A/N: I know you guys were probably steamed based on what happened in the last chapter. Here's a little bit of a lighter chapter to take care of that!

Chapter Five: Proper Propwash Party

"Buenos dias, chica!" Rosa called cheerfully, shaking Sky awake.

Sky moaned tiredly, shoving her head under her pillow. "Rosa, it's Saturday! You're not supposed to wake me up on Saturdays."

"Come on, now! You must get up!" Rosa encouraged. "Señor Sparky and Señor Chug are waiting for you."

Sky felt a little guilty that the two came all the way out to the orphanage without knowing her choice for the day. "Rosa, I don't want to go to Propwash today. I'll pick up my work on Monday."

"But chica, Sparky said you were going to spend the weekend in Propwash Junction." Rosa said.

Sky blinked and shot upright, staring at Rosa. "I am?"

"That's what Sparky told me." Rosa said. "He invited you to spend a nice, enjoyable weekend out at Propwash Junction, and you agreed."

When did I do that? Sky wondered.

"Hey Sky!" Sparky's voice called cheerfully from downstairs. "Come on! We got a weekend's worth of fun to get started on!"

Sky blinked in surprise, looking both confused and nervous. "Uh….."

"Come on, chica!" Rosa chirped, patting the girl's shoulder. "Up and at 'em! I already packed your bag."

Needless to say, Sky was thoroughly confused. But she found herself rising from her bed and changing into her red shirt (long since washed) and a set of overalls. She tossed her pajamas into a small duffel Rosa packed for her and hopped down the stairs to meet with Sparky. The forklift had a warm smile on his face as they bid Rosa goodbye and headed out to meet Chug out on the street. The fuel truck greeted Sky warmly, as if yesterday never happened.

"Okay, what's going on?" Sky asked as she boarded the trailer with Sparky.

"You're spending the weekend in Propwash Junction." Sparky explained. "No work, no school, just having fun and spending the night. You'll be back in Sterling by dinnertime Sunday."

"But why?" Sky asked.

"So you can eat dinner with Rosa and have a good night's sleep before school on Monday." Sparky said simply.

Sky rolled her eyes. "No, I mean why am I spending the weekend in Propwash?"

"Everyone needs a little time off now and then, kiddo." Chug said. "You've been working hard all week. You deserve a break."

Sky blinked in surprise for the third time that morning. But she allowed Chug and Sparky to engage her in a conversation to help the drive go by. Arriving in Propwash Junction, Sparky escorted Sky to the hanger. Sky was a little nervous about how Skipper would receive her. But when the hanger doors opened, Skipper gave her the usual stare he wore when she arrived in the past.

"Welcome back, Skylar Amelia." Skipper said, sounding rather civil. "There's a hammock over there where you'll sleep tonight. You left your backpack here, but we just set it over there. Set your bag down and we'll get started."

"Am I doing a job today?" Sky asked as she set her duffel down next to her backpack.

"No." Skipper said. "You're getting a tour of Propwash Junction."

"It's a tiny town. I think I got a good look coming in every day." Sky noted in a somewhat snarky tone.

"It's one thing to get a look at the town." Skipper said as they exited the hanger. "It's another to get an actual tour."

Sky didn't fully understand, and she hoped the look she gave Skipper let him know that. But he simply gestured her to join him as he taxied towards town. Sparky carried the ten-year-old girl in his forks, the tour beginning at the Fill N' Fly.

"Hey there, Skylar!" Chug greeted at the station. He turned to the garage nearby. "Hey Dottie! Come on out here!"

Sky leaned out a bit to see a periwinkle blue forklift exit the garage attached to the Fill N' Fly, her pretty mahogany eyes alert and focused. She smiled as she approached them. "Hey guys."

"Dottie, this is Skylar Amelia." Chug introduced. "Skylar, this is Dottie. She's the mechanic for the Fill N' Fly."

"Uh, hi." Sky waved a bit shyly.

"Hi there." Dottie greeted. "Amelia, huh? That's an interesting last name."

Sky looked down. "It's actually my middle name. I don't have a last name." She waited for the awkward pause or for Dottie to begin stuttering nervously.

Instead, Dottie shrugged. "Oh okay. Good to know." If she noticed Sky's surprised look, she didn't show. "So, you guys giving Skylar a tour of the town?"

"Yep!" Sparky nodded happily.

"Great!" Dottie said with a warm smile. "Well, this is the Fill N' Fly. I work here with my dad and Chug. We do repairs, for the most part, but really we just try and make sure all the planes and cars around here are working correctly."

"I don't see very many cars around here." Sky noted. "Or humans for that matter."

"True." Dottie laughed. "It's mostly a plane town. The only reason this place exists is because of the airport."

"Oh." Sky nodded in understanding. "I guess that makes sense. So, are there any other businesses around here?"

"Oh yeah!" Chug nodded excitedly. "And you'll get to see them all!"

Chug wasn't kidding. He, Sparky, and Skipper took her to every single business in Propwash Junction, introducing her to the residents as they passed and giving her time to talk with the business owners. She re-met Dusty as she was getting introduced to Leadbottom, finding the biplane's obsession with his mulch a tad strange; she talked with Brodi and his wife at the motel, both of the planes cooing at Sky's apparent cuteness; she walked around the small grocery store, run by one of the few humans found in the town; she met with Mayday and Max again, the two firefighters taking the time to explain their wall of awards to an amazed Sky (she decided she liked them best); she even got to go into the air traffic control tower and talk to some of the staff. Dusty was right; everyone knew everyone by name and occupation, so for her to be wandering around caught quite a bit of attention. By the time Sparky announced the tour to be over, Sky knew every single human and vehicle by name and everyone in town knew about her. Sky didn't reveal much about herself; she was ten years old, in the fourth grade, and an orphan psych-man were the key details. Surprisingly, nobody pushed the whole "orphan" thing. They asked her about her school and what she liked to do for fun. They seemed very fascinated with Skylar's abilities as a psych-man. There were no looks of pity or comments about her situation or questions about why she was an orphan. It almost seemed unreal that she was one.

