Disclaimer: I do not own PRSPD or am I making any profit at all

A/N: this story has no true "parings" this is kind of touching on the heart I saw within Jack Landers, and his willingness to help others around him (i.e. Kat Manx).

The New SPD Family

Jack Landers had woken up extra early that morning for no better reason than he couldn't sleep. He walked past Kat's lab to see the door standing wide open. He hoped deep inside that there was nothing wrong, but that was all shattered when he heard sobs from within the lab.

'I hope nothing happened to her' he thought, he had no idea that the only problem was a dream had brought back the memories that Kat had hoped not to think about again. He went inside, not willing to leave her alone with her upset.

"Kat…" he asked gently as his eyes rested on the figure of his friend, crying at her computer.

"Hum…" she looked up and wiped her eyes as she realized that Jack Landers had found her.

"Are you okay?" he asked gently

"Yes, I'm fine" Kat replied

"Now, be honest, you wouldn't be crying if you were fine" Jack said "It doesn't take a genius to figure that out" he pulled up another chair and sat beside her, "Now tell me what's wrong... or would you rather I got Commander Cruger"

"Don't wake him up for this"

"Then will you tell me what happened" he asked her kindly.

"Okay" she replied "this morning I dreamed about what happened about the time my husband asked me to marry him"

"Oh, well, isn't that a good thing" he asked oblivious to the fact that it had hurt her.

"It would be, but when I woke up I expected to see him, and he… he wasn't there" a new wave of tears hit her. Jack hugged her near

"Kat, I'm sorry about what has happened, but listen, he never really left you… as long as you remember how he was, he will never be far from your heart, he loved you a lot, and I can't help thinking he's watching over you, he might even be the reason that Commander Cruger found you in the first place, you did say that most of the rescuers didn't seem to notice you."

"Yes, I had ended up concealed by the rubble, I was surprised when Doggie found me to begin with" she paused "I guess after what happened on Sirius he was just being a little more thorough in his search for survivors."

"You may be right, he wanted to find some that could be saved, and when he found you it tore at his heart"

"Yes, because, at the time, they thought I was a hopeless case, I was honestly going to die, Jack"

"But you didn't, Commander Cruger saved you"

"He wouldn't have been able had it not been for a serum that my people had been developing for centuries, a cure for radiation poisoning. It had just been completed when Grumm attacked, letting out massive amounts of radiation, most of the children were in special rooms that blocked the radiation from getting to them" she continued "they had food at easy access and water, they would live, but the adults, didn't have that luxury"

"What about you?"

"I should have been with the children, I had my first baby on the way at the time, but I was too stubborn, I was going to fight on the side of my people, and I would nearly die because of it"

"Think about it Kat, you would have never met Commander Cruger if you hadn't insisted on being on the front line, now would you have?"

"No, I guess I wouldn't have" she smiled, back then she had been hard headed, yet, underestimated due to her size, she fought like the guys did and nearly died like they did. That thought made her wonder if she was destined to be that way so that she could find a friend, Commander Anubis "Doggie" Cruger. Even though he had, supposedly, found her too late to save her life. They found out that the serum would save those even on the brink of death by causing the damage to undo itself.

Commander Cruger couldn't have known at the time that Kat was savable, but he didn't give up on her, he wanted to see her live.

"Jack, listen, you should get some sleep, don't worry about me, I'll be fine" Kat said

"No, Kat, you don't need to be alone now, and besides, I'm not sleepy anyway." Jack countered "I'm fine with staying up with you" he stepped away his eyes filled with a genuine concern for her, one she rarely saw in the cadets that went through the SPD, or at least, through her lab.

"Okay, if you insist, but I really need to get this done"

"That's fine, I'll just watch you work"

She shook her head and got to work on her project and smiled as Jack leaned back in his chair, she was willing to bet that he'd either fall out of his chair or go to sleep in it... either way it might prove interesting. She had to admit it felt good to not be alone for once on one of her sleepless nights, she had always hated waking someone up, especially Commander Cruger, he did so much for her that sometime she felt like she took advantage of him.

CRASH… Kat whirled around to see that Jack Landers had tipped his chair over, her first thought had been right, he did fall out of his chair, just not the way she had expected.

"Jack, are you okay?" she asked

"Yeah… I defiantly won't do that again!" he laughed proving he probably only suffered a bruised ego.

She laughed slightly, "Be careful, next time… I don't want to see you give yourself a concussion!"

"I'll try to be" he smiled and stood and stood his chair upright again, before, once again sitting down.

There were a few hours of silence before people started to stir around the building and Jack realized it was time for him to go and get breakfast.

"Listen, I'm going to join the rest of the rangers for breakfast, are you going to be all right?"

"Yes, go ahead" she smiled as he left "and Jack"

He stopped at the door and looked back.

"Thanks, it helped to talk about it"

"No problem, I was just doing what I'd always do for family, and I feel like you are a member of my family"

After Jack left Kat smiled… sure, maybe she lost a lot, but she had gained a lot of really good friends from it too… Grumm had messed up for the last time, Earth was safe now, now that the new SPD had found it's footing, and it's bond, not just as a team but as a "Family".

The End

pls leave a review and note that all flames will be used to heat hot cocoa, or redirected at Grumm, whichever I chose.