Warning: This story is rated (R) for non-graphic erotic content (ie, two boys having sex).

***

They filed out of the lounge in their pajamas, Commander Cruger looming behind them like some sort of benevolent watchdog as he sent them off to bed. Sky stepped to one side, letting the girls pass in front of him. Jack was dragging his feet, a disturbingly convincing shuffle that barely overtook Sky despite the fact that he was standing still, and Sky couldn't help watching.

Jack caught his eye, of course. Goofy white pajamas with red lining, loose linen that made him look all of ten years old, and a preoccupied expression that disappeared the second he saw Sky looking. His face lit up with a smile, a wink, and a jerk of his head in the direction they were all going anyway.

The invitation was unmistakable. To him and to anyone else watching, which right now included their commanding officer. Sky rolled his eyes, unable to hide a smile, because Jack had no shame. Okay, so they obviously weren't going to get a chance to talk once Cruger left, because Cruger wasn't leaving. But to imply that they were bunking together was just...

"'Night, Jack," Syd said, stifling a yawn as she waved her stuffed elephant over her shoulder.

Z paused outside Jack's door, bumping knuckles with him. "'Night, bro," she said quietly, and he smiled.

"'Night." Then he raised his voice as she turned away and called, "G'night, Syd! 'Night Bridge!"

Bridge came back with something that was probably best left undeciphered, and Jack turned his smirk on Sky. "Do I get a kiss good night?"

"Oh, shut up," Sky muttered, and the habit still made Jack chuckle. He hadn't quite been able to cure himself of it, even--especially?--when Jack started kissing him every time he said it.

With a sigh, Sky gave in to the inevitable and leaned down to kiss Jack briefly. "You're really obnoxious," he whispered, aware that Cruger's ears would have no trouble picking it up.

Jack's breath of laughter gave no indication that he knew they were being overheard. "You couldn't love anyone who wasn't," he murmured in return.

He had to admit that the evidence was on Jack's side there. "Lucky for you," he muttered. He didn't bother to say good night.

"Sweet dreams," Jack called after him, and only the fact that the commander was standing right there kept Sky from flipping him off.

The girls' door was already closed when he walked past, but Bridge had left theirs open for him. He was curled up on his bed, and Sky took a moment to orient himself with the light from the hallway before letting the door close. He made his way to his own bed in the dark, turning to lean against it for a long moment before sitting down.

So Cruger thought they'd done better than A Squad. Because they hadn't been captured. Unfortunately, the longer Sky thought about that reasoning, the more he had a problem with it. They had been captured, after all. Several times. They'd just managed to get each other out of it, time and again.

If it came down to it, the only thing B Squad really had that A Squad didn't was support. They had the resources of an entire SPD base at their disposal. They were fighting in a friendly environment, one that wouldn't kill them if they stumbled, or had to eject, or got lost or separated from the team. Backup was literally seconds away any time, all the time.

"Hey," Bridge's voice said, not sounding at all sleepy. "Jack wanted to talk to you."

Sky lifted his head automatically, but his eyes hadn't adjusted to the dark yet. Bridge was just a shadow in the room, dimly outlined by the city lights through the window. He hadn't moved since Sky came in.

"Jack always wants to talk to me," Sky told him. It didn't come out quite as mocking as he'd meant it to.

"Yeah," Bridge agreed, like he didn't even consider the possibility Sky might not be serious. "More tonight, though. And not just because it's night, either. Although he does totally want to get you in bed, so. Watch out for that."

Sky shifted uncomfortably. They had a rule about talking while someone was trying to sleep, but he supposed he hadn't technically laid down yet. It could reasonably be assumed that he wasn't trying to sleep while he was still sitting up.

"I think he was waiting for you in the lounge," Bridge's voice continued. "Something bad happened today. With Commander Cruger. He wanted to talk to you about it."

Sky frowned, but he didn't bother to ask how Bridge knew. Even he'd thought Jack was a little weird with Cruger tonight. Too stiff, too formal, avoiding his gaze when he wasn't talking... little things that Sky could have put down to the hour. Or to worry about what the commander thought of them. Anything, really.

Except that they stood out enough to be noticeable, and Jack actually covered pretty well. Some things, at least. Things like discomfort, uncertainty, insecurity--they just weren't part of his persona.

