Chapter Five – Family Reunion

The rest of fire season passed without another major incident. No officers or anyone else came to talk to the firefighters about Cad, and nobody heard anything about the court verdict. So either Cad got away with it or the news was staying under wraps to avoid bad press for the park. Regardless of the verdict, Cad never did return to Piston Peak National Park, and Jammer assured the firefighters that he never will return. The team celebrated for that alone, and life moved on.

Despite having several chances to do so, Nick had yet to tell Sky about his feelings for her. Either the moment didn't feel right or they were always interrupted or Nick bailed out at the last second from fear. With fire season coming to a close, Nick would have to either wait until next fire season or find his bravery and go after her in Propwash Junction.

Why is this so hard? Nick wondered. He cast a look to Sky as she helped Maru inspect the water hoses. This doesn't feel anything like when I was with those girls from the show. Then again, most of those were one-night-stands that Blade never stopped teasing me about.

Sky glanced towards Nick, who shook as though to refocus himself. The ghost disappeared. Sky chuckled and shook her head. "Ever notice Nick stares at me a lot?"

"I see it now and then." Maru shrugged. "Not sure what it could be."

Sky caught Maru's smirk. "Oh you know what it could be, Maru. Even with all your sass, you're the most observant out of all of us. Fess up."

"Can't say." Maru shrugged again.

"I'm going to figure it out sooner or later." Sky said.

"If you haven't figure it out by now, then I doubt it." Maru snorted.

"Well maybe I have a hunch and you just don't know it." Sky said sassily.

"And what hunch is that?" Maru asked.

A buzz on the intercom interrupted the conversation. "Civilian approaching the base. I repeat, civilian approaching the base."

"Saved by the Patch." Sky smirked. She jogged off to meet with Blade, leaving Maru to roll his eyes at her. Sky joined Blade as they approached the human coming onto the firefighting base. It appeared to be an older man with tanned skin, grey hair the color of a raincloud, and—oddly enough—the exact same color eyes as Sky. The man wore jeans, brown cowboy boots, and a white-and-green plaid shirt. His shoulder-length hair was pulled into a man bun, and he had a neatly-trimmed beard.

"Hello." The man greeted.

"Can we help you?" Blade asked. Always right to the point, as usual.

"I certainly hope so." The man stared at Sky with a friendly smile. He also seemed a bit awestruck, maybe excited. "You're Skylar Smith, right? Or do you go by Skylar Waller?"

Sky frowned, albeit suspiciously. "I don't go by either of those names."

The man chuckled. "Right, right, of course. You've been Skylar Riley for a long time."

"How do you know that?" Blade demanded.

"Oh dear I'm not being very clear." The man rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I'm so sorry, Skylar. You may not believe this, but I must come right out and say it: I'm Nathan, your maternal grandfather."

Sky and Blade stared in shock. "I'm sorry, what?" Sky asked.

"Can you prove this?" Blade asked.

"Well, here's a picture of me holding you when you were a baby." Nathan pulled out his wallet and produced said picture. "And here are some pictures of me and my daughter, Skylar's mother."

The pictures did look convincing. Sky recognized the younger version of her mother. "I'm not sure I'm convinced."

"Then let me show you." Nathan held out his hands. "May I?"

Sky and Blade shared a look, and then stepped closer. Nathan held Sky's hand with one hand and pressed his palm to Blade's muzzle. Nathan's irises turned white, as did Sky's and Blade's. Before their eyes, a memory appeared. They saw a younger version of Nathan—one with darker hair—sitting in a living room and reading a story to an infant with black hair and eyes like his. The memory disappeared, and Nathan grinned. He showed them a mark on his palm: a psyche human birthmark in the shape of a snowflake. Nathan held his hand out, palm up, and a firework of snow shot from his hand and exploded above them. Thanks to the lingering August heat, the snow melted in seconds. But it was proof enough.

"Wow." Sky breathed. "You're…you're really…"

"It's good to see you again, Skylar." Nathan said.

Sky laughed in her glee, and she suddenly hugged Nathan. "What are you doing here? How did you find me?"

"That's a bit of a long story." Nathan said. "But if you'd like to hear it, and if I'm not taking up much of your time….."

"We only need to leave if we hear a siren." Blade assured. "Come on. Let's talk."

"CAN WE COME?"

Sky, Blade, and Nathan looked around to see the rest of the firefighters gathered around. They stared at Sky's grandfather as though he were an exotic animal at the zoo.

In minutes, everyone gathered in the main hanger to hear Nathan talk. Sky sat right next to her grandfather, attentive and smiling all the while.

Nathan studied Sky's face. "You know, you're the spitting image of my wife. She's your namesake, you know."

"Wow." Sky breathed.

"So if you're Sky's grandfather, why didn't you adopt her when her parents left?" Dusty asked.

"Well, I rarely got to see Skylar in the first place." Nathan said. "I live on a reserve with a clan of psyche humans known as Psikearen. We're a branch of Basque people who are known for our exceptional psyche human abilities. Your mother was once part of that clan, but she believed she didn't belong there because she wasn't born a psyche human. I suppose she didn't like living there, anyway. She left, and for the longest time I didn't know what happened to her. Heck, I had no idea she even had a child. My own daughter didn't tell me she had a child. She did let it slip to my wife—bless her soul—who told me, and I came to see you. I had to return to the clan soon after I came out to see you. I'm their leader, after all. I managed to fit in a few visits here and there while you were growing up. Then, one day, I flew out to see you, and you and your parents were gone. Moved away, or so I assumed. Your mother never contacted me again, and I was left in the dark, wondering what happened to you."

"Did you have a very good relationship with Sky's mom?" Drip asked.

