Competition

"I'm Kat's favorite," Bridge brags smugly. "Boom and I might be a close tie, but between the five of us, it's totally me!"

"Oh, please, if Kat had any favorite, I think it would be me. I mean, that time I took her shopping totally bonded us!" Syd chirps, playing with her blond curls.

"Right, like you have anything in common with Kat," Z rolls her eyes at the laughable concept. "I'm totally DC and Kat's favorite."

"Oh, get over yourself, Z," Jack nudges his sister in the ribs. "I think there's no contest here, obviously I'm the favorite."

"You guys are being immature," Sky scolds, like the older brother of the group. In a lighter moment of his, he then smiles, "though if they do have favorites it would be me."

"Oh, come on," Bridge shakes his head at his roommate, mouth full of toast.

"I'm Kat's favorite," Z argues to Bridge's right, swatting his waggly fingers.

"No, me," Syd protests to Z's right.

"It's always the quiet ones," Jack argues with his feet up, to Syd's right.

"Then that would be me," Sky slaps Jack's feet of the table to his left.

"What are you guys arguing about?" Kat looks amused at her rangers.

"Who's your favorite?" Jack asks eagerly, twisting around in his seat.

"You might think that's Doggie, my friend of a good half–a–century or so—" she shrugs with a smile.

"Oh, that's not fair, I mean, excluding him," Z waves off.

"Well, I've worked with Boom for years," Kat muses, now just plain having fun at her rangers' distress.

"Out of the five of us!" Syd clarifies tiredly.

"Well, I can't pick from you guys. I love you all equally," she smiles at them fondly.

"Oh, come on, Kat, just pick a favorite," Bridge rolls his buttery fingers.

"That might be my baby daughter," Kat smiles as Doggie comes in, holding their infantile child in the crook of his left arm. Siria catches the eyes of her mother and giggles in joy. "Yes, hello, baby girl, come to Mommy."

B–Squad melts as the stoic Commander Cruger hands off the beautiful baby girl to Kat. Katherine looks at her daughter with adoration they've never seen in their lifetimes. The little one looks at her mother brightly, laughing at the beautiful brown curls that drift past her face. She grabs onto the ends but Kat gently takes them away, cooing and offering her finger instead. Little Siria has tiny, baby claws, prominent like Cruger's and retractable like Kat's.

"Okay, she's my favorite too," Z smiles down at the bundle of joy.

The rest of them agree with misty eyes and gentle smiles.

Bridge, who took to wearing one glove during Kat's pregnancy – so he could read the baby's aura as checkups – touches Siria's cheek. He's overwhelmed with the simply happy aura of the kind of joy only a baby could feel. He also feels Kat's aura, purely love for her daughter, her B–Squad kids and her husband. He feels Cruger's aura, soaring with love and pride. "No contest, little thing, you're everyone's favorite already."

"Even Birdy's," Cruger chuckles deeply, remembering the uncharacteristic cooing of Fowler when he met little Siria. The overstuffed pelican had even bought her a toy pelican!

"Just wait, her first word will be SPD," Kat shakes her head fondly.