"Folks around here know how to treat others based on who they are, not what they are." Skipper explained during lunch. "That's just the way things work. How you portray yourself shows how others see you."

Wise as those words were, Sky noticed something about the townsfolk. When they saw Sparky, they would greet him warmly. When they saw Sky, they looked surprised but smiled kindly. When they saw Skipper, they just looked surprised. Sparky explained that Skipper doesn't usually like to go out much, but if Sky's hunch was correct she would guess Skipper didn't go out into town at all. It seemed strange that the Corsair could spend so much time in Propwash Junction and yet nobody seemed to know much about him. Maybe the fact that he was a warplane threw people off. Or maybe he just wasn't that sociable and he was just doing the tour for Sky's sake. Or maybe…..just maybe…there was something he wasn't telling Sky.

Skipper eventually returned to the hanger, leaving Sky to hang out with Sparky and Chug. She wandered around the town for a while, waving and smiling to residents. Sparky secretly felt overjoyed at the sight of such a warm smile on Sky's face. How long had it been since she truly smiled like that? Sky walked out to the edge of the cliff near the runway, staring out over the edge and laughing at the updraft of wind blowing in her face. Then, she stood as close to the edge of the cliff as she dared, closed her eyes, and spread her arms, allowing the wind to brush against her skin.

"Whatcha doin', Sky?" Sparky asked.

Sky sighed. "Pretending to fly."

She ended up starting a soccer game out in one of the fields nearby, joined in by several of the Propwash residents, human and vehicle alike. The game lasted for a few hours before people began drifting away to eat dinner. Sky and Sparky were the last to leave, returning to the hanger where Skipper waited. The three of them ate dinner together, talking and even laughing a bit. Afterwards, when night had fallen, Skipper took Sky outside to stare at the stars, explaining the different constellations and how the Wrenches would use the stars as maps. Sky stared in amazement, smiling excitedly and nodding in understanding as Skipper talked. The two talked for a few hours before Sky began nodding off, and Skipper encouraged her inside to get to bed. Her hammock turned out to be a bed sheet and some rope holding it to the ceiling and some feet off the ground. Sky dressed in her pajamas and brushed her teeth before Sparky helped her into the hammock, and she bid him and Skipper goodnight.

But as Sky slept, she suddenly became aware of the sound of an engine revving in the room. She moaned sleepily, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. But she felt wind on her face and her eyes snapped open to see Skipper's propeller spinning crazily. He was jerking and flinching, muttering incoherent words. Even with his eyes shut, he looked terrified, almost in pain, as though someone stabbed him repeatedly. Sky jumped when Skipper jerked, rolling closer to the raven-haired girl. His propellers now rested only a few feet away from her hammock, and she knew it would take only one hit to split her skull open.

"Sparky!" Sky shouted. "Sparky, help!"

Sparky hurried into the room. When he saw Skipper, his eyes widened and he hopped onto the scissor lift to reach Skipper's cockpit. "Skipper! Hey, Skip! Wake up!" He had to knock on the Corsair's cockpit a few times, but Skipper's eyes finally flew open and his breathing became labored. His eyes darted around for a moment until Sparky's soft, soothing tone calmed him down. Then, Skipper caught sight of Sky. She stared at him with wide eyes, looking thoroughly startled.

The Corsair cleared his throat. "Sorry about that. You all right?"

Sky swallowed. "Y-yeah, I guess."

Skipper rolled a little closer to her. "You sure?" He asked worriedly. "I'm sorry if I scared you, I just—"

"No, no, it's okay." Sky assured, calming down herself. "That looked like one heck of a nightmare."

Skipper didn't want to think about the details. But he nodded. "Yeah."

Sky tilted her head to one side, concern shining in her eyes. "You wanna talk about it?"

"It's nothing you need to concern yourself with." Skipper assured, backing up into a corner of the hanger. Sparky stared a bit sadly at Skipper before lowering himself down, parking the scissor lift against the wall and returning to his room. Sky stared at Skipper as the Corsair settled down into an uneasy sleep. She carefully climbed out of the hammock, untying the bed sheet from the ropes that held it and dragging the cloth across the ground towards Skipper. She pulled a small step ladder to the warplane and used it to help her climb up onto his wing. Skipper blinked his eyes open in surprise, glancing to Sky as the child tossed the bed sheet up and draped it over his cockpit and back.

Sky looked to him, blue-green orbs locking with blue-gray ones. "So you don't get cold." She said simply, tugging the sheet a little farther over his cockpit. She hopped down from his wing and walked over to her stuff, curling up on the ground and using her duffel as a pillow. Skipper stared at her for a long moment before settling down to sleep again.

The next morning, Sky ate breakfast with Sparky and Skipper and then joined Chug outside for another round of soccer. Mayday and Max came by, asking Sky if she would help them test out their equipment for repair checks. Sky happily agreed, although by the end of their tests all three of them were soaked in water. Sky spent the rest of the afternoon with Skipper and Sparky, the three of them looking out over the land and simply talking as the sun dried off the water on Sky. When Sparky regretfully announced their return to the orphanage, Sky admittedly felt sad. But she knew she would be back; tomorrow was her last day to work for her questions.

As Sky left the hanger, her backpack on one shoulder and duffel bag in hand, she turned to face Skipper. The Corsair stared down at her with the softest of smiles.

"You survived the weekend." He told her. "See you tomorrow?"

Sky's voice came out as a whisper, a small smile on her lips. "Aye-aye, crankshaft."