Disclaimer: The usual. Don't own anything you recognize.

BEHIND THE CLOUDS

By Etcetera Kit

Chapter Fifteen: Masquerade III

"What in the name of all that is holy is he doing here?"

"He said he felt well enough to come." There was a pause. "And the show does open in three weeks."

"I don't care! Felix said he had a temperature of a hundred and two this morning!"

"Well – he's here. I don't know what else to tell you."

"How about – Paris, I will tell my roommate he's being crazy and make him go back to bed." There was another pause. "That would have worked just fine!"

Sky took a deep breath. He had forced himself to get out of bed to come to the rehearsal tonight. They were attempting to run the show without stopping and without people calling for their lines. The morning and afternoon had been spent sleeping, the lone exception being when Doctor Felix came by his room to prescribe him some drugs and to make sure he had plenty of liquids. After dinnertime, he had dragged himself through a shower and down to the auditorium. Now, he was listening to Paris chew out Bridge for letting him come to the rehearsal. Of course, she didn't know that he had left while Bridge was still at dinner.

Paris stopped arguing with Bridge. He listened as she came down the center aisle, Bridge running down one of the sides to go backstage in order to change into his rehearsal costume. The rest of the cast was there – and Z was up to speed on her job description, now monitoring them and corralling people as needed.

"Good grief – you look terrible," she commented.

"Thanks," he muttered, his voice still hoarse.

"I should order you to go back to bed," Paris replied in a musing tone of voice. "But since you're insistent upon being a stubborn oaf, you can stay."

Sky didn't reply. Paris was carrying a comforter and a shoulder bag. She draped the comforter over him and he gladly accepted the extra warmth. Sitting in the seat next to him, she began to rummage through her bag, pulling out a thermos. "Tomato soup," she said, handing it to him. "Since I have a feeling all you've had today is juice and water."

"And drugs," he added.

"Of course – the most important thing, how could I forget?"

They fell into a companionable silence. Reading Paris was an impossibility – she almost always masked her emotions and reactions underneath an air of aloofness and indifference. But… he got the feeling that she might feel bad about blackmailing him into being the assistant director. None of the problems between him and Syd were her fault – the blame came down to him and his dishonesty with his girlfriend, but Paris probably didn't see it that way. She probably saw her blackmail as the catalyst that caused everything else. But he didn't know. She kept to herself, always had.

"Look," Paris said, turning towards him. "You don't have to keep helping with the play. I know you're already really busy and don't need this on top of it."

"It's a little late for that," he croaked.

Paris looked disgruntled, before taking a deep breath. "I owe you an apology. I shouldn't have blackmailed you – I should have let you choose whether or not to help with the play." She paused and nodded. "There – I apologized. Spread the word, hell froze over."

"You don't have to apologize. I let myself be blackmailed."

"Hey – I'm baring my soul here and you're trying to take all the blame. Stop it!"

Sky laughed. The situation and conversation was so ridiculous that he couldn't stop himself before the laughs came spilling out. Paris glared at him, but Z came on their walkie-talkies, saying that the cast was warmed up and ready to go. Paris then radioed Ethan and Trent in the booth and they were ready. She gave the order to start the show.

Much later, after the rehearsal had ended, notes had been given, the sets and props had been struck and everyone dispersed, Sky wasn't sure if he could muster up the energy to drag his aching body back to his room. Paris hopped off the stage and sat down in her previous seat next to him.

"You know, Syd is being dumb."

Sky nearly fell over at her statement. The last thing he had expected was for Paris to bring that particular subject up. "She thought I was cheating on her with you," he replied, knowing that the elder Grayson female didn't know that tidbit.

Paris shrugged. "That's not a surprise." She paused. "There was this one absolute idiot that Syd dated her first year here." She shuddered dramatically. "That was the guy I scared off by talking about meter in poetry. He thought it was weapons' code."

"So you left me and Syd alone because I happened to know about poetry meter?"

"Come on, Sky – you're chivalrous." Paris' gaze turned distant. "I didn't have anyone around to tell me what kind of guys to date and what kind not to." She shook her head. "I didn't want Syd making all the same mistakes I did. I knew that you would treat her right – you would take care of her." Her blue-gray gaze met his. "I knew that if she got pregnant or something, you would stand by her – respect her decision, marry her if that what's she wanted. You never thought that you were too important to put before the people you love."

Sky swallowed, not knowing how to respond to that. Paris had never opened up that much to anyone before – but it made him feel almost heroic to know that she felt that way about her little sister's boyfriend.

"White knight up on a horse, saving the princess from the dragon," Paris continued. "You've always reminded me of that. I remember my first year when you caught that girl who was falling off the cargo net because she didn't have enough upper body strength." She paused. "I always kind of hoped that Syd would end up with you."

