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

BEHIND THE CLOUDS

By Etcetera Kit

Chapter Seventeen: Show Business I

Year 2021 - November

Bridge followed Sky into the small house, taking in the familiar sights. He had considered Eric Myers' house home for so many years… Granted, his parents now had a house in Newtech so that was 'home', but nothing could take away the place he had looked forward to coming to since enrolling at the academy. The house was quiet – Eric and Taylor would still be at work.

In two nights, it was opening night for the show – the rehearsal for cast and crew was later that night and Bridge knew that Paris was already in the auditorium with Ethan and Trent, doing last minute checks on anything she could think of. Sky had said he was going home for an hour or so that afternoon to get a few things – and had offered to let Bridge tag along. He had agreed and they made the three-minute drive to Sky's childhood home.

"Feel free to raid the fridge or something," Sky said. "I won't be long."

With that, Sky disappeared into his bedroom. Bridge hummed to himself as he wandered into the kitchen and inspected the contents of the refrigerator. If there was one thing he had learned about Sky's house, it was that there were always sandwich fixings available. He quickly made a sandwich and sat down at the table to eat.

The front door opened and Bridge twisted around to see Taylor walking in. "You came over here to raid the fridge?" she asked. He nodded. She rolled her eyes and then smiled. "Hi Bridge," she added, coming into the kitchen and pulling a pitcher of iced tea from the fridge.

"Hi Taylor," he responded.

"You two are incorrigible," Taylor said, sitting down across from him. "You come over here and eat all the food in an afternoon."

"You like having us around and you know it."

"When you're right, you're right." Her blue eyes grew distant, her hands idly toying with her glass. "You know, when Sky was little, people used to think he was my son. I'd take him somewhere and people would say, 'oh, your son looks just like you!'" She shook her head. "People thought the same thing about you."

"Really?" Bridge knew that he had lived with Sky and his father when he had been three, but didn't know the details of the stay.

"It was the eyes," she replied. "People would say that you had my eyes." She smiled wistfully. "Eric would take you two places and people would give him weird looks – he used to say that he was babysitting so that no one would whisper."

Bridge smiled. "Was it weird having us both around?"

"When you were little? No… it was natural." She gave him an appraising look. "And now that I think about it, it was oh-so obvious what your powers were."

"Yeah?"

"Uh-huh. You had these pajamas with like turtles or something on them. The bottoms were footy. The top was too big and you would pull the sleeves over your hands and walk about like that for hours – try to pick things up and do things normally with your hands in the sleeves." She gave him a genuine full smile. "You guys were so adorable."

"You should tell my mom these things," he said softly. "She'd want to know."

"I don't doubt that," Taylor replied. "You never had things easy when you were little – and God knows we wanted to keep you. But no… they came and took you away." She paused. "You knew that we wanted you to stay – and I think that's why you were inconsolable when you were taken from us."

Bridge gazed at her, taking in the memories and the pain there. Eric, Taylor and Sky had always considered themselves a family – even though Eric and Taylor weren't married and she had no legal rights over Sky… Once he came home, so to speak, at age fifteen, they had adopted him back into the family. What would it have been like to actually grow up as Eric's son and Sky's brother? Better than what his childhood turned out to be…

"I'm glad you have your family back, Bridge," Taylor said softly. "That was the one thing you were always missing. But… if you ever need anything, you know where to find me."

"Thanks," he replied softly.

She reached out and took his hand, squeezing it gently. He smiled, feeling the love and reassurance washing off of her. He knew that she cared about him – and always had. When he finally was placed with his adopted parents, he knew that she had been heartbroken, having wanted him to stay.

"And you and Z be careful," she added. "I don't want grandchildren right now."

Bridge laughed. Things around here tended to circle around to a sex talk sooner or later… "We are careful," he replied with a smile.

"Good," she replied with a smile. "There're times I swear you have more sense than Sky." She was grinning.

"Sky has a bigger sense of duty," he said. "He doesn't always see the big picture." He shrugged. "I just forget his work schedule – and he's walked in on me and Z before."

Taylor laughed. "Since he's doing the same thing with his girlfriend, I don't think he's going to have a huge problem."