Anger, though. Jack had never been good at hiding that. Frustration. Impatience. Things that Z could talk him down from. Things that had shown in his expression the moment Cruger appeared in the doorway.

Sky stood up. "I'll be back," he told Bridge.

He was almost to the door when he heard Bridge mutter, "Uh-huh."

Sky shook his head, but he didn't check his stride. That turned out to be a mistake, because he made it a significant way down the hall before he realized the commander was still standing outside the lounge. It was disconcerting enough that he almost stopped, but lack of confidence never got anyone anywhere.

So he strode past the girls' room and was almost to Jack's door before Cruger spoke. "I thought I told you to get some sleep, Cadet."

He had nothing to apologize for. "Left my pillow in Jack's room, sir."

Because even if he had, what business was it of Cruger's anyway? Was he baby-sitting them now? So he'd come to check on them when he heard them in the B Wing lounge--they all knew where the likeliest place on base was for him to have heard them from, and no one had asked what he was doing in Kat's lab this late at night.

Sky let himself in, hoping Jack had heard him in the hallway and really hoping that he wasn't about to be thrown out for barging through the door. He couldn't stand there in the hallway and knock with Cruger staring at him. Especially after he'd just implied that he was sleeping with his team leader.

There was a light on in Jack's room. He was on his bed, comic book across his knees like it had fallen there when he'd sat up. The reading light between the beds created sharp shadows, making Jack's pajamas look brighter and his skin darker. He was watching the door with an intent expression that turned to happy surprise when Sky walked in.

Sky had never told him, but he could remember the first time he'd noticed Jack looking at him like that. For a few days afterwards, he had even kept count. Starting the afternoon he gave Jack his morpher back after using it to bring in Mirloc, he'd counted those smiles until he couldn't remember whether he was on twelve or thirteen. He'd gone with twelve, lost count again at fifteen, and then at twenty he'd given up.

"Sorry," he said under his breath. "I should have--" He jerked his thumb at the door, grimacing apologetically. "Knocked."

Jack always knocked. Even when the door was open, he knocked. And he didn't come in until Sky looked up, acknowledging his presence with his eyes.

Jack was grinning now, and he shook his head. "Would've ruined the effect," he whispered, and this time it was obvious he knew Cruger might be listening. "Nice entrance, by the way."

Sky shrugged, folding his arms for lack of anything better to do with them. "Bridge said he thought you wanted to talk."

"Figures," Jack murmured. He let himself fall back on the bed, one arm thrown dramatically over his eyes. His voice was louder as he asked, "So this is what it takes to get you in here, huh?"

Sky frowned, but he didn't have a chance to say anything before Jack groaned. "So..." The word was long and drawn out, and Jack shifted on top of his bed. "So not fair, Sky."

He definitely wasn't talking quietly enough. Sky found himself lowering his voice even further in an effort to remind him. "Jack, I'm not--"

Jack made a sound that was not entirely unlike a moan. "Oh yeah," he sighed, easily loud enough to drown out Sky's words. "That's really good."

Sky's eyes widened as Jack braced one foot against the bed, groaning as he turned his head from side to side, right arm still covering his face. He took an involuntary step back when Jack arched up, making unmistakably obscene noises. "What the fuck," he breathed, knowing Jack wouldn't hear him.

"Sky!" The cry brought him forward, unwilling to listen and unable to tear his eyes away. Jack wasn't even touching himself--not that he wanted him to--but his voice was very, very convincing. "I want--"

Sky clapped a hand over his mouth, turning the rest of the sentence into an indistinct mumble. This was followed by another groan, and it took more control than he would have liked to ignore that sound. "What are you doing!" Sky hissed, not ready to lift his hand until Jack made eye contact.

Jack licked his hand.

He was embarrassed to admit that his fingers flexed, bringing his palm closer to Jack's tongue and earning him a bite in the process. He made a sound that wasn't anything like talking, and now, finally, Jack lowered his arm. Eyes bright, dancing with laughter, his hand captured Sky's and held it so he could suck Sky's fingers into his mouth.

Sky yanked his hand away, wishing he hadn't worn his thin sweats. Opening his mouth to demand an explanation, he stopped short when Jack laid one finger over his lips. His own lips. Then he pointed at the door.

Sky followed his gaze numbly. Cruger was in the hallway. Or he had been.

