto his side and propped his head up on his hand.

"Wanna go camping?" Tristan asked Cady.

The twins both snorted.

Not lifting her eyes from the magazine on her lap, Cady simply stated, "I don't camp."

"What do you mean you don't camp?" He asked.

She raised her head and looked at him, "Honey, why would I leave my perfectly comfortable bed to sleep on the ground?"

"Spoiled brat," Gideon mumbled.

"Unwashed heathen," Cady shot back.

"This could be one of our team building exercises," Declan said.

"Do you think Brina will want to go camping?" Cady asked.

"She isn't the prissy brat you are," Declan pointed out, ducking just as the throw pillow his sister threw at him sailed past his head.

"Tristan."

He looked up to see Keith standing in the doorway, "Yes, sir?"

"There's a call for you, from Pollux."

Tristan jumped to his feet, "Thank you, sir."

Keith nodded, "You can use my office."

When Tristan sat down in front of the screen, he was surprised to see Erik hatless and lounging comfortably in front of the videophone. "Erik, hi."

The Polluxian Prince smiled, "Hey, Tristan, what's up?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing."

"What do you mean?"

"Cady told me they saw a picture of you in a magazine with some girl."

Erik sat upright, "What?"

"The girls all went out shopping today and Sky was flipping through a magazine and found a picture with you and some girl, Cady said her name was Kendall, I think. And the article said that she was your new love interest."

Erik gripped the arms of his chair and leaned forward, "That's not true! Sky didn't believe it, did she?"

"I think she did. I haven't seen her since she came back."

"I know the media caught us at a game the other night, but we were all there. I went with my parents and sister and my parent's friends, Rankin and Paget, and Kendall, their daughter, and their son, Hobbe, one of my best friends. Kendall's like a little sister to me, there is nothing between us. Sky has to know that."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why does Sky have to know that? You haven't spoken to her in weeks and then she sees a picture of you with some girl, what the hell is she supposed to believe?"

"Tristan, you have to tell her…"

"No, Erik, I don't have to tell her anything. You do. If you want her to know, you tell her."

"I don't think she'll talk to me."

"Have you tried?"

Erik hesitated a moment before shaking his head.

"If I go get her now, will you talk to her?"

"If she'll talk to me."

Tristan nodded, "Don't disconnect. Give me a few minutes to get her."

Erik wiped his moist palms on his jeans and nodded. He was going to speak to Sky. His heart thudded and his hands shook. You moron, he mentally berated himself. It's your own damn fault. You're the one who left Arus, you're the one who pushed her away. I have to make this right by her, but I don't know how. She can't believe there is anything between me and Kendall, she knows Kendall. He pulled his glasses off and pinched the bridge of his nose, a dull ache began to throb behind his eyes.

This was how Sky saw him when she slowly lowered herself into the chair by the videophone. Her first thought was that he looked thin. Thin and tired. "Erik?"

He raised his head and smiled, "Sky." He was genuinely glad to see her and felt his heartbeat race even more at the sight of her. But his smile fell when he saw how miserable she appeared. I did that, he thought. I hurt her.

"Tristan said you wanted to talk to me," she said quietly.

"Sky," he started, not sure where he was going to go next. "Sky, I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"Huh?"

She sighed, "What are you sorry for, Erik?"

"Everything, I guess."

"You guess? You really shouldn't apologize if you don't know what you're apologizing for."

"You're not making this easy, Sky."

She shrugged, "I didn't know I was supposed to."

Suddenly realizing he wasn't wearing his glasses, Erik slipped them on and took a moment to figure out what he wanted to say. "Sky, you have to know that there is nothing between Kendall and me."

"Of course I know that," she snapped.

He raised his eyebrows, "You do?"

"Come on, Erik, this is Kendall we're talking about! She's like a sister to you, there is nothing between you."

"But…Tristan said you were upset…"

"Yeah, I'm upset," Sky's voice trembled as tears filled her eyes. "I heard how you're getting out and doing more stuff. Then I see a picture of you out at a game, smiling having fun. That's when it hit me. You're getting better, you're happy again, you're moving on with your life and I'm not in it. Just last month, I thought we were going to get married, grow old together, now I know you're better off without me."

"No, Sky, no," he leaned closer, wishing he could reach through the screen and touch her, soothe her. "That's not true. You're a very important part of my life, the most important part of my life. I've been having a rough time at it and I went on a five day bender before my father forced me out of it. I am trying to get myself together so that I can beg you to forgive me. I love you, Sky, I love you as much right now as I did last month, as I did last year."

Sky wiped the back of her hands over her cheeks, trying to stem the flow of tears. "Maybe that isn't enough anymore."

"Don't say that."

Any response she may have made was cut off by the sound of the castle alarms going off. She jumped to her feet, "I have to go."

"Sky, I want to talk to you again."

"Later, Erik, I have to go."

"Be careful, Sky." He didn't know if he heard her since the screen went black as he spoke. Erik swore soundly.

"What's going on?" Sky asked as she ran into Castle Control.

"Trespasser," Keith said, reading over a printout just handed to him.

She joined Tristan, Declan, Gideon, Brina and Allura as they stood nearby, waiting for his command.

"We've brought him in, sir," a guard said, hurrying into the room. "He's in the lower dungeons."

Keith nodded and turned to the Force and his wife, "A young man was apprehended in the lake."

"In the lake?" Declan asked.

"We think he was trying to get to Blue."

Tristan furrowed his brow in confusion, "Blue is down so deep, no one could reach her."

"We're thinking he isn't completely sober, Becca has been called in to check on him."

"Maybe I should check on Blue," Tristan suggested.

Keith shook his head, "Not necessary. He didn't get more than a few feet into the water before we grabbed him. We're going to be upping security around the castle, he shouldn't have even gotten that close…"

An explosion sounded outside and had them all running to the main monitor. A shot of the lake showed the water moving turbulently.

"I'm going to check on Blue," Tristan said, turning from the monitor.

Allura grabbed his arm, "No, not yet."

"But…"

"But nothing," Keith said. "No one goes near the lake or Blue until we have the bomb squad in to check and make sure it's safe."

Tristan crossed his arms, a scowl on his face as Keith turned to make the call to the bomb squad stationed out of the police station. Another small explosion set off large ripples in the lake and Blue's pilot swore under his breath.

Allura grabbed her communicator as it went off.

"Mom," Cady sounded worried. "What's going on? Should we go to the caves?"

Allura thought a moment, she didn't want to panic them andshe didn't think going to the caves was necessary. The rec room was on the same floor as Castle Control and in the middle of the castle, that would be safe. "Sweetheart, why don't you gather the children and go to the rec room. As soon as I can, I'll come and fill you in on what is going on."

Cady nodded, "Okay. Is everyone all right? Is there anything I can do?"

Allura smiled, "Everyone is fine and you can just make sure the kids stay together and calm."

"The bomb squad and Paton are on their way," Keith announced. "I am going to separate you guys and have each of you lead a group of guards out on a perimeter sweep. If you find anyone, bring them in alive."

The five Force members saluted and replied in unison, "Yes, sir."