Lord, What Fools These Mortals Be
Syd glowered at the two men stoically being patched up in the infirmary. They had matching bruises, although they stood out more on Sky's fair skin than they did on Jack, and they wore identical sheepish expressions.
"Alright," she said, standing with her hands on her hips and surveying them both with an impartial glare that Sky would normally be proud of. "What exactly is going on?" Jack's cheeks flushed slightly and Sky glared at him as they both started talking over each other in an attempt to defend their behaviour and eventually Syd thought she'd got the general idea. "So," she said slowly, "Jack commented on my butt and you hit him for it?"
Sky's eyes narrowed. "It was crass and inappropriate and he shouldn't have--"
"Sky, we're dating, he's allowed to comment on my butt," Syd snapped. "As long as it's complimentary," she added.
"Oh, it was," Jack started at the same time as Sky muttered, 'Not in front of me, he's not', continuing with, "And it's not as if--" ignoring the blue ranger's less than conciliatory response.
"It was completely--"
"Enough!" Syd yelled and the two promptly shut up, the snap of teeth clearly audible in the sudden silence. "Okay, first of all, Sky? It's sweet of you, but I don't need you to defend my honour, I can do it myself." Sky first winced being called sweet, then opened his mouth to protest but Syd ignored him in favour of Jack. "And you," she said sternly, crooking a finger in his direction, "you come with me."
"You should really watch what you say," Syd said when they were safely back in Jack's room. "Especially in front of Sky."
"He overreacted," Jack protested. "It was a perfectly comment."
"About my ass?"
He shifted uncomfortably on the bed. "Okay, maybe not perfectly innocent," he admitted. "But he still overreacted. You'd think I was dating his ex or something." There was a frozen silence before, "I'm not, right?"
Syd grinned. "No. There's nothing between me and Sky other than friends. Never has been, never will be. I'm more like a little sister than anything and besides," she added, "I'm not his type."
"He doesn't like blondes?" Jack asked idly, trailing his fingers through her curls.
"I think he prefers brunettes," she said blandly. "And anyway, he's otherwise involved."
Jack's fingers stopped abruptly. "I swear, Sky lays one finger on Z and I'm gonna--"
"Now who's overprotective?" Syd interjected pointedly and Jack shut up before muttering something inaudible under his breath. "And I didn't say he was seeing Z."
"Who then?" Jack demanded. "That girl from C Squad?"
"Nope."
Jack frowned. "Martinez, then. The nurse who bandaged him up the last time."
"Nope."
He frowned some more before proceeding to rattle off then names of all the brunettes he could think of and Syd wasn't sure if she should be put out about that or not.
"No," she sighed, for what felt like the hundredth time - the list of names getting more and more ridiculous. "Besides, can you see Sky dating someone he wasn't comfortable with?"
"Well, no," Jack said slowly, "but--"
"And can you see Sky being comfortable around any of those people?"
"No, but--"
"There you go then."
"But that just rules out everybody!" Jack protested.
"No, it doesn't," Syd said calmly and waited for Jack to catch up.
"But--" he began, "but, that just leaves…" He stopped, mouth hanging open in disbelief. "Sky and Bridge?"
"Jeez, say it a bit louder Jack, I think someone on the mud swamp didn't hear you."
"Sky and Bridge?" Jack hissed. "Since when?"
"Since always," she replied serenely, ignoring the choked sounds coming from behind her as Jack tried to deal with having his worldview tipped on its head.
"Sky and Bridge?" he repeated incredulously and she briefly wondered when he'd been put on auto-replay. "How, what, when…" his voice trailed off. "How did I miss this?" he asked plaintively and she decided to take pity on him.
"First of all? This is Sky we're talking about, he's not exactly the most open of people."
"Tell me about it," Jack muttered and she reached back to smack his arm.
"Secondly, Bridge is a lot more discreet than most people realise. Thirdly, you haven't known them as long as I have."
"But Sky treats him like shit sometimes," Jack objected. "Why would Bridge--"
"Not always," she interrupted. "Bridge'll take it up to a point, then he takes steps." She smiled at the doubtful expression on Jack's face. "Bridge is also a lot more strong-minded than people realise," she said gently. "He might be a bit scatter-brained sometimes but he won't just let someone walk all over him, not even Sky."
Jack sighed dejectedly. "I am so behind. Do I not know my team at all?"
"More than you think," she replied, turning so she was facing him full on. "But you don't always use the knowledge that well." Softly tracing the edge of a faint red patch on his cheekbone she smiled. "Case in point, right here."
He flinched a little, more in surprise than pain, then gave her a wounded look.
"Does that hurt?" she asked teasingly and he nodded, all big puppy dog eyes and pouty mouth. "Well, can't have that," she said and kissed it lightly. "Better?"
"Mm hm," came the contented reply and she pulled away.
"Good. Then my work here is done."
He let out an exaggerated groan and pinned her with the puppy dog eyes again. "But Syd, it really hurts," he whined and she grinned at the blatant attempt to wrangle more kisses.
"Here?" she asked, leaning forward again and pressing her lips to his jawline.
"Yeah, right there. And a bit lower."
"Here?"
"Mmm."
Grinning inwardly to herself, Syd moved so she was sitting properly on his lap, wrapping her legs around his waist as she kissed his chin. Jack sucked in a loud gasp of air and she smirked at him. "That one must hurt a lot," she noted innocently.
"Agony," he agreed breathily and she grinned wickedly, tightening her legs around his waist and shifting on his lap. Jack groaned low in his throat. "You're an evil woman," he gasped and she laughed, trailing her fingers down the side of his face.
"You only just noticed?"
The only response she got was Jack dropping the passive façade and burying his fingers in his hair as he yanked her closer, kissing her hungrily until nothing else really mattered anymore.