Jack rolled off of the bed in one smooth and relatively quiet motion. He tangled his fingers in Sky's t-shirt and tugged him along as he padded softly toward the door. Sky had all he could do not to trip over him.

They paused just inside the door and Jack let it slide open, leaning out into the hall in a ridiculously unsubtle fashion. Sky found himself leaning out after him, bracing his arm against the opposite side of the doorframe and looking toward the lounge. The hallway was empty.

They glanced at each other and Jack grinned. "Score one for B Squad Red and Blue," he crowed, lifting one fist and offering it to Sky.

He jammed his fist into Jack's a little harder than was absolutely necessary. "The only scoring was you in your masturbatory fantasies," Sky told him.

"Disappointed?" Jack teased. "Next time you can join me."

Sky glared at him. "I'm going to bed."

"Hey," Jack said quickly, dropping the smirk. "I didn't mean to embarrass you. I'm sorry, okay?"

He hesitated. Jack didn't look uncertain, because that wasn't what he did, but he did look sorry. Sky let a smile crack his serious expression. "It was kind of funny," he admitted.

"Yeah, well." Jack was grinning again. "See if you still think so tomorrow when Cruger assigns us to the mud swamp. On our lunch break."

"You mean the private unsupervised obstacle course in the middle of nowhere where everyone comes out looking like they've been mud wrestling?" Sky raised an eyebrow at him. "That's the last place he'll be sending us after tonight."

"Doesn't sound so bad when you put it like that," Jack drawled. "Maybe we should request it."

"Hard as it may be to believe," Sky said, rolling his eyes, "I actually have issues with getting naked in the mud."

He heard the words come out of his mouth and he was still surprised he'd said it. He expected an immediate inquiry about where he would get naked, but instead of a leer he got a look of feigned innocence and the retort, "Who said anything about getting naked?"

The attempt at civility didn't last long enough for Sky to even open his mouth. "I can get you off with your clothes on," Jack continued, and there was the leer. "No problem."

The problem was that, especially after Jack's too-brief display tonight, Sky had no doubt it was true. And he couldn't deal with that right now. "I'll leave," he threatened, taking a step toward the door.

"Okay." Jack held up his hands in a gesture of surrender, if not actual apology. "I can be good."

That he had a much harder time believing. But he stayed anyway, because he didn't really want to go. And, he told himself, because if Jack wanted to talk about something then it was probably important.

Jack backed away from the door, waving at the bed opposite his. "Met with the commander this afternoon," he remarked, sitting down on his own bed.

Sky frowned. First, because Jack had left it to him to close the door--or not. The gesture was old-fashioned enough to almost be insulting. Second, because if that was Jack's opening, then Bridge was right. Something had gone down with Cruger, and anything that was still bothering Jack hours later didn't bode well for the team.

He closed the door and went to sit down. He had to shove one of Jack's coats out of the way to do it. The man was obsessed with jackets, but Sky had only teased him about it once before Z had yanked him aside and calmly informed him that the next time he said a word about Jack's clothes she would hurt him.

Jack still wasn't used to being able to buy whatever he wanted. He didn't like to spend money on unnecessary things, Z said, so he just bought the necessary things. Over and over again. Sky could only assume that this explained why Jack's room looked like a PlanetAid staging area, but he had gotten the message and he didn't say anything.

"He wanted to talk about--" Jack stopped, then started over, and Sky looked up in surprise as he just repeated, "He was saying..."

Jack kept on staring at the floor. "A Squad," he said at last. "He doesn't think they're coming back."

Sky kept his expression as neutral as he could. "They've been MIA for months."

Jack lifted his head, dark eyes catching his gaze, and Sky had no idea how to interpret what he saw there. There were times when Jack was inscrutable at best, and this was one of those times. There was nothing that could have prepared him for what Jack said next.

"He wants to promote me, Sky."

His mouth dropped open, but no words came out. This was a joke. It had to be a joke, clearly, Jack was just playing with him. Yeah. Hilarious.

"He must have known," Jack was saying. "All the stuff, the weapon, this thing that Grumm is building. Cruger knew. He knows something's coming, and whether A Squad is still out there or not, he knows they're not going to be back in time to face it."

Jack looked away, staring at the window, opaque with light from the inside. "It's us, Sky. It's all down to us now. And when Cruger sends for backup, he wants SPD to be reinforcing his front line team, not a group of second-ranked cadets."