"What about you?"

"Please," she snorted. "Most of the men here are afraid of me. They think that I'm a crazy, castrating feminist that wants to rid the world of men – just because I think the five ranger colors should be gender-neutral and our uniforms as well."

"But not Trent?"

"No," she agreed, looking almost dreamy. "Not Trent. No one on the A-Squad was ever intimidated by me, especially Trent." She pulled a necklace on a silver chain from underneath her shirt. The small charm on it was the Eiffel Tower. Sky stifled a laugh. "Trent gave it to me," she said with a smile. "He said it was about time someone made stupid puns about my name."

"I think he's right."

"I do too." She stood up. "Are you going to be able to make it back to your room?"

He shrugged. "I'll get there eventually, even if I have to sleep in the hall a couple of hours." Paris stared at him for a minute before laughing. It occurred to Sky that he had never heard her laugh before – she smiled and snickered, but never just laughed. Her laugh was warm and sincere and so like Syd's…

"Night, Sky," she said, leaving the auditorium.

"Night," he echoed.

Something was afoot. Syd could tell from the way that Bridge and Z were sneaking around, always whispering to each other with conspiratorial smiles. Sky was sick – Doctor Felix had said something about the flu. She had only seen him once since Doctor Felix ordered him to bed and he had looked awful – pale with dark circles under his eyes. At first, she had felt the urge to coddle him, make him take his medicine and then the awful truth that they weren't speaking to each other would come crashing down and she would remember that she had been the one to start the whole thing.

Austin just ran around as usual, although he was upset with Paris. Her older sister, despite her previous thoughts, was the only one not sick, upset with someone or sneaking around planning something. She wanted to be around someone who was acting relatively stable and Paris seemed to be the only choice.

The halls to the officer apartments were quiet. On a weekday afternoon, most people had a patrol shift. Paris had the afternoon off – meaning her next commitment was the rehearsal that night. Syd didn't bother to announce herself, just walked into her sister's apartment, into the place where she had spent so much time.

"Hi Paris," she called, walking into the living room. Paris was sitting on the couch, her feet propped up on her coffee table, paperwork scattered around her.

"You're speaking to me?" Paris asked. Syd didn't reply, just came over to the couch and sat down next to her. "Send me a memo or something next time." She paused. "Then again, none of you ever tell me anything. I'm like a mushroom – people keep me in the dark and feed me shit." She nodded and then started to collect the papers. "What's up?"

"I miss Sky," she blurted out.

"Oh my God," Paris muttered. "He's still laid up in bed – you could go feed him his soup and make him take his drugs and—"

"What kind of books have you been reading?" Syd interrupted.

"None – and I don't have to because I can see that is exactly what you want to do, but then you remember that you're not speaking to your boyfriend."

Syd sighed. Paris always had been able to read her too entirely well. "I'm not even sure that he's my boyfriend anymore," she whispered.

"Well, you could always cancel your date with Michael Lynch and then go ask Sky to escort you to the Halloween party. I don't know – start over or something."

She wanted to start over. Everything that had gone wrong in their relationship had been her fault and she knew that she had to be the one to start reconciling. However, she couldn't back out of the date with Michael – she couldn't! He worshipped her – granted in a little boy crush kind of way, not the way that Sky worshipped her. Sky saw her as his equal, but he just as fiercely wanted to protect her. He did love her – she knew that.

"I think you should send him some flowers."

"Me send him flowers?" Syd gaped at her sister.

"Sure. Nothing fancy – just like a pink carnation and a blue one."

"What?"

"Boys like getting presents just as much as girls – they just don't admit to it because it might impugn on their masculinity." Paris paused. "You see, boys are genetically predisposed to being stupid. They can't admit to themselves that they might want the same things that girls want, so they hide it by being dumb."

Oh Lord – there went another one of Paris' feminist theories. Syd wasn't entirely sure what she was getting at, but she stood up, putting all the papers in a neat stack and picked up her wallet from where it had been sitting on the table.

"Let's go."

"Where?"

"To the flower shop."

Syd didn't argue, simply because she wasn't sure what she was arguing against. She followed Paris out of her apartment and out of the SPD building. The afternoon was cool, but not entirely uncomfortable yet. Although that meant that Sky probably had the heater in his room going full blast. He was probably freezing right now. She let out a long breath. When they spent the night together, he was never cold. There had been times when he curled up against her, letting her hold him, run her fingers through his hair and listen to his even breathing as he fell into a peaceful sleep.

She and Paris walked along in a comfortable silence. There never seemed to be a need to fill silence with idle chatter around her sister. Paris let people with their thoughts and didn't have a problem letting life just be. It had been a long time since the pair of them had spent much time together. Before, when they had both been cadets, when Cruger had still be in charge and not in jail, they had spent all their free time together, looking at fashion magazines, talking about how ugly the stars looked and drooling over Bronley Hale.

