There You Were
by
Pink-Green-White-4ever
Last Revised: September 20, 2005
Summary: Someone important to Sky Tate is attacked and nearly killed, not
by Grumm, but by mere humans, and the former Blue Ranger has to decide what’s
more important – his present with one woman, or his future with another.
Rating: M for adult situations
Disclaimer: I don’t own them, never did, if I did, lots would be
different.
Ship: Z/Bridge, Sky/OC, eventual Sky/Syd
“You don't get to choose how you're going to die. Or
when. You can only decide how you're going to live. Now.” -- Joan Baez --
“Some girls are worth fighting for, but some are worth dying for.” -- Unknown --
“What greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel that they are
joined together to strengthen each other in all labor, to minister to each other
in all sorrow, to share with each other in all gladness, to be one with each
other in the silent unspoken memories.” -- George Elliot --
--
The shrill ringing of the phone broke the quiet of the darkened bedroom. A deep
groan was heard by one of the sleeping occupants on the bed of navy covers and
pillows.
“Sky, answer the phone already,” a soft voice commanded.
“Anna, it’s on your side of the bed,” Sky heatedly told her, but leaned over his
girlfriend and answered it just the same. “Tate here.”
“Sky Tate?” a voice asked, uncertain.
“Yes, who is this?”
“Mr. Tate, I’m Doctor Parker at New Tech City Memorial Hospital. Sir, do you
know a Sydney Drew?”
Sky’s eyes popped open instantly, his entire body completely awake. “Yes. Why?”
“Sir, she’s been brought in, and you’re listed as her contact person in her
records. I’m afraid you’re going to need to come down.”
“I’ll be right there.” Sky clicked the phone off and jumped out of bed.
“What’s going on?” Anna asked, sitting up, holding the sheet to her chest.
“Syd’s at the hospital, I need to go see what’s going on.”
Anna glared. “You know, you always jump whenever she asks you to do something.
Why is that?”
Sky rounded on her after he zipped his jeans and grabbed a t-shirt. Standing
there, barefoot and shirtless, Sky glared at her. Normally, she never said
anything about him hanging out with the other members of his former team,
especially Syd. “Because she’s my best friend, and she’s known me longer and far
better than anyone. That’s why. There isn’t anything in this world I wouldn’t do
for her.”
Anna pouted. “It’s not fair, Sky, let Bridge or Jack take care of it.”
“NO.” Sky pulled the t-shirt over his head. “I think you’d better head home
after I leave, because I don’t know how long I’m gonna be down there, and I know
I’m not gonna want to talk to you when I get back.”
“Fine.”
--
The drive to the hospital was the longest fifteen minutes of Sky’s life. A
jumble of emotions, memories, and fears surged through him. He tore through the
doors of the emergency room looking frantic.
“Excuse me!” Sky called to the nurse on duty.
“Yes Sir?”
“Dr. Parker called me, said my friend was brought in. Her name is Sydney Drew.”
Sky watched in shock as the nurse’s eyes filled with tears and she nodded,
reaching for the phone. She dialed a number, spoke softly into the phone and
then hung up. “You need to go back to room three; Dr. Parker’s waiting for you.”
The former Blue Ranger nodded and rushed back through the door, looking for room
three. He saw a young doctor, not much older than himself, standing outside a
room with a clipboard in hand. “Dr. Parker?”
“Mr. Tate,” Robert Parker greeted, shaking Sky’s hand.
“What’s going on?”
His lips were set in a thin line as he debated what to tell Sky. “She was
brought in two hours ago; we finally got her stabilized right after I called
you. Her bodyguard was shot and killed and she was attacked while leaving an
appearance at a local night club. She’s... to put it nicely, she had the snot
kicked out of her.”
Sky instinctively knew that the Doctor was holding back something. “What else?”
Swallowing, Robert looked up. “She was raped, repeatedly, and by more than one
person. An SPD. unit has them in protective custody, after an innocent
bystander heard her screaming and called for help. Commander Cruger is on his
way here, as are several others.”
Sky felt his knees give out, causing his legs to fold. Strong hands grabbed his
arms, causing him to look up into Commander Cruger and Jack’s faces. Behind
them, Kat, Boom, Bridge and Z came rushing in. “Oh God! SYDNEY!” Sky howled.
--
When the staff finally got Sydney moved to a private room, her friends and
superiors were finally allowed to see her. Sky was the first to go in, and he
was completely unprepared for the sight before him.
She lay in the bed, still as can be, bandages covering the top of her head and
sides of her face. There were bruises on her face, her eyes were swollen shut,
and she was hooked up to a respirator, the machine giving her the precious gift
of air, and ultimately life.