"What--" Sky tried to get his sentences together. "Why you?" he asked bluntly. "Who else? You can't be A Squad alone."

"I told him," Jack said quietly. "I told him it was my team or nothing. And if I accept it, if I let him do this, then he wants you to be my second-in-command.

"He's willing to bump Syd up, too," Jack added. "But he says Bridge isn't A Squad material, not yet. Z either. He wants Sam and Kat to take their places."

Sky could only stare at him.

"I know," Jack said, glancing back at him with a small smile. "Of course you should be Red Ranger. I don't know what he was thinking."

"Sam and Kat?" Sky burst out. "That's ridiculous! Sam is from 2040; his Power is barely even compatible with ours and he can't take an order to save his life. Or anyone else's. And Kat shouldn't even be let out of this building; she's trouble on a stick with a carrot!"

Jack actually chuckled, relaxing in the face of his outrage, which was just one more thing that made Sky completely crazy. His hair, his smile, white pajamas and mismatched grey socks. And the man had the nerve to laugh at him when he pointed out the obvious.

Completely. Fucking. Crazy.

"Trouble on a stick with a carrot?" Jack was saying, giving him a grin that put his secretive smile to shame. "Where do you get these things?"

Sky loomed over him, not even sure when he'd stood up. "Tell me you didn't agree to this," he demanded.

Jack snorted. "Your overwhelming faith in me means a lot," he said, pushing himself up off his bed so he could stare back without staring up. As much. "I told you before, B Squad moves up together or we don't move up at all."

He remembered. Easy to say, harder to do. Especially when that promotion was staring you right in the face. And the new A Squad would have to come from somewhere.

"The commander's not going to take no for an answer," Sky said, frowning.

"Make up your mind, Sky." Jack was watching him with an intent look that was full of everything he'd never asked. "Pull me in or push me away, but I'm not leaving. I'm not leaving any of you. I'll quit before I let them--"

Whatever else he might have said was swallowed by Sky's mouth on his, a desperate kiss meant to deny any possibility of losing Jack. He'd been trying not to think about it ever since he'd realized how badly the meteor mission had messed him up... but Jack was Jack, and death wasn't the only thing that could take him away from Sky. Who knew what he would do if Cruger gave him an ultimatum?

Who knew what he was doing if Cruger already had?

"Jack." He tried to make his voice stern, but he'd run out of breath somewhere in there and his traitorous body insisted that kissing was much more important than talking. He could barely hold back long enough to form the words. "What did he say?"

"Huh?" Jack's questioning sound was all he got out before Sky's hands closed on his arms, holding him carefully in place as his mouth resumed its quest to know everything about Jack's. This was good. This was slow and unhurried and calmer than the panic that the word "quit" had instilled in him.

This wasn't how Jack kissed. He was as sweetly inept at long and lazy as he was hotly insistent at fast and dirty. Sky made sure he mouthed Jack's lower lip, his upper lip, both corners, biting Jack's tongue gently when it tried to get ahead of him. Jack made a sound, like his little show earlier hadn't been entirely baseless, and the thought that he might be anything like that in bed made Sky's grip on his arms tighten.

Jack's hands found his hips, sliding just under his t-shirt to rest on his skin, and the heat of his fingers was fast and overwhelming and Sky gasped into his mouth. It was too much, it gave away more than he meant to, but it had been a long time since he'd felt anyone's hands on him the way Jack's were right now. He held as still as he could, trying to adjust, trying not to tear Jack's stupid long sleeves off in an effort to reciprocate.

"Jack," he growled. "Tell me what Cruger said. When you--" Jack's fingers spread easily, casually, starting to crawl up his sides like he wasn't wearing a t-shirt at all. "When you told him," he finished weakly.

"Seriously?" Jack's voice was annoyingly even while his hands played across skin so sensitized to his touch that Sky thought he should probably stop this right now. Jack was barely holding on to him and he felt like he was on fire, flushed and grateful and more than a little frightened at how easily this could all go to hell.

"You want to talk about him?" Jack mumbled, leaning closer until he couldn't even remember why they weren't kissing. "Now?"

Oh, how he hated that mouth. He licked Jack's lips, tongue welcomed inside instantly, wet heat so tempting that it had been weeks since he could listen to Jack talk without daydreaming of the place where those words were coming from. Since the cabin, since the day he'd woken up with Jack on top of him and he'd traded a kiss for the chance to escape... that was how long he'd known what he was missing, and every night since he'd wondered how much of that morning Jack remembered.

