Sky sat on his bed, the quiet in his room suddenly becoming oppressive as he decided to turn off his light. He tried to shake everything off as he lay down and stretched out, his exhaustion overtaking his body but his mind still meandering through years of memories.
"Go! I see an opening ahead!" Sky ordered from a few strides behind her. It had started to rain only a few moments before, slicking the dirt beneath their shoes. The krybots didn't seem to be following them anymore but they couldn't take chances by slowing down. They had been running for what felt like miles, but Sky's rational brain knew their muscles were just fatigued from the strenuous mission that had taken them all day before even doing battle with the krybots. The mission seemed simple enough when Commander Cruger had summoned the B-Squad first thing this morning. A powerful energy source in transit from KO-35 was on a ship that had crash landed in the middle of the vast forest near the border of Nevada. Sky could markedly distinguish the difference in weight that the crystalline structure had added to his backpack as he stayed on the heels of his blue counterpart.
"Root," Meredith called out as she jumped over the obstacle. Sky's eyes instantly went to the ground and he narrowly saved himself from tripping. 'If only we had been able to stay together,' he thought regretfully. Despite his arrogance he knew their strength was in numbers. But when several orange heads, blue heads, and krybots had followed them to the power source there was no choice but to split into two teams and spread out. Troobian numbers had been cut that way but so had theirs…hopefully they would be able to make it back to the transport. To make matters worse the storm that began was not only making them wet, but impaired their ability to see, navigate, the gale winds were becoming much harsher, and their morphers had been on the fritz due to the contributing factors of an electrical storm. 'If I could picture Hell, this is what it would be,' Sky thought discouragingly. When Meredith hit the entrance of a cave she stopped running and Sky followed her right inside. Darkness was beginning to fall and Sky decided they would have to stay the night or at least ride out the rest of the storm.
"Let me guess, we're bunking here for the night?" Meredith asked, already knowing what he was thinking. Sky simply nodded, moving behind Meredith so he could grab a flashlight from her pack. "Your welcome."
Without acknowledging her Sky began to explore the cavern further, finding some discarded branches that were dry enough to use as firewood. After setting down her pack Meredith began gathering the twigs and putting them in a pile, making sure to note that the cave was devoid of animal activity. 'Hopefully it stays that way,' she thought uncomfortably. "Bring those back here," Sky called from further in the cave. She approached him with her hands full and dumped them in front of his kneeling figure. "This way if they come looking they won't be able to see the light from the fire as well," he explained.
"Right." Meredith released another deep breath and looked around, taking in the damp atmosphere, unable to stop a shiver from going straight down her spine. For the first time she realized she hadn't eaten in a very long time and couldn't quiet the low grumble that her stomach was making. Sky simply raised an eyebrow in her direction when he heard the noise. Meredith grabbed her backpack and Sky's, dragging them to the wall where she sat down and situated herself. Her top layer was wet so she stripped it off, leaving only a t-shirt to maintain her body heat rather unsuccessfully. She draped the jacket over her backpack to help it dry while grabbing rations and water from both bags and setting them out. "Hungry?" she questioned the red ranger.
"Yeah," he nodded, getting up and walking toward her, sitting next to her as he leaned against the wall for support. They ate in silence and drank some of their water thankfully. After they put their wrappers and canteens away Sky checked his morpher again. He opened up a general com link but all he received was static.
"Silver lining? At least they won't be able to track the power source in the electrical storm," Meredith offered shrugging.
Sky glanced to his backpack, "Good point." A few more moments of contemplative silence passed before Sky spoke again. "We should rest in shifts. I'll watch the entrance first," he offered, or commanded rather. He pushed his back harder against the wall, craning his neck and realized he could see the entrance around the bend from where he was sitting. He looked back to his second in command and noticed that she had goose bumps and was beginning to shake involuntarily. Sky took off his jacket that wasn't as wet as hers and put it across her.
Meredith shook her head slightly, "It's okay. I'm fine, besides you'll get cold," she offered, shrugging off his red accented S.P.D. coat slightly. Sky frowned.
"I'm not cold, and you're shaking," he rebuddled, annoyed at her stubbornness. He replaced the jacket over her and she released a frustrated sigh.
"Would you make Dozer wear your jacket?" she questioned, harsher than she had intended.
Sky recoiled slightly, confused by her outburst. Over the years they had both looked out for each other, he didn't understand why she was threatened by his help now. "What are you talking about?"
Meredith stood abruptly and began to pace, wondering if now was a good time to tell him how she really felt. If anytime would ever be a good time to tell him how she felt. "What's going on?" Sky asked, eyeing Meredith suspiciously as she paced back and forth in front of him, wringing her hands nervously.
She stopped and faced him suddenly, squinting her eyes close in a moment of final decision. "I like you," she blurted out. She opened one eye hesitantly, unsure of whether she wanted to witness Sky's reaction.
