Hello there dear reader! Thanks for sticking with me so long! Not a lot of action occurring in this chapter, but it's here to explore the relationship developing between Taz and Up. :)

Disclaimer: Taz, Up, and the G.L.E.E. aren't mine. sorry. They're Starkid Production's.

Enjoy!

Chapter 10 Breakfast Banter

Robots left and right. Blood was trickling down her brow. The world was spinning and somehow she was upside down. Her mama was no where to be found. Taz was in a panic, and there was nothing she could do. Her body was frozen in place and all she could do was scream. Her throat was raw from screaming. Screaming for herself, for her familia, and for God to send the rangers to help her. Where were her ensigns? Where was Up? "Up!" She screeched at the top of her lungs. "Uuuup!"

"Taz!" Suddenly her world started to shake. "Taz,come on gal, wake up!" Everything started to fade to black, and then her eyes violently opened to another world of darkness. "You awake? It's alright, it was just a dream. just a dream. Taz?" The southern ranger had woken up to the cries of his new charge calling his name. He had gotten out of his bunk and padded across the living quarters over to the alcove which held Taz's bed. She had been thrashing about, clearly having a nightmare. How ensigns Mary and Dancing-Tacos were still asleep was anyone's guess.

"Up?" She whispered, grabbing onto his hands which were gripping her shoulders. "Did I wake you?" An immense feeling of guilt washed over her. Over the past week she had watched how hard he had to work as a ranger, and just how much sleep he really needed to compensate for all of that. " Sorry. I didn't mean to..."

"No," He lied, "I was about to warm up a cuppa milk to help me sleep." That seemed plausible, but Taz knew better. About three days into trailing him like a puppy and her having to make breakfast he had mentioned offhandedly that he had a slight lactate allergy. She let the lie slide. Her brown eyes slowly adjusted to the lack of light as Up switched positions and sat on the edge of her bed. "Do you.. do you want to talk about it?"

She sighed and shook her head. "It's the same one I've been having all week. No use telling it over to you again." A loud snore from Dancing-Tacos corner of the quarters sounded and Taz jumped a bit. Up tried not to chuckle. She was still frightened by the nightmare after all. He had suffered from them now and again too.

"You sure?"

"I...I think so." She was silent for a moment. "Up... how do you ever get over the deaths you have to face?" He was stunned into silence, and then got to thinking. What to tell her? The ensign from Farm planet snorted in his sleep again and they both looked over to his corner of the living space.

"To be blunt... you never do." He turned toward her. "Instead you have to believe that it was their time to go, and that for some un-explicable reason fate decided that the persons' own mission on earth... or whatever planet they were on, was complete." Taz sat up on her elbows.

"That was pretty deep." He could imagine her smirking at this exact moment.

"I'm pretty intellectual for a cowboy space ranger."

"I can see that." She smirked and shoved his shoulder slightly. "Now stop complimenting yourself and get back to bed."

"What?"

"You hear me, idiota. Go back to bed. You've got a lot of work tomorrow!" She teased tiredly. He shook his head at her ploy to avoid talking about her nightmare any further. But it had worked.

"You get some sleep too, little missy. You've gotta do just as much as I do in this place."

"I know... good night Up. See you in the morning." He stood up and padded his way across the large room, nodding his consent though she couldn't see it.

"G'night Taz."

Ensign Mary rolled over in her bed and cracked open one eye. "you two better shut your mouths before I shut them for you. It's two in the morning!"

Five hours later found Taz practically sleepwalking back to her room from the main kitchens to help prepare breakfast at the break of dawn. She had fallen into the breakfast pattern pretty quick. Make sure there was sliced fresh fruit. Double check that the milk hasn't expired. Set out bowls and silverware. Run to the pantry and get all the cereals out. Man, the rangers sure liked their breakfast cereals. She was a zombie until she had to help out the head chef make bacon. The aroma of sizzling bacon strips was like coffee. Though she really did need a cup of the stuff before she could function any further; bacon could only get you so far.

