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

Author's Note: And from here we wind down from the madness - I don't know how much longer this will go on. (I have two more completed and might do a few more to give this a sense of closure.) Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed!

OF YOU

By Etcetera Kit

Color - Syd

Syd sat in the middle of her bed, pajama-clad and hugging Peanuts to her chest. No one was in the dorms right now. The first snow of this winter was falling in gentle flakes outside and no one wanted to miss it. Snatches of joyful snowball fights floated to her ears. If she had felt better, she would have gone out there with them – Z and Bridge had begged her to come. Perhaps she should have gone, then she wouldn't be alone with her thoughts.

It had been a week since that disastrous Monopoly game – two weeks since the Halloween dance party. Sky hadn't said anything – he just went about his business as usual. That was the most frustrating part of all. He acted so unaffected by all of this that she wondered if she had imagined the sexual tension between them. They had kissed for crying out loud! She would never have expected Sky to ignore something like that. He was too traditional to run around kissing people casually.

She closed her eyes – immediately, she pictured his face. This time, it didn't make her angry. She just imagined the face she had seen for so many years, but never really taken in. She knew it by heart – knew how soft his lips were, how he actually had dimples when he chose to smile properly, how he looked down when he was embarrassed or didn't agree with what was going on…

But it was his eyes that fascinated her. She had never noticed them before. Oh – she had been aware he had blue eyes, but the fact that they seemed gray most of the time had escaped her. There was enough blue there for people to assume it, but he had eyes like the sea after a storm – so troubled, yet so peaceful, knowing the storm was over. Then it occurred to her – he had mood stone eyes.

His eyes tended to be grayer when he went about his normal routine. It was appropriate given the bleak neutrality that followed them on slow days. Gray was his neutral color. But strong emotions seemed to push his eyes towards blue. When he dumped water on her head, when he relived the memory of losing his father, when he was goading her during that Monopoly game… Strong emotions brought out the blue in his eyes.

And his eyes weren't the normal blue that people thought of when they thought of blue eyes. The blue was light, but just as vibrant and warm as any other color. It made her think of cozy nights, sitting by a fire, curled up in a favorite, old bathrobe. The bathrobe, once a bright shade of blue, would have faded to that color with time and love. The blue and the gray seemed interchangeable, which would be why no one noticed the changing color.

The knock on the door brought her from her reverie. "Come in!" she called.

The doors slid open to revel Sky standing there – the last person she expected. A part of her had expected Z and Bridge to send Jack to do more wheedling concerning playing in the snow. He was still in his uniform and he was holding two steaming mugs. The heavenly smell of hot chocolate hit her nostrils.

"Hey," he said softly. There was no trace of the arrogance that had accompanied all their previous encounters. "Can I come in?"

"Sure," she replied softly.

He stepped into the room, looking unsure. "I thought you might like some hot chocolate." It was a peace offering.

Syd smiled softly at him. "Thanks. That's nice of you." She scooted towards her pillow so that Sky could sit down on the bed next to her. He handed her the mug, but didn't make a move to sit. "Sit down," she said.

Sky moved to sit, but she noticed he was putting a lot of unnecessary space between them. Her heart jumped to her throat. They hadn't talked about their feelings – just egged each other on. Was he going to put an early stake through anything they might have? Or was he going to say something she wanted to hear?

He cleared his throat. "Look," he said, looking down at his hands. "I'm sorry." He paused and took a deep breath. "For everything."

"Sky," Syd said, setting her hot chocolate on her nightstand. "You shouldn't apologize. I'm the one that started it. I'm sorry for starting this whole thing."

"I'm just as guilty," he replied. "I kept it going."

"So we're both stubborn and let our egos get the best of us?"

He nodded. "Can we start over?" There was a simple, pleading quality to his tone. It made him sound vulnerable and that shocked her. Sky hated to show weakness or that he might have to depend on others.

"Sure."

That single word lit up his entire face. The smile that followed was one of his rare full smiles. It went all the way to his eyes with the simple knowledge that she wasn't going to hold this against him. It was so like Sky to try to take responsibility for everything that had happened.

"Do you want to go make snow angels?" he asked, slowly and with some trepidation.

She nodded. "That'd be great. Give me ten minutes to get ready."

He smiled and stood up, heading out of the room. Syd stayed still for a moment after he had left. The blue in his eyes had never been brighter.

To Be Continued...