Jack's hands had slid around behind him, stroking and flexing against his back, silent encouragement for him to step closer. Pull me in or push me away, Jack had said, and he clearly wanted to be pulled in. He wanted their chests pressed up against each other, arms tangled around each other, making out with more than just mouths... kissing like it was going somewhere.

Sky pushed him back, just a little, just enough that he could breathe. Hands still on Jack's arms, keeping him exactly where he wanted him: not too far--not too close. He could get lost in Jack. He knew that; he'd known it ever since Jack had made his interest known. He still wasn't sure he could afford to let it happen.

He was no longer sure he had a choice.

"Yes," he muttered, because it was important. "Now. I want to know."

Jack's fingers curled against his skin, fighting their natural urge to hold on. "He said I could have a couple days to think about it." He sounded out of breath, but he wasn't too distracted to understand what Sky was asking. "I told him I didn't need five minutes."

Sky let go of his arm without thinking, reaching for the collar that rose and fell with his breathing, red lining dark where it folded over to reveal skin underneath. He slid his fingers into the opening, backs of his knuckles pressed against the space under Jack's collarbone. Jack didn't even pause.

"He said to take the time anyway--to talk to you," he added, and Sky could feel thumbs stroking along his skin even as his hands stayed still. "Think he thought you might talk me into it?"

It came out more like a question than a statement. "No," Sky said shortly, just in case it was a question. Jack stayed where he was. Jack's loyalty was to this team, not some cobbled together A Squad, and anything that weakened Jack's ties to SPD was unacceptable.

"Not to be a jerk about it," Jack said, and he was catching his breath now, regaining his focus, staring at Sky like a few more seconds and he might have him analyzed all the way through. "But why not?"

Sky lifted his hand from the red collar to braided hair, fingers sliding under it, pushing it out of the way as he lowered his head to kiss Jack's temple, the top of his cheek, all the way back to his ear. A couple of days. Two days before Cruger realized that no one was going to change Jack's mind, that he really would--

"You've wanted that A Squad spot since before I knew you," Jack said softly, tilting his head a little as Sky mouthed his ear.

Want you more, Sky thought. He was careful not to say it aloud.

"Now you're all upset," Jack continued, "because Sam and Kat--who are already Rangers, by the way--might get it with you?"

He let his teeth graze Jack's earlobe, a warning that made Jack draw in a quick breath. "I'm fucking tired of hearing Sam's name," he whispered. "I don't care who's on A Squad as long as B Squad doesn't split up."

One of Jack's hands had pushed his t-shirt all the way up to his shoulderblade, and he kept himself from leaning back into that touch through sheer force of will. He couldn't move, not if he wanted to keep kissing... not without being closer than they already were. And not kissing was currently not an option.

"This," Jack murmured, his head falling back as Sky kissed along his jaw and licked a couple of times against his throat for good measure. "From the guy who told me squads don't last forever..."

Jack didn't seem to know what to do with all this attention, but he hadn't made any attempt to stop it. "Maybe I was wrong," Sky said softly, capturing Jack's mouth again and taking his slow trail of exploration back inside.

He remembered saying that, and he regretted it. Not because it wasn't true, but because it had just made Jack say "forever" while Sky was trying to show him what kissing could be. What closeness was when now was all you needed, instead of the constant rush to get to later.

When forever felt like something you could reach out and touch.

Jack was gasping, clearly struggling for air and just as clearly unwilling to stop this, and that was a trust Sky couldn't remember him giving to anyone. Giving himself up, trusting them not to let him drown. Relinquishing control to Sky--who had to force himself to draw back, to ease off.

"It's like swimming," he whispered, smiling against skin, licking Jack's cheek while he waited for him to catch up. "Don't try to breathe normally. Get whatever you can when you come up for air--"

"You and your swimming," Jack muttered, turning his head to meet Sky's mouth with his own. And this was Jack's kiss, impatient and hard and hot enough to make him ache in every place they weren't touching. Which, unfortunately, was most of them.

A mistake Jack corrected by stepping into him, hands sliding up his back, sleeves ticklish and itching against his skin. And this time Sky did arch into him, chest to chest, the contact easing his restlessness and hot hands keeping him close even as Jack pressed into him. Holding him up, leaning too far, he took a stumbling step backwards as Jack's damned mouth completely distracted him.