She lazily slapped her hand on the door scanner, while struggling to hold a plate of bacon and eggs in her other hand, and a mug of coffee in the crook of her elbow. " Honey, I'm home!" She chuckled tiredly to the empty room. The shower was running behind the bathroom door as Taz shambled over to the open kitchen area and plopped down in a light-weight steel framed chair. The latina was about to dig into her grub when her hair fell into her plate. " Aw mierda." Where were her hair elastics? Had she even brushed her hair this morning? She got up and wandered over to her corner. She was pretty blessed after all the crap she had gone through lately. A bed and nightstand with a few drawers for her stuff had been provided for her. A standard issue G.L.E.E. alarm clock glowed red and proclaimed that is was 7:06 in the morning. This shared living space had been her home for the past week. There, right next to her alarm was a singly lowly hair band.

As Taz was in the process of putting her hair into a braid, Up walked out of the steamy bathroom while rubbing a grey towel through his wet hair. Her eyes flashed upwards at her mentor as he walked directly over to his corner of the room, not noticing Taz. She turned quickly away, blushing slightly. The ese was walking around without his shirt on again. He really shouldn't do that. He should know that a teenage girl would have a hard time not staring. This was entirely inappropriate! She snapped the elastic around her braid end one more time and stood up as he pulled his standard ranger t-shirt over his head. He rubbed a hand over his face tiredly, Lieutenant Up was never one for early mornings.

"Buenos días...gracias por poner la camisa." He raised his eyebrows and turned around groggily to see Taz seated at their little dining table, feet propped up on the smooth surface and mouth open to receive a forkful of eggs.

"Oh, uh, Buenos días? That's good morning right?" She shook her head slightly in amusement. "Si." He sighed and wandered over to the seat adjacent to her. He had no clue what she had just said in Spanish. For all he knew she could have just told him to do a pirouette while patting his head and rubbing his tummy. Which, by the way, he had never been able to do.

"What's on the agenda today?" She said between mouthfuls. Up looked at her, then back to her plate of bacon, then back at her face.

"I'll tell you if you let me have some of that bacon." She pouted for a second, then slid her plate over until it bumped his elbow.

"Help yourself. " He muttered his thanks then scarfed down half of the bacon strips.

"Sheesh Up, we've gotta be in the training room in half an hour. Any faster and you'll be puking all over those smelly gym mats." He had the decency to look hurt by her comment.

"They are not just smelly gym mats Taz. They are sacred cushy athletic mats that absorb the blood,sweat and tears of young G.L.E.E.k's trying desperately to pass the physical portion of their ranger training." He said it with such a straight, serious face that she could only keep eye contact for a few seconds before bursting out in laughter.

"¡Dios mío!" The young girl threw her fork down onto the plate and her head shot back in hysterics. "That has gotta be the funniest thing you've said to me all week!" Up used this moment as a distraction and stole some of her scrambled eggs as well.

"Nuh-uh!" He said with a mouth full of breakfast, then swallowed as she raised an eyebrow at him ; still chuckling. "Hey, is that coffee?" Her eyes widened and her hands reached out to snatch her mug which had mysteriously gotten closer to her mentor.

"If you want coffee, get your own!" He rolled his eyes and stood up, deftly taking the plate of bacon with him.

"Fine, I'll head over to the mess hall."

As he threw on his boots and draped his dog tags around his neck he heard a barely audible voice mutter sarcastically. "Good, then maybe you'll eat your own breakfast for a change." He chuckled and made his way for the door, only pausing to look over his shoulder.

"That's never gonna happen long as you keep bringing food in here every morning." It had become sort of a ritual between the two of them over the past week. Sometimes Mary and often times Dancing-Tacos would join them in their daily breakfast banter. He put on a serious tone. "I expect to see you with the rest of those recruits in the gym in half an hour, got it?"

She gave him a sloppy mock salute with a fork of egg in her mouth. "Got it Lt. Sir!" And then he was out the door with a roll to his eyes and down the hall to grab some grub, a Guatemalan girl chuckling behind him.

Translations:

-Buenos días...gracias por poner la camisa. =good morning, thanks for putting the shirt on.

-"¡Dios mío!"= My goodness!

Thanks for reading! As always, I love reviews telling me what you enjoyed, what I could improve on,that sort of thing. :) And I always do a little dance inside when I see a new favorite or alert. :) ~Thegirlwhowaited411