"You know, you're coming to the Bronley Hale concert with me."

Syd smiled. "I think I knew that. Who else is coming?"

"I was thinking Z. Girl's night out – might be fun."

"Works for me."

There was a silence. "Remind me to show you the blackmail pictures of Sky."

"Blackmail pictures?" she sputtered.

Paris smiled, giving her a sidelong glance. "Don't look so shocked. He was at my sixteenth birthday. All I basically have are pictures of him and Dru with the rest of the group. Nothing incriminating."

Syd gaped at her for a minute before laughing. "That's how you got him to be the assistant director? You blackmailed him? And he fell for it?"

"Hook, line and sinker," she replied. "I'm not sure what he thought was in those pictures since I wasn't friends with him and wouldn't have gone to any of the same after-party things that he and his bunch did."

"God, he's gullible," Syd said, shaking her head.

"He's just paranoid about his rep." Paris gestured to the flower shop. "Here we are."

Fresh flowers were in buckets and stands outside the store and an older woman was sitting in a lawn chair, smiling at them as they approached. Syd stared at the endless lines of flowers – how did guys manage to pick out flowers for their girlfriends? Sky had sent her flowers on a few occasions – her birthday, for instance. The woman who ran this place must be willing to help these boys out.

She picked up a light pink carnation and another that was baby blue. As she paid, the woman in the lawn chair gave her a short length of white ribbon to tie them together with. She and Paris were silent as they made their way back to the academy. She said goodbye to her sister as Paris headed back for her apartment and her paperwork and Syd made towards the dorms. No one was around the dorms on a weekday afternoon – the cadets were still in class and the B-Squad generally had training or patrol shifts. She knew that Z and Austin were on duty – she couldn't remember if Bridge was or not. He might have been filling in for Sky.

The door to Sky and Bridge's room was open when she came onto the boys' floor. She peered in, hoping that Sky was asleep. He was – curled up in a ball under his comforter and two other blankets, facing the wall and shaking, even in his sleep.

Bridge was sitting at his desk and grinned as she came in. She motioned for him to stay silent and approached Sky's bed. He didn't stir. She placed the flowers on the side of his pillow he wasn't using. Reaching out, she touched his forehead. He felt warm – not hot, like he might have yesterday. She straightened his blankets, tucking him in properly. Leaning over, she placed a gentle kiss to his forehead before retreating from the room.

They needed to talk – she just didn't know when.

Sky jerked awake. Sitting up, he realized that he was alone in the room. Bridge must have gone on his patrol shift. Outside, the sun was setting. He pushed his covers off his chest and rubbed his eyes. It was then he noticed something on his pillow. He reached down and picked up the two flowers – two carnations, one pink and one blue. What?

He held the two flowers loosely, twirling the stems between his fingers. There was only one person who would leave him flowers – and flowers in that particular color scheme. Syd… He wanted to find her and kiss her senseless – not caring that they needed to talk. He shivered involuntarily. As much as he hated to admit to it, he was lonely. Lately, it had felt like he was an outsider looking in and not being able to participate in anything that his friends did.

His stomach rumbled. He needed to get dressed – if he hurried, he could still make the end of dinner in the cafeteria. Tomorrow he would be back on a normal schedule. Felix had told him to take today off simply because he hadn't eaten anything the day before and the doctor didn't think going on a patrol was a good idea on an empty stomach. He glanced down at the flowers… and he suddenly didn't want to eat.

"I love you so much, Syd," he whispered. Nothing in life was perfect – their relationship would never be perfect, but he ached to have her in his arms, to whisper about how beautiful she was… he knew exactly what to do to make her scream in ecstasy. He could see her, hair spread out on the pillow and cheeks flushed from their activities, her nails scrabbling at his back when he would just…

He let the thought trail off before he could finish it.

Someone knocked on the door.

"Come in!" he called and the doors slid open to reveal Conner. He was the absolute last person Sky was expecting to be here.

"Hey," Conner said, stepping into the room. "I just came by the see if you're all right."

Sky snorted. "Depends on your definition."

"Anything you want to talk about?"

"No."

Conner just shook his head and took a seat on the edge of his bed. Sky pulled his legs towards his chest, making room. He wasn't going to get rid of Conner anytime soon. It hadn't been all that long ago that he answered directly to Conner, that he had to learn to get along with and work with the man.

"Well," Conner started. "Everyone knows that you and Syd are having problems."

"As if that could remain a secret around here."

"You never know." Conner gave him a searching look. "And I know that that isn't the entire reason you've been upset."

Sky moved his hands behind his neck, locking his fingers and resting his elbows on his knees. "I don't want to lose her," he whispered.