"In hindsight, probably not." Nathan admitted. "As my daughter, she was next in line for the role of leader to our people. That surely put a lot of pressure on her, especially since she didn't have psych-man abilities. Of course, there are several members of our clan who aren't psych-mans. I tried to assure her that her child could take over if she didn't want the job. Then she met her husband, and the next thing I know she's off and moving halfway across the country." Nathan sighed and shook his head. "Your mother was a rather bitter woman, Skylar. Don't be too hard on her. She herself intensified the mild pressure I put on her, and I don't think I could've stopped it. It's like she thought being the daughter of the chief meant everyone had high expectations for her. I expected her to be a leader, not a deity for heaven's sake."

"So I guess you found out about Sky recently?" Dipper said.

"That's right." Nathan confirmed. "I'm a racing fan myself, and I watched everything from Lightning McQueen to the Wings Around the Globe. I saw Skylar's races with Mr. Crophopper, and I even read about the incident at the Academy of Psyche Students. But it didn't click until your sister CJ contacted me. Found my number in her mother's contacts book. She told me everything that happened, and that you were my granddaughter. I knew I had to come out and see you again. Rebuild that relationship I wanted to have with you when you were a child. If you wish, that is."

"That would be great." Sky said, hugging Nathan again. "It would be nice to have a better relationship with my family than the one I have with my parents. CJ and I stay in touch, but my…..that is, her parents, don't like me very much."

"I can't imagine why." Nathan said. "You're such an amazing young woman." Sky blushed, and Nathan hugged her again. "I'm serious, Skylar. You've done some incredible things. I don't understand why your parents would give you up and then cut you off completely."

"Well, I did punch my biological dad in the nose, so that could've contributed to it." Sky shrugged. Most of the Smokejumpers snickered.

Nathan chuckled. "Enough about me! Tell me of your abilities. You are part of my clan, which means you must have some strong powers."

"Sky has two powers!" Dusty said proudly. "And two Soul Connect Partners!"

"Really?" Nathan blinked in surprise. "Incredible."

Sky blushed again. "Well, yeah. It's pretty cool. I have pyrokinesis and the power of dreamscape."

"Dreamscape?" Nathan mused. "A very rare power indeed. And two Partners? Practically unheard of!"

"One of them is a Navy veteran and my surrogate dad." Sky explained. "But Chief Blade Ranger here was the first Partner I found."

"And I assume you watch over her during firefighting, yes?" Nathan asked Blade.

"Absolutely." Blade nodded. "Raven has become a solid member of this team, and she is a very dear friend. She's been helpful with some of the more personal problems on the base."

"That's my girl." Nathan tousled Sky's hair, making her giggle.

"What about you?" Sky asked. "Do you have a Soul Connect Partner?"

"Yes, but he passed away some years ago." Nathan said. "He's the reason my ice and snow abilities are so strong."

"Blade and I have been practicing with my dreamscape and pyro powers too." Sky said. "And Skipper helps when I'm back home in Propwash Junction."

"Skipper is Sky's dad." Dusty clarified at Nathan's questioning glance. "He adopted her when she was a kid."

"How did that happen?" Nathan asked.

"It's a long story." Sky said uncertainly.

"Well I'm certainly not going anywhere." Nathan laughed.

"And neither are we!" Dipper said excitedly. Blade and Cabbie rolled their eyes at the rest of the team's excitement. Windlifter remained passive.

Sky shook her head. "All right. Well, it's important to know that when I was a kid, I didn't have the best attitude about….well, anything…"

Nathan stayed on the base for the rest of the day. He learned of Sky's story from when she was adopted by Skipper to the incident at APS. He even video-chatted with Skipper, who was delighted to meet another of Sky's family who was actually nice. Sparky especially liked to talk with Nathan.

After Nathan went back to his room at the lodge, Sky decided to announce the day's revelation to Harley and Katherine.

"That's so great, Sky!" Harley said during the video chat. "I'm so happy for you."

"Your family is expanding more and more every year, it seems." Katherine said.

"It's so great." Sky sighed, relief in her tone. "I don't remember my biological family, and I always thought they were just as bad as my parents. To meet Nathan and learn how nice he is compared to my parents is really kind of a relief. Now I have a grandfather to go with my sister and everyone else in my family."

"It is a relief." Harley said. "I got to meet an aunt I didn't know I had, and she turned out to be very uncaring and mean. I'm so glad this worked out."

"Can you believe there are other psyche humans with strong powers like me?" Sky said. "This clan Nathan rules sounds really cool."

"I wonder why they're so much more powerful." Katherine asked.

"It may have something to do with our origins." Sky said. "Maybe I just have a history of really powerful psych-mans."

"You know, what if we took this question to the next level?" Harley suggested. She had a light in her eyes that indicated she had an idea. "Hey, who wants to join me in finding out where we come from?"

"Where we come from?" Sky repeated.

"Like the origins of psyche humans?" Katherine asked.

"Why not?" Harley shrugged. "We have questions that can't be answered because so few people have put legitimate effort into researching us. Any research that has been done isn't sufficient. So let's do our own research and find our own answers!"

"I guess we do have the most resources." Katherine mused.

"Well, fire season is ending soon." Sky said thoughtfully. "And I won't have anything to do until racing season kicks up in October."

"Between your grandfather and what we can do at C.H.R.O.M.E., I think we can do it!" Harley said assuredly.

"Let's have our Soul Connect Partners come too." Sky said. "They deserve answers as much as we do."

"Our Partners are a part of us just as much as our powers." Katherine added.

"Then I think we have a plan!" Harley said. "Sky, you let us know when you're off fire season. We're going to get answers!"

A/N: Fun fact for you guys: "Psikearen" is Basque for "psyche."

This chapter may be a bit shorter than the others, but I just couldn't write any more on it. There was nothing more to say. But the next chapters should be more compelling!