Sky’s eyes welled over, the tears running heedlessly down his cheeks as he moved
toward her bed, disbelieving the sight before him. Instead of sitting in the
chair next to her bed, Sky collapsed to his knees on the floor next to the bed,
taking her hand in his as he stared at her. He could barely tell that it was her
under all the bandages.
“Oh Syd,” he murmured, shaking his head while he held her hand. Her nails, he
noticed, were cracked and broken, several of the tips missing. By that clue
alone, he knew she’d fought back, had struggled for her life.
The doctor had sedated her to keep her from thrashing about when the painkillers
began to wear off. “How is she?” Z’s soft voice floated to him. He turned his
head only slightly, noticing the former Yellow Ranger slipping into the room,
the others beyond the door, waiting anxiously.
“Look at her Z!” Sky hissed, gesturing to their fallen comrade. “It doesn’t even
look like her under there!”
Z closed her eyes, hearing the pain dripping from his voice. The former Yellow
Ranger knew the one secret neither Sky nor Syd had ever shared with each other,
or anyone else but her – they were in love with each other and didn’t know it.
It didn’t matter that both of them were seeing other people, or in Syd’s case,
had been seeing another person, they still loved each other. For Z to watch Sky
staring at Syd the way he was, it was almost too much.
Carefully, Z moved over to kneel with her former teammate, wrapping an arm
around his waist as she leaned her head against his shoulder, letting him know
there was someone with him, someone who understood what he was feeling and
experiencing.
“Can we come in?” Jack asked from the door, his heart breaking at the look on
Sky’s face, let alone the look on Z’s. Sky nodded and the others filed in
quietly. Bridge and Jack took up positions across the bed from Sky and Z, with
Kat and Boom joining them and Cruger moving over to lay his hand on Sky’s
shoulder.
“Did they catch who did this to her?” Bridge asked, his head throbbing. He was
doing everything he could to block out the hopelessness and pain he was feeling
from the others, let alone from other people in the hospital.
“Dr. Parker said an SPD unit had them in custody. Commander, I want to speak
with them,” Sky hissed, rising to his feet and helping Z up.
“No.”
Six sets of eyes widened in shock, one in anger. “Commander!”
“Cadet Tate, you are too emotionally involved to speak with them. I will be
handling this, personally. I don’t need a lawsuit on my hands when you decide to
try and kill them for what they did to Syd.”
Cruger turned and strode from the room. Kat and Boom nodded to one another.
“Gang, we’re gonna go with him, make sure he doesn’t get himself into trouble.
We’ll be back in a bit.” With that, the two hurried out to find the big dog.
“Weren’t you with Anna tonight?” Bridge asked Sky, having been on a date with Z,
Jack and Jack’s girlfriend Allison earlier in the evening.
“Don’t even talk to me about her, I’m so mad at her I can’t see straight right
now,” Sky growled.
“Why?” Jack curiously questioned. Sky usually had nothing but positive comments
about his girlfriend.
“Because she told me basically it wasn’t fair to her for me to jump up from what
I was doing and come see Syd. I basically told her to get out of my apartment.
She had no right!” Sky yelled. “Sydney’s important to me.”
“More important than Anna?” Z quietly queried.
Sky turned in her direction and stared at her. “What are you getting at, Z?”
Stepping away from Sydney and toward Sky, Z looked up into the blue eyes of one
of her best friends. “I asked you a simple question, is Sydney more important
than Anna? Is the person who’s seen you through more of your best and worst
moments than anyone, been beside you as you fought your personal demons, saved
your ass more times than you probably care to count, more important than a girl
you’ve been dating for the last eight months? Correction, who you’ve been having
sex with for the last eight months, because you’ve already told me you two don’t
go out much, and I know you don’t love her.”
Sky looked hurt by Z’s words. “I...”
“You need to take a good long look at yourself, Sky. Your feelings of anger
aren’t toward Anna, they’re toward someone else. The rest of us have seen it for
years, it’s time you woke up and figured out where Syd stands in your life.
Either you’ve been lying to yourself for years about how you feel about her, or
you just haven’t figured it out yet.”
--
She felt like she was floating in a warm, love filled place. She could feel the
presence of people around her, people who cared and loved her. She could feel
the security and peace of mind of Commander Cruger, the hope from Kat along with
the comfort. Boom blared through her subconscious, reminding her of something
bright and orange. And then there were the others - Jack’s fierce protectiveness
and loyalty, Bridge’s calm serenity and positive thinking, Z’s need to reassure
her of her friendship and how much she missed her, and then there was Sky. What
she felt from him, stood out beyond the others. She felt a mix of the same
feelings she was getting from the others, but there was one that stood out that
she didn’t readily get from the others.
Love.
‘SKY!’ she practically screamed, but stopped, somehow knowing it was futile.
‘What happened to me?’ she asked herself softly, when the memories came rushing
back. ‘Oh God! There were so many of them, and I couldn’t stop them!’ she cried.