The spare bed hit him in the back of the legs but he managed to stay upright. Until Jack moaned into his mouth, surging forward, swinging one knee up onto the bed beside him as he sat awkwardly down. "Back," Jack gasped, still pushing, but no, he wasn't going anywhere if Jack was going to climb on top of him--

Which he did, in his lap a moment later, knees braced against the bed on either side. Sky had to lean back to keep from overbalancing, arms snaking around Jack to hold onto him, and then they were falling onto the mess of clothes and blankets that covered the spare bed. Jack slid his hands free as they went down, catching himself heavily on his elbows and grinning down at Sky.

"Better," he said, black braids framing his face as his breath ghosted hot across Sky's skin. "This would be a great time for a camera."

"This would be a great time for you to shut up," Sky panted, and only when Jack's grin widened did he realize his mistake. Because Jack didn't hesitate to lean down, his body solid and warm as he pressed Sky into the mattress and kissed him like he didn't need to breathe.

Sky arched up, shifting recklessly, well aware that Jack was as turned on as he was. He moaned as Jack's hips ground into his, no sympathy for the whimpers that followed the hard thrusts of Jack's tongue because Jack had asked for it, Jack had done this. Jack had pushed them onto the bed and now Jack was the one who was losing it.

He thought. Until that mouth left his and Jack was pulling away, shoving himself up, straddling Sky clumsily on the bed. The renewed pressure on his groin made his hips jerk, involuntary, uncontrollable, and he let his hand fall to his mouth, biting down on his fist to stifle his cry.

Jack shifted again, deliberately this time, smirking down at him. "It's like swimming, Sky," he teased. "Don't try to breathe normally. Just get whatever you can--"

Sky groaned, bucking against him, hands clenching in whatever was underneath him. "Please just shut up," he muttered, not caring about discomfort or eavesdroppers or anything except the feeling of Jack on top of him.

"Mmm," Jack murmured, and the sound alone made Sky close his eyes. "Sorry," he added. "Can't do that right now."

Then he moved again, a quiet moan followed by an incongruous, "Ow," and Sky could feel him trying to get his knee away from the side of the bed. Since Sky's body was perfectly happy with the situation, he didn't see any reason to help.

"I swear," Jack's voice grumbled, "these beds are specifically designed to keep people from having sex on them."

His eyes opened, and he found Jack staring down at him with an unreadable expression. Not just lust, not apology, not nerves... maybe a combination of all three, hidden behind that veil of neutral intensity. Because who knew what Jack was thinking when he looked like that?

"No," Sky said, rough and aching and so afraid when he pushed himself up on his elbows to stare back. "You just have to work a little harder at it, that's all."

Jack's mouth twitched, eyes wandering over Sky with a quiet affection that didn't look sexual at all. "Does everything here have to be a training exercise?" he wondered aloud.

They could do so much better than this. More space. No pajamas. Deliberate positions, instead of whatever they fell into when Jack was impatient--he was fast and hot, but Sky thought he might have just enough control to teach someone like Jack the pleasures of a slow burn.

"Want some instruction?" he said softly. His heart was pounding in his ears. He wondered if Jack really had any idea... How much he was putting on the line here. How much this meant to him.

Jack's playful smile was easy and endearing, but Sky could tell his counter was serious. "Do you want sex tonight?" he asked.

Did he want it every night from now until the end of time?

"Yes," Sky whispered.

"Then yeah," Jack said, still smiling down at him. "Bring it on."

Sky just stared at him, well aware that he couldn't ask again but not sure Jack had answered what he really wanted to know. Maybe he didn't even know what he really wanted to know. But he trusted this. He trusted Jack. And it had been a long time coming, but he thought he was finally starting to trust him and Jack together.

"I suppose you want me to get off of you," Jack said at last.

"Want" might not be exactly the right word. "Something like that," Sky muttered, letting his head fall back. A few minutes to move the beds, pull each other's clothes off, and they could be right back here. And a lot more comfortable.

Elbows still braced underneath him, he wasn't prepared for Jack to lean down and press a kiss into his mouth. The forward thrust ground their hips together and he choked on a moan, trying to be quiet, trying not to let on that Jack only had to be there to make him crazy. But he couldn't hold himself still.