"What about the flowers?" Conner asked, motioning to the carnations that were now resting in his lap. Sky didn't reply. "You just have to trust that things will work out. I had some pretty low times, but I got through them – I'm here."

"I just want to be left alone," Sky said softly. "So much has happened too fast."

"It will work out," Conner repeated. "Faith," he added softly, before he stood up and went to the door. Once there, he paused and turned back. "And Sky, just for the record, you could do a whole hell of a lot worse than Syd – a whole lot worse."

With that, he was gone and Sky was left puzzling over what he meant.

"Are you busy?"

Paris looked up from her work in the command center. It was late – she was the only one there and her evening shift didn't end until eleven. Austin was standing near her around the main console, looking a little uncomfortable. She shook her head, knowing what her twin wanted this time around. Austin might have been the elder – by a whole two minutes – but there were times she felt like she was so much older than him. He spent so much time protecting people and making people get along that he was walked over more often than not.

"Well, I've got A-Squad medic reports due tomorrow morning, some operating reports that someone didn't do correctly and I've got to profile criminals." She met his gaze and shrugged. "So, I'm not really busy, no."

"I just wanted to apologize for getting in your face about Trent."

"It's all right – you're a boy. You're genetically predisposed to stupidity. It comes from not having the right reproductive organs."

"I don't know," Austin said, sitting down next to her. "It's just that he's almost old enough to be your father – our father." He paused. "Are you sure you know what you're getting into?"

Paris met his gaze. "I've never been more sure of anything in my life."

That much was true. She hadn't been this sure about something in a long time. Trent, in the short time they had been together, had become a stabilizing, anchoring force. He kept her grounded, while she forced him to get out and explore. Of course, their sex life was an added bonus – and the fact that Trent listened to her, didn't tune her out like most.

What no one seemed to realize was that she had finally met her match. Outwardly, Trent and she were nothing alike, but Trent was just as outspoken, wild, active… he just expressed it through his comics and art instead of charging around SPD threatening Doctor Oliver with a boycott or a protest about something. He was subtle, whereas she was loud and refused to be silenced once she made her opinion known.

"Have you told Mom and Dad?" Austin asked.

"Oh – they've known since it began."

To Be Continued...

Author's Note: I'm updating like a little fiend this week! (Work has died down with the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday... although it will be back in full force when I get back here.) And just for my own curiosity, has everyone who is reading this piece read Kings and Vagabonds? I'm assuming so, but I don't remember seeing a couple of you on those review boards. Oh well. Unimportant. With that said, reviewer responses:

alexis - My dear, it never fails, your reviews make me laugh. We might share a brain. The storyline with him getting sick was in place a long time ago though. Glad you're still enjoying!

BloomingViolets - Z is a sneaky one, isn't she? I'm glad these chapters make your day. (It makes my day when people review!) I guess Syd kind of got to take care of Sky in this chapter... glad you're liking it!

Funky In Fishnet - I'm glad you liked the costume shop and Rain. She came in and it was one of those times where the character starts to speak for you and I left her with the indirect connection to Sky. Thanks!

garnetred - Thanks! Yup, he's got the flu (or something flu-like at any rate). And why would he miss the Halloween party? He already bought a kick-ass costume, so of course he's going!

Gear's Girl - Indeed, poor Sky!

Giannola - You'll see how the whole engagement ring thing (that rhymes) resolves itself. Definitely nothing worse than the flu...

Moi - Nothing too bad for Sky, I promise. Thanks!

Pink-Green-White-4ever - When am I going to get Sky and Syd back together? Patience... Chris Violette in tights - enough said! I'm glad you're liking this piece! (I think I've read some of your work - and I probably didn't review because I tend to read fan fic in between doing a million and one things for school.)

Samurai-Nashie - Theoretical film essay? That sounds slightly terrifying. As for Jack, he's either in jail still or back out on the streets (you can take your pick.) He doesn't have genetic powers in this AU - long story. There actually was an abandoned storyline to this piece where Jack makes a return appearance and stirs up trouble for Z. But, sadly, it got sacked.

sky's girl forever - Sky does live kind of a Murphy's Law life in this AU, doesn't he? That's not entirely intentional. I guess he's going to have a Grumpy Bear outlook with the whole, "Why is it always me?"

the real vampire - Thanks! Yeah - you do need to watch out for that coffee! (I know better than to drink coffee late at night, but I do it anyways.)

Weesta - Thanks! Bridge and Z have a plan... we shall see if it's any good. lol As for Sky, besides his Murphy's Law existence, he's one of those people that is just naturally always cold. There was actually a snow scene that got removed from the final version where the others chuck snowballs at Sky's window. However, sadly, all the fun stuff I wanted in this piece didn't make it.