“Sydney.”
The voice sliced through the haze and drove straight into her heart. “Sydney, I
know you can hear me. Listen to me, you’ve got to fight this, you’ve got to make
it through this. You’re stronger than you think. If you run out of strength,
I’ll give you mine. Please, wake up. Just let me know you’re still in there,
please.”
‘Sky’ she thought as her body came up, like she was rising out of a pool of
something heavy and murky. When her eyes opened, he was leaning his head on the
pillow next to her. “Sky.”
--
He was half asleep and mumbling as he was caught in the throes of a dream turned
nightmare, watching Sydney get attacked by a number of faceless, nameless
attackers, and there was nothing he could do.
“Sky.”
All night long, he’d cried silently, it was only now, when she had said his
name, did Sky let loose with the body wracking sobs. “Oh my God, Sydney!”
Syd was startled by the hysterical crying her best friend was doing, so she
desperately tried to move, the only part of her body responding was her hand,
which she was able to move up to touch his cheek. “Sky.”
He closed his eyes and leaned into her caress, letting the tears he’d cried run
over her fingertips. “Don’t do that to me, ever again.”
“Sorry.”
--
Z saw him standing by the window in Sydney’s room when she walked in. Quietly,
she put the flowers and balloons she’d brought for Syd on the bedside table
before she moved to stand beside him.
Everyday for the last four days, the former Blue Ranger had stood vigil nearly
night and day in Sydney’s room. “What are you still doing here? I thought
Commander Cruger ordered you to get some sleep?”
“He did. I disobeyed. Happy?”
Z shook her head at him. “Not really. Are you ok?”
Sky sighed. “Not really. I’ve been doing some thinking since you yelled at me
the other day.”
The former Yellow Ranger actually had the grace to blush. She hadn’t meant to
yell at him, per say. They were way past her yelling at him after all these
years. No, what she’d hoped to accomplish was to open his eyes to what had been
in front of him for years, more years than even she had been friends with him.
Since the start of her service at SPD, Z had known that Sydney harbored
strong feelings for the stoic and stick-in-the-mud Blue Ranger, but it hadn’t
been until much later, after the defeat of Gruumm, that Z had been told about
Sky’s feelings for Sydney.
The biggest astonishment was that Sydney had actually TRIED to get Sky to like
her and at every turn, the Blue Ranger had been dumber than dirt where the Pink
Ranger was concerned. After a while, Syd had just stopped trying, resigned that
she would secretly love Sky for the rest of her life and never get the chance to
be with him the way she wanted.
And now, Z saw the toll the years of secretly loving one another had done to
them. If only... if only Sky had been with Syd, then maybe... but Z knew it was no
good wishing. If only’s were enough to drive a person crazy. There was no
changing the past.
“And what did you come up with?” Z finally asked, turning to face Syd’s bed
while she rested against the window sill.
“That you were right; I’ve been mad at myself, not Anna. I should have told Syd
a long time ago. Maybe if I had, she wouldn’t have been at that club the other
night but home, in bed with me, instead of me being with Anna.”
Z grinned slightly. “You gonna tell her?”
Sky nodded. “I have to; I can’t keep going on like this. I need her, always
have, always will. It’s more than time to tell her.”
Sighing, Z stood straight up. “I’ve got duty in about thirty minutes. Tell her
I’ll be back later.”
Sky smiled at her and watched her leave before he strode over to Sydney’s bed
and sat in the chair next to it, taking her hand in his.
“I love you.”
Numb. That’s what Sky felt as he looked down at the petite blonde in the bed,
who should have been asleep but wasn’t. ‘She heard everything I said to Z,’ he
thought, swallowing hard.
“Sky, did you hear me?”
Nodding, Sky couldn’t get his mouth to form the words. He looked into her face,
which was now not as heavily bandaged as it had been before, and saw the look in
her eyes. She looked... afraid. That’s what snapped Sky out of his stupor. She
looked afraid that he was mad at her.
“Oh Sydney,” he murmured, moving to kiss her bandaged covered forehead. “Have a
nice nap?”
Syd nodded slowly, the act still causing her a bit of pain. “Yeah.”
“Z brought you balloons, and some flowers,” Sky gestured to the beside table.
Syd smiled but Sky noticed it didn’t reach her eyes.
“You should get going, don’t you have a date with Anna tonight? I wouldn’t want
to be the cause of any friction between you two.”
Sky’s expression was one of pain. Sydney was stunned to see his beautiful face
scrunch up the way it was. “Sydney... I...”
“What? I’m not incapable of hanging out in the hospital by myself. It’s not like
I’m a little girl who needs protecting anymore!” she spat at him, angry that
she’d laid her heart open only to have him shove it back in her face, again.
“I’m sorry...” Sky whispered softly, bringing her hand up to his lips, kissing
her knuckles softly.