"Well, not a huge problem…"

"What are you looking for?"

Sky paused from his search and turned to see his father standing in the door to his room. In the background, he could hear Taylor and Bridge talking… ironically enough, this was his family, the people he considered his family…

"My journals from when I was first at SPD," he replied, turning back to his closet and reaching up for another shoebox.

"Why?"

"Because I honestly don't remember meeting Syd. I remember meeting Bridge – move-in day that year, but Syd… it's like she just appeared."

He pulled the shoebox down and set it on his bed, rifling through the filled-up notebooks and mementos stuffed in it. Pulling out a worn spiral, he flipped it open to the first page and realized that it was from his second year at the academy – the year of Paris' infamous birthday party. He could barely read his own handwriting, but knew that he wouldn't have met Syd until the next year.

"Well, I found some stuff you might be interested in."

Sky looked up at his father. "Really?"

Eric nodded and moved into the room, holding out a handful of pictures. Sky took them, sitting down on his bed. They were old pictures – the first one in the stack was from his sixth birthday party. He was seated in front of his cake, looking embarrassed at all the attention, but pleased. A little girl with brown pigtails was standing on the chair next to him, wearing a lavender dress. In the picture, she was pressing a kiss to his cheek and he had his nose wrinkled ever so slightly in disgust.

"Who is that?" he asked.

His father sat down next to him. "That's Z."

"Z?"

"Yeah – she stayed with us for about two weeks when she was three. Cole and Alyssa were trying to hide her, so I took her in." He paused, smiling. "Back then, she was going to marry you and insisted on wearing that dress to your party."

"What?" he asked with a laugh.

"Said it herself."

He looked at the next picture. He recognized himself – wearing shorts with a Superman shirt and a blanket tied around his neck as a cape. He had his hands on his hips, chest thrown out in his best superhero pose – and he couldn't have been more than six. There was another kid in the picture – much younger at about three. He was wearing pajamas that were white with green turtles on them. Like Sky, he had a blanket tied around his neck but also had goggles, a stuffed dinosaur and a dinosaur flashlight… Olive? Bridge?

"Is that me and Bridge?" he asked.

"Sure is – you were Batman and told Bridge that he had to be Robin because he was younger." Eric's eyes held a nostalgic look.

"Did he have something to say about that?"

"No – he just wanted a cape."

Sky rifled through the rest of the pictures. There was one more from his sixth birthday that had Z in it. The others were of him and Bridge – at six and three. They were various shots of the pair of them running around the house, sitting in the armchair together, holding baskets for an Easter egg hunt, dressed up to go to church, pajama-clad and on the couch with a bowl of popcorn between them and even one of them inside a fort they had constructed out of couch cushions and sheets. He smiled in spite of himself, shards of memories coming back to him. The last pictures were of the four of them at the beach – Eric, Taylor, himself and Bridge. The final snapshot was of Taylor and Bridge – Taylor was wearing sunglasses, her blonde hair windblown and carrying Bridge, who was dead asleep on her shoulder and sucking his thumb.

"God, we were little hellions," he muttered.

Eric shook his head. "Not really. You guys were good boys – the problems you both had early on were understandable." He paused. "And you two have grown up into good men. I don't think I could have asked for anything more."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. I know that I'm never going to have children of my own – you two are it and I have been privileged to have been allowed to raise you."

"Dad…" he started, trailing off, not sure how to express anything he felt.

"Look, Sky, I have always been proud of you and I always will be. Do not ever think anything else, all right?"

He nodded, emotion clogging his throat.

Eric listened to Taylor's distant laughter for a moment. "I think we should go in there and rescue Bridge from Taylor." He paused, shaking his head.

"Come on, Dad," Sky said with a grin. "He's her baby."

"Baby or not, I wouldn't subject anyone to that kind of reminiscing."