Sky's mind went completely blank as if saying, 'does not compute.' She liked him. The girl he's known for two years as a squad teammate, someone he's blown up at or shut out too many times to count. "What?" was all he could muster, his jaw slightly ajar.
Meredith tilted her head back and rolled her eyes. "Please don't make me say it again…" she pleaded, her tone oozing with embarrassment and frustration.
Sky quickly stood, grasping his jacket with one hand and staring at the athletic blonde in front of him. "Why?" he asked finally, still flabbergasted.
Meredith threw her hands up and began pacing around the small space once again, the soft, warm light from the fire the only harbor from the dark and stormy night. "You're killing me Tate," she exclaimed, exasperated from his lack of response. "I would love to claim temporary insanity but it's just not the truth. I mean…I like you. You've got morals and principles coming out the wazoo, you have a good heart, you protect strangers everyday that don't always deserve it, and sometimes you're actually fun to be around," she huffed. She took a few moments to catch her breath before muttering, "Plus you're kind of cute." Sky caught the last comment and blushed lightly, knocking him from his trance of disbelief. "Say something, I feel like an idiot," Meredith confessed a bit quieter.
Sky scratched the back of his neck absently, grasping for words. "I had no idea," he offered, shrugging slightly.
"And now that you do?" Meredith asked hesitantly.
"Ols…I…like you too. I always kind of have, but I just figured it could never happen," he finally confessed uncomfortably.
"Why?" It was Meredith's turn to be confused.
"Because. I trust and respect you as a peer, and I care about you more than a friend and that…well, a lot of things could go wrong."
"Like?" Meredith goaded.
"Like I screw it up. Or it distracts us on the job. Or you jump in front of a blast and you get more than broken ribs. I don't know if I could handle that," Sky confided.
Meredith hugged her arms and looked down slightly, nodding as she took in his words. It was obvious he was still hurt over his father's untimely death, and that perhaps he wasn't prepared to take their friendship into other realms of co-ed interaction. "I get it. Five minutes ago we were just co-workers and friends and now…I've screwed that up. It would be kind of hard to go back to the Abbott and Costello routine knowing how we feel, but can I just say something before we endure a lifetime of awkwardness?" she asked, now looking at Sky pleadingly. He nodded encouragingly.
"You won't screw it up…if I can endure two years of being your friend and dealing with everything you dish out on a day to day basis then that is so not the issue," she started. Sky frowned slightly in offense. "Sorry, I know I'm not perfect either. But if I can go this long ignoring my feelings for you and just concentrating on the job then it won't be a distraction. And as far as one of us getting hurt…we both joined S.P.D. knowing the risks and I think it would be harder losing you knowing that you never knew how I felt. And now that I've poked holes in all of your objections I'll say this…I'm not going to argue with you and try to convince you to go on a date with me or whatever. If you don't want to then fine, if you're not ready then so be it. At least I know I told you and that I didn't creep you out or anything," she added, scoffing slightly. Meredith looked up and for the first time tonight smiled despite herself.
Sky looked at her, letting the words wash over him. His brain had started to run a million scenarios and logical reasoning began to overlap with what Meredith was trying to say. It was too much and he tried to find what his heart was telling him through all the noise, his gut instinct. "You're not creepy," he stated.
"Thank you, that's very reassuring," Meredith narrowed her eyes slightly. Sky continued to smile and almost laughed lightly. "What is so amusing?" she asked, slightly irritated.
"I've got nothing. You obliterated all of my knee jerk defenses to get out of an emotional situation," he admitted, finally acknowledging his original actions. It was somewhat liberating to understand why you acted the way you did, and self-awareness had given Sky the confidence to get over his hang-ups, at least for the moment.
"I'm waiting for the funny part."
"I guess it's not. It's just…" he tried to explain as Meredith began to rub her arms to warm herself, waiting for him to clue her in. Sky stepped forward and put his jacket around her shoulders, his hands still at the front where he pulled it snuggly around her. Meredith's cheeks flushed lightly and she looked up into his eyes. "No argument necessary." At Sky's words Meredith smiled so wide her eyes smiled with her. Sky returned her smile and drew her into his chest, wrapping his arms around her tightly as he rested his chin atop her head. "Things are going to be a little different now," he confided quietly.
Meredith took a deep breath, enjoying the closeness and scent of Sky. "Kind of the point."
Sky turned over in his bed, a small smile on his face as he remembered every detail of that conversation, being able to finally drift off to sleep.
In a different room Meredith remembered the same conversation, the night that she finally gathered the strength to take a chance by telling Sky how she felt. Two weeks later 'other' Sky had appeared and changed her world forever. Their relationship had ended before it had a chance to really begin. Meredith hugged her pillow tightly, trying to block out her thoughts as she willed herself to sleep.