“For what?” Syd angrily asked, trying to snatch her hand from his.
“For not telling you,” he told her, looking at her hand as his thumb caressed
it. “For not tell you all these years how I felt about you. For letting you get
hurt like this when you should have been with me, out of harms way.”
Sky swallowed hard when he saw the tears in her eyes. “Sky?”
“I love you, Sydney, have loved you for a very long time. I’m so sorry I let
this happen to you,” he told her, tearing up himself.
“Oh Sky,” she whispered, reaching up to caress his cheek. “You couldn’t have
stopped this from happening. No one could have foreseen this.”
“I SHOULD HAVE!” Sky yelled, knocking the chair back as he stood suddenly, and
began to pace the room. “You should have been at home, with me, instead of at
the stupid club! Instead, you were there, and I was home getting laid!”
Syd winced at his overly descriptive words. She felt her stomach roll at the
though of Sky having sex with Anna. “Sky...”
“DAMNIT! IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN YOU IN BED WITH ME INSTEAD OF HER!”
Sky looked startled after his outburst, almost as startled as Sydney did. The
former Pink Ranger couldn’t quite wrap her mind around what he’d just said. ‘He
loves me,’ she thought, tears welling in her eyes and a smile blooming on her
face.
Rushing forward, Sky perched on the edge of her bed, leaning toward her, her
face cupped in his hands. “I love you, Sydney Drew, only you, always you.”
“I love you, Schuyler Tate, always you, only you, forever,” she gave back to
him, watching him smile through his own tears.
Slowly, Sky leaned forward and kissed her, making both of their dreams come
true.
--
“AW SYD!” Jack whined, pouting at the former Pink Ranger as she ran past him and
did several back handsprings, and ended with a full layout in the grass next to
Z.
“I told you I could do it, powers or not,” Syd teased. She shot a look over at Z
and Bridge, who were wrapped in each other’s arms and sitting on the grass at
her feet. They’d opted to watch her and Jack challenge each other to a mini
gymnastics competition. She had to grin at that, so far, Jack was losing.
Commander Cruger, Kat and Boom sat at the picnic table not far away, talking and
munching on various goodies that had been set out.
And then there was Sky, sitting just past the picnic table, leaning against a
tree, asleep. He had a book resting on his chest as he dozed, and it made her
heart shudder.
In the two months since she’d been hurt, and since her and Sky had finally told
each other they loved one another, she found herself falling even farther for
the ex Blue Ranger, if that was possible.
“Come on Jack, let’s go eat,” Z suggested, noticing Syd walking away from them
and toward Sky.
Kneeling next to him, Sydney reached out and took the book off Sky’s chest,
making sure to mark the page. Once she sat it down, she scooted closer to him,
raising her hand up to cup his cheek. He looked so much like a little boy when
he slept. It still amazed her that he felt for her what she felt for him.
She relished waking up next to him in the mornings, watching him sleep while she
simply stared at him. She’d been staying with him in apartment since she’d
gotten out of the hospital because she couldn’t stand being by herself now that
Z and Bridge were engaged and sharing a place and she no longer had her best
friend with her.
They had planned to wait until she’d worked through all of her issues having to
deal with the rape before they moved onto a physical relationship, but last
night, waiting had gone out the window. Yesterday was the two month anniversary
of them telling each other about their feelings, and one thing had led to
another.
She had to smile. Sky had stuttered and froze up so many times last night in an
attempt to make sure she was okay with making love to him that she had only
laughed at him and kissed him to soothe his nerves.
It was by no means her first time, the rape not counting, but it had felt more
magical than her first time ever could have been. It was like Sky had that
special key that had unlocked the woman inside her who’d been hiding, waiting
for the right man to release her.
Waking up next to him this morning had been... dreamlike, and she knew she’d
always cherish the feelings she’d felt. “You like staring at me when I’m
sleeping, don’t you?”
Syd was surprised that he was awake, as his eyes were still closed, but she knew
he’d felt the connection between them as strongly as she had. “You’re cute when
you sleep.”
“So you’re saying I’m not cute the rest of the time?”
She socked him lightly in the shoulder before he pulled her into his arms and
cuddled her against his chest, arms wrapped tightly around her. “You’re cute all
the time, but there’s something about when you sleep that just gets to me. Must
be that little boy innocence you display that I don’t see in you when you’re
awake.”
“I’m not a little boy,” he leered at her. He smiled when she snuggled against
his chest, her arms trapped between them.
“In some departments, no, you aren’t a little boy,” she shot back, watching him
blush. “I love you, Sky.”
Smiling, Sky leaned down and pecked a kiss to her head. “I love you too Syd.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, looking up at him.
“For what?”
“You were there for me when I needed you the most; you’re always there for me
when I need you.”
“And I always will be,” he told her softly.