Paris' apartment was brimming with people – family. Syd let out a long breath, curled up on one corner of the couch. Paris and her father were sitting at the small kitchen table, working on a crossword puzzle. To what purpose, she would never know. Austin was on patrol and her mother was down in the infirmary, taking care of Conner and his perpetually messed up ankle. Opening night was in two nights' time… Uncle Ryan and Granpa Mitchell would be in town Friday night for that show…

Reaching into the pocket of her uniform, she pulled out a worn piece of paper. It was crinkled and had been folded and refolded so many times that holes were appearing on the seams and a strong breeze would have torn the paper asunder. The plain piece of notebook paper held the poem Sky had written so long ago – the poem Paris wanted him to write before she would let him date Syd. This was the final draft – the clean copy that Sky had given her. The title was simply 'Unbelieving'. Underneath it, he had written 'by Schuyler Tate' followed with 'for Sydney.' It did seem like it had been so long ago he was Sky Tate… now he was Schuyler Alan Collins, the son of a billionaire.

The same had happened with her. Not too long ago she had been Sydney Drew, the spoiled daughter of millionaires, the SPD princess. Now she was Sydney Kendrix Grayson, the daughter of two former rangers and heir to that legacy. She smiled to herself – she had wondered about her middle name as a child, and her mother had explained it – her middle name was the name of the Pink Galaxy Ranger, the one that the Lightspeed Rangers met and fought alongside. Kendrix Morgan, the woman who shared Syd's middle name, was Bridge's aunt by marriage. It truly was a small world.

She focused on the piece of paper, taking in the familiar words, words she knew by heart. Their cadence was music… She knew that Sky had worked relentlessly on this poem, wanting to pass the 'test' Paris had set forth and wanting to express his feelings to her. He always had had trouble resisting when someone set a challenge before him… he wanted to prove that he was the best.

Smiling and refolding the paper, she thought to their plans. Most of the family members were coming to the Friday and Saturday night shows. Thursday – opening night – was mostly reserved for other SPD personnel and their Sunday matinee was catering much more for the community. Sky's dad and Taylor were going to be there all four nights. Her parents were there for Thursday and Friday with her uncle and grandfather joining them for the latter. Z's parents were getting into town Thursday along with Wes and Jen. Bridge's parents were coming Thursday and more family members were joining them later in the weekend.

Overall, it was going to be chaotic.

She and Sky still hadn't talked. Oh – they had made an unspoken compromise of being friendly and professional around each other, but she missed his little gestures of affection. During long shifts in the command center, when nothing was happening, he would move behind her and rub her back. On patrol, when they took the Jeep, she would rest her hand on his thigh and he would steal kisses… absolutely, unequivocally non-regulation, but they did it anyways. She missed his presence, his kisses, his lovemaking, his absolute passion for SPD tempered with his absolute passion for her… all the things that made him Sky.

"Teacher of Luke," her father was saying. "Saint Luke?"

"Yoda," Paris replied.

"No," their father scoffed. "In a crossword?"

There was some silence and shuffling.

"You were right – that's impressive."

Syd stifled her snickers into the couch. "You stop cackling!" Paris called. "Are you sure she's related to us?" she asked their father.

Carter looked bemused, pulling his reading glasses off. "I'm sure," he replied. "Although there's times I'm not entirely sure about you…"

Paris gave him a bored glare.

"I'm kidding," he said with a smile.

"Dad," Syd said, sitting up so she had an unobstructed view of Paris and her father. There was one question she had wanted to ask and now was as good a time as any. "How did you know that Mom was the one?"

"The one I was going to marry?" She nodded. Carter looked thoughtful. "I think one morning I just woke up and knew it…" He paused and gave Paris an appraising look. "And that's part of the reason Dana was pregnant with you two before we got married."

"Really?" Paris looked interested.

"Things were rough when you guys were babies, but things settled down, worked out – and if it hadn't been for Ryan and your grandfather I think we would have drowned."

"But how did you know you guys were in love?" Syd persisted.

"Syd," Carter replied. "That's just one of those things you know in your gut. You're either sure of it or you're not."

She fell silent. It wasn't exactly hope that was tugging at her mind, but more a solid realization that her and Sky were in love – forever.

