Disclaimer: I don't own the Power Rangers or anything else you may recognize.

Author's Note: This is my first Syd/Sky story or, rather, collection of drabbles. I would really appreciate feedback. Try to be nice, though:) Just to let all you guys (readers and reviewers) that I really appreciate all the comments you've given me so far.

Written in response to the Ars Amatoria Romance Themes Challenge.

This takes place right after "Impact". I suppose it doesn't really have all that much to do with the episode, but… you'll see. The idea for it just popped into my head and I thought it would work well with the 'Helm' challenge.

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Helm

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She couldn't sleep. Syd walked down the lonely, deserted corridor and entered the common room. It was very dimly lit and she went to the food machine, tapped out a mug of hot chocolate, and then retreated to the window on the far side of the room. She curled up in the sill and stared out at the night outside the Academy.

The stars were particularly bright, glittering high above, bathed in a whitish glow from the Milky Way. But she couldn't see any beauty in the clarity of the sky tonight. All she could see was the place Sky and Jack had gone on that mission to destroy the meteor. All she could feel was a numb fear, a residue from the panic she had felt earlier today, believing she would never seen them again. Believing she'd never see Sky again. Syd closed her eyes and shook her head. She didn't want to care so much about him, especially since she knew he was the last person who would let himself love, but the fact was, she did. She'd known it irrevocably today when she had watched him go.

She had watched Sky fly away, at the helm of his ship, ready to do what he needed to in order to defend their world. Syd shivered slightly as she thought about the rocketing of an unstable ship. She didn't think she would ever be able to fly in the SWAT Megazord without feeling the cold tingle of fear ever again. And that was sad, too, because she had always wanted to fly. Really fly. Never again, though. It was too dangerous. She could lose too much if she let her feet get off the ground.

Besides, she reminded herself with a flash of her old spirit, the recycled air up in space sped up the aging process. She really didn't want wrinkles.

"Syd?"

She jumped, almost spilling the last of her hot chocolate. She turned her head sharply and saw Sky standing in the doorway of the common room, now walking towards her. Speak of the devil.

"What are you doing up?" he asked, frowning in puzzlement.

She raised her eyebrows. "I could ask the same question," she reminded him, hopping off the windowsill and turning towards him. "Why are you awake anyway? I would've thought you'd be dead tired after today."

"So did I," he said dryly, "But it turns out, I'm way too tense to sleep. You should get to bed. We have a lot of training due us tomorrow."

"Stop bossing me around, Sky," she said playfully, endeavouring to sound normal.

He narrowed his blue eyes at her and then asked, his tone changing a little, "What's wrong, Syd?"

"Nothing. I mean… I was just worried about you and Jack, that's all. I thought, today, that I may never see you again and I didn't like that feeling." She was rambling, but she was powerless to stop it. She needed the fear to go away. She needed him to take it away.

"But we're okay," Sky pointed out.

"You don't say. Look, that's not the point, Sky. I was worried. I don't want anything happening to my friends, all right? And…" she hesitated, wondering how best to say this, wondering whether she could confess this. "And you matter to me, you know? Today, I saw you fly away and I saw what nearly happened. I don't think I'm ever going to be okay getting into the Megazord again, I don't think I'm ever going to look at you getting into your runner or flyer ever again."

Sky stared at her in silence for a long time, and his expression was completely impassive. There was no way she could have gauged what he was thinking or feeling right then. Syd instinctively looked away, down at her nails, picking out a bit of lint from under one of them as she examined them. She wondered if she had said too much. After all, Sky didn't respond well to gestures of emotion, did he? He would probably tell her it was a mistake to care too much about your friends, or that it would be dangerous to the team if you formed an attachment to anyone. She wondered if he sensed her feelings were more than platonic.

But he only said, "Come with me, Sydney."

Dumbstruck, Syd followed him out of the common room. It was only when they were halfway across the basement of the quiet Academy that she realized they were headed for the zord bay. She stopped in her tracks as they came to the blue Delta runner, and she froze.

"What are you doing?" she asked, a little shrilly.

Sky looked at her. "I'm taking you up in my zord. We're going to go for a short ride."

"Um… no! Hello, Sky, were you even listening to anything I said?"

"I don't want you to be afraid, Syd. I'm a good flier, and I need you to understand that. I wouldn't let you get hurt up there, nor would I let myself get hurt. So come up with me and we can kill this fear once and for all." He gestured up to the opening of the runner. "Do you trust me?"

Did she?

Yes, she realized. She did. She always had.

"Okay," she said softly, a little like a child. She followed him up the steps to the opening of the runner. There was just enough room inside for the two of them, and she curled up beside him as he expertly tapped several panels and started the engines. As they roared to life, she felt a flash of fear and she clutched Sky's arm instinctively. He didn't seem to mind; he looked down at her with a look of affection that made her heart squeeze, and he brushed a blond curl off her face.

"Ready?"

"Ready!" she chirped, in the precise tone she used when she pulled out her morpher.

He grinned at her tone, and the next thing she knew, they were soaring out of the zord bay, out of the Academy, zooming through the quiet New Tech City night. Syd closed her eyes and buried her face in Sky's shoulder, as once again, she heard his voice, desperate and strained, coming over the transmission as he approached the meteor.

"Open your eyes, Syd," he ordered her, but gently.

Well, it wasn't as if she had much of a choice, was it? Syd opened her eyes, her nails still digging into Sky's arm, and she realized that the world around them was still and quiet, milky and clear, a dazzling array of an endless horizon. You could fly as far as you want and still never hit a dead end. There were no limits up here.

Suddenly, the stars and the sky were beautiful once again. And she knew why.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"We're not done yet," Sky said, smiling. "Now you've got to take the controls and fly the zord."

"What?" Syd's jaw dropped. "You're going to let me fly your zord?"

Sky looked a little uncomfortable. "Well, you know," he blustered, "It's dangerous during a mission if one of the Rangers is afraid of flying. We've got to work that out, you know, or else we might endanger a task. Or something. It's a purely mission-related thing. I don't let just anyone fly my zord."

Smiling with a sudden boost of confidence and elation, Syd took the controls and controlled her own fear as well. It was dissolving, slowly but steadily, dissolving into the warm flush of reassurance that only he could have given her. He had brought her out here, determined to take away the fear. He had understood something more fundamental about her than anything else. He'd accepted that she cared. He'd let her stand at the helm of his zord, take over from him, let her into the symbol of his achievement as a Ranger.

And maybe he couldn't—or wouldn't—ever fall in love with her (though she had to admit she hoped otherwise), but for now, that was enough.

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