Author's Note: Prompt suggested by Larkfeather850
U is for Unexpected
Not too long ago a reporter on the entertainment beat had described Nick Loop'n Lopez's and Blazin' Blade Ranger's interaction on screen was kind of like a kite. That Lopez's bombastic performances pushed the show to greater heights, while Ranger's levelheaded performances kept CHoPs tethered in reality. This dynamic of push and pull was only made better by the fact that the two helicopters were clearly friends both on and off the set.
Sitting in the darkness of his bachelor's pad, Blade couldn't help but muse on how the reporter had gotten things so right and so wrong at the same time.
Starting with friends…yeah, the two helicopters had started out as friends, now it felt like that word was a disservice to what they had once been.
Even though Nick had been the flirt (honestly the man would flirt with a rock if given half a chance), it had been Blade who had made the first move. They both been hanging out on the roof of one of the set pieces, sloppy drunk after the third season wrap party. As they stared at the brightly lit city stretched out in front of them, Blade had sneakily snuck a chaste kiss that was little more than a peck on the lips. Nick had stared stunned at his costar for a few long rotor beats and Blade worried that he had misjudged things badly…then a Cheshire grin had spread across the helicopter's face and Nick kissed him back…hard…with tongue.
As one would expect, things had quickly gone down a rabbit hole. Nick had skillfully navigated the art of falling skids over rotors for your costar…hiding the depth of their affection through the use of his colorful personality. Blade hadn't managed to navigate things nearly as nimbly, but the other vehicles on set were willing to look the other way when he miss-stepped and while there were rumors, the general public mostly assumed that Blade was trying to emulate the older helicopter.
…If only they had known what had been going on behind hangar doors…
This particular year, Blade had carefully searched the filming schedule for moments that he could steal Nick away. So far, they had managed to snatch a couple of evenings to their selves, but the younger helicopter had found a perfect opportunity to spoil his partner. This August his birthday would land on a Monday. His family had already made arrangements to visit and throw him a proper party over the weekend…but because of the planned filming schedule, his folks would be gone by his actual birthday.
Blade ended up collecting on nearly every favor he had on set, but he managed to have the filming schedule switched around so that that all the two helicopter's scenes would be shot first thing Monday morning and then resume Tuesday afternoon, giving Nick the ability to properly enjoy the evening of his birthday.
Time off secured; Blade had thrown his full weight into party planning. Having a large event would have completely defeated the helicopter's end goal. So he had made a reservation for a nice little sushi spot just off of the lot so that the whole CHoPs crew could wish Nick well on his birthday. From there Blade would drag his 'friend' for some sightseeing. That would end at one of Nick's favorites, but ludicrously expensive restaurants…then after consuming a custom dinner that was specifically made to celebrate his birthday and probably a few extra drinks at the bar, the two of them would get the chance to slip into the elevator and head up to one of the nicest suites the hotel above the restaurant could offer. Based on the photos this suite had spectacular views…but if Blade had played his hand right, they wouldn't spend much time enjoying it.
Blade poured a massive amount of energy, and an uncomfortable percentage of his bank account into making everything perfect. He had tried to plan for every possible problem…but there was one that had been so terrible that it hadn't even crossed his mind. But that Friday on set Blade watched in horror as the one person he cared most about plummeted to the ground and burst into flames on impact.
The following hours were a whirlwind of activity. There were police and TMST reports to file. Blade had been there to greet Nick's parents when they arrived…and he was there to be pushed away when they took over taking care of all the chaos in the wake of Nick's death.
It was now Monday morning…and while Nick's family was busy setting up the memorial and dealing with his other half's estate, Blade was left on the sidelines with rotor blades spinning but not catching air. For the most part, he simply moved through the motions, drifting from room to room in his apartment like a ghost. Desperately wishing that the last 72 hours had been a painful, terrible nightmare, but knowing deep in his engine that it wasn't. It was only when his eyes slid across all of the reservation slips on the fridge that Blade was forced into getting his aft into gear and acting.
Slowly mechanically, Blade dialed the hotel's special event office. When they finally picked up, Blade spoke, fighting with every fiber of his being to keep his voice steady. "Hello…I need to cancel a reservation for Jon Baker."
"One moment." The vehicle on the other end of the line shuffled a couple of papers, then got on to the phone clearly pissed. "I am sorry sir, but I can't allow you to cancel less than 6 hours before your reservation."
"Please…" A flood of panic was starting to well up inside of him.
"We special ordered a lot of specialty items for you for this event. You can't just special-order things with people's names on them and then on a whim just fly off without paying." The vehicle on the other end of the phone was clearly on the warpath, so Blade didn't feel like he needed to hold back anymore.
"Nick…Nick is dead…" Blade could hear the vehicle on the other end of the phone take a sharp intake of breath at his words, but a dam of emotions inside of Blade had broken and he there was no way for him to stop the cascade of words from pouring out of his mouth. "He went down on set and he is dead…" Blade swallowed hard, trying to clear the rock of pain that had grown in his throat. "I will pay for whatever I need to pay for…you can scrap off anything that makes it personalized and donate a homeless shelter, or a food bank, or whatever…but I need you to scrub the reservation from your system because there isn't anything…there isn't anything left to celebrate…" With that Blade dissolved into inconsolable sobs.
"Sir…" The vehicle on the other end of the phone finally spoke between two of Blade's ragged breaths. "Sir, it is okay. We will take care of this."
"Thank you…" Blade's voice was little more than a choked whisper.
"Sir…" The vehicle asked timidly. "Sir, you don't need to answer this for me. But…but are you Blazin' Blade Ranger?"
"Yes." Blade breathed through his tears. "Yes."
"Sir…Mr. Ranger, we are all such great fans of the show, and we are all so very sorry for your loss."
"Thank you." Blade finally managed to force his tongue to say, then he rapidly hung up the phone before he would be forced to say anything else. Finally, off the phone, Blade allowed the darkness around him to fully swallow him and his emotions to crush him under the full weight of his grief.
The reporter had gotten things both so right and so wrong in their article…for he and Nick had really been like a string and a kite. But what they hadn't realized is that as high flying as Nick had once been, he had been the kite. Instead, he had been the string that had finally given Blade the courage to throw himself on the mercy of the ever-changing winds. But now that string had snapped and now it felt it was Blade's turn to go tumbling end over end into the ground.
End Note: Well, this story once again reminds me why I don't write romance stuff, but every once in a while you have to make an exception if it forwards a plot. Larkfeather850's timeline for Nick's death differs slightly from the one I used. Her's has Nick's birthday on August 2nd, and his crash on August 6th, 1982 which was a Friday. I swapped things around to cluster things around the weekend.
Now that housekeeping is taken care of, we are off to the next letter of the alphabet. What are your suggestions for the letter V?