The cafeteria was brimming with people trying to grab some lunch before their afternoon shift, training or class started. Paris had taken one look at the chaos, grabbed her sandwich and drink and retreated to a one of the round tables in the corner. No one bothered her – most people had to eat and run and the few acquaintances didn't see her. That suited her just fine. She ate with one hand and glanced through a fashion magazine with the other. Her patrol shift that afternoon ended just as rehearsal started – she wouldn't even have time to change from her uniform and tomorrow was opening night. Oh well – sleep was overrated.

"Can I sit here?"

She glanced up, about to tell off whoever was bothering, but stopped short. Sky was hovering over one of the chairs at the table, giving her a pointed, meaningful stare. In the distance, she could make out the giggling patrol of female cadets that were in love with Sky. She nodded, closing the magazine so he could sit directly next to her. "Sure," she replied. "Trying to escape the dingbat-squad?"

"Among other things." He settled into the chair, looking relieved.

Paris glanced at the girls again. They were staring at her and whispering furiously. She grinned and gave them a small wave, just a flutter of her fingers. One opened her mouth in horror and they began to whisper again. She shook her head. "Sometimes I wonder how these people got into this place."

"They might have genetic mutations – that's an automatic pass."

"Maybe when we were cadets – and you forget that us and the people who had Dino-Gems are the only ones with powers." She paused. "Now, our children will have powers – and other children of our parents."

Sky nodded as he unwrapped his sandwich. "You have a point. Wes thinks that Gemma's power might be invisibility."

"Oh yeah?"

"Is two-month old baby supposed to randomly disappear?"

Paris laughed. "No – unless that baby was me escaping."

It was Sky's turn to laugh. "And Bridge says his brother is telekinetic."

"Us growing up was never dull. There's a lot of other words I might use to describe it, but things were never dull."

They fell into a comfortable silence. Paris glanced to the cover of her magazine. Sky never had been one to say much – he preferred silence over idle chatter. But silence was not uncomfortable or awkward, it just was. It reminded her of time spent with Trent – the pair of them could go hours without saying anything, because little gestures, like hand-holding or back-massages, said everything that words couldn't. She liked Trent, a lot. She wasn't sure if she would be able to return his 'I love you' for a long time, but she could see herself with him for some time…

"You know," she said, breaking the silence at their table. "Between you and Gemma, you have the same powers that the Invisible Woman from Fantastic Four did."

Sky laughed again. "That's true."

"Hey, guys. Can I join you?"

Paris glanced to Syd, now standing near their table. Wow, she must have won some kind of popularity contest today. Her little sister had her hair back in a simple ponytail, most of the chemically-produced waves falling flat. If Syd didn't try to curl her hair so often, it would have been straight like hers, just not as silky. Though, her hair color was not artificial, like everything else about her hair.

"Yeah – I suppose," she replied.

It escaped no one's notice that she took the free chair on Sky's other side. Paris glanced up, but the giggle-patrol seemed to have moved on. Syd was also sitting just a little closer to Sky than casual-lunch-mates prescribed. Sky didn't seem to be inclined to do anything about it, but he was putting an unnaturally large focus on his lunch.

"So…" she said, breaking the now-awkward silence that had fallen over the table. "I was talking to Ethan and he said that he was working on some morpher prototypes that never got completed – and he wants to start tests in January."

Both Syd and Sky were looking at her like she had grown a second head. Sky swallowed whatever was in his mouth, while he had a confused look on his face. Syd's expression just confirmed that she thought her older sister was weird.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Syd asked.

"Just thought I'd pass on the gossip."

Paris shrugged and went back to her sandwich. Sky and Syd just exchanged an amused glance before they went back to their own food. They were looking too comfortable – she could see it coming. They would start playing footsy and then some serious kissy-face-ness and… How revolting. Why was it that people couldn't control their public displays of affections and confine them to places that weren't… public? She stood up.

"I've got to go. See you guys later."

To Be Continued...

Author's Note: Hmmm... apparently reviewer responses at the end of chapters are no longer allowed. Oh well! I want to thank everyone who has reviewed and supported this piece - the response has been amazing! You guys are awesome! Everyone (who celebrates it at any rate) have a great Thanksgiving and good luck with all your end-of-semester chaos.