Jack grunted, shifting his weight to one side. Then, abruptly, he broke away, fingers fisting in Sky's t-shirt even as he rolled over next to him. "I'm gonna have bruises from this stupid bed," he complained breathlessly.

Sky found himself chuckling, pushing Jack away, laughing at his petulant tone and his rucked up shirt and his braids going everywhere as he collapsed on his back. "Get off the bed," he ordered. "It's not going anywhere with you on top of it."

Jack pouted up at him. "Why can't I get off on the bed?" he wanted to know.

"Apparently because you're kind of a wuss," Sky informed him. "Get up and help me, or get up and get naked, I don't really care which."

"Getting up's not a problem," Jack drawled, stretching out on the bed as soon as Sky rolled off of it. "I'm all up."

"I'm hearing a lot of talk," Sky said, pulling his t-shirt off over his head and throwing it at Jack. "But I'm not seeing a lot of action."

Jack sat up, narrowing his eyes at him. "Oh, you're going to pay for that."

"Really?" Sky skirted the other bed just in case he was serious, bracing his foot against the bottom and leaning sideways into it. "This from the guy who can't figure out how to ride without hurting himself? I'm so scared."

"You're such a fucking bastard," Jack snapped, but his eyes were alight with mischief. He was vocal, the sound of voices obviously a turn-on for him, and Sky was happy to oblige.

"You wish," Sky said, smirking at him.

Jack actually laughed, and for some reason that got him off of the bed when nothing else would. "True," he agreed, sweeping the clothes off of the mattress into a heap on the floor. He snatched the SPD issue comforter away just as Sky slammed the other end of his bed into place, trapping two of the blankets.

"You know this is gonna be totally obvious," Jack warned, shaking the comforter out and swinging it over the mattress again. "There's no way I'm getting up in the middle of the night to move these beds back."

"It's already the middle of the night," Sky pointed out, "and I don't see you helping move them in the first place. So no, I wasn't really expecting that to happen."

"Are you staying?" Jack asked, pausing. He was direct, casual, like it didn't matter one way or the other. That had better be a cover, Sky thought.

"I don't move furniture for no reason," he said.

Jack's smile was brilliant and beautiful. Sky stopped, caught, and swallowed hard. A couple days. Forty-eight hours to make this thing too strong for Jack to walk away from. He couldn't think about it. Desperation only drove people away.

"Clothes," he said roughly, because he was dying to do it himself but he was pretty sure Jack would test his control a thousand times before the night was over and he might as well take what advantages he could get. "Off."

Of course, the last time Jack had done what he was told was probably when he was half-asleep and thoroughly bribed. This time he was neither, and he swung onto the bed and crawled across it, stalking Sky without apology. "Help me with that?" he teased, a dark look from under wayward braids.

Sky let out his breath in surrender. "Oh yeah," he whispered. Reaching out, he really meant to go for the shirt, loose and white and just begging to be pulled off, but he found his hands cupping Jack's face instead.

"I love you," he breathed, too quietly to hear, but Jack read the words on his lips.

"Love you too," Jack murmured, leaning in until his mouth was a breath away and the words were more of a caress than a sound. "Not leaving, Sky."

"Shut up," Sky said, closing his eyes.

Jack kissed him.

He was so lost. No choice, no turning back, he was in this thing with Jack until something Jack did ended it. Because he couldn't. He didn't even know what it would take anymore. All he could do was stop pretending he had any control over it and let it go where it would.

He'd never been good at letting go. Even later, with the light off and Jack's breathing evening out into the steady rise and fall of sleep, he found himself reluctant to roll over and pull the other comforter up over his shoulder. He traced aimless patterns on Jack's skin in the dark, close and warm, and he wasn't sorry that Jack had fallen asleep before he knew what it took for Sky to do the same.

It was Jack pressed up against him when he woke, stiff and startled by the lack of an alarm, and he jerked upright in search of a clock. He had to twist all the way around to find it, a little digital thing that had gotten knocked over on the table at the end of the bed. 6:34.

He'd slept four minutes past the time his alarm should have gone off, which was disturbing for several reasons. Mainly because he usually woke up ten minutes before it, and four hours of sleep or not, his body was attuned to that time. One night with Jack and his schedule was already off.

And Bridge was probably ready to kill him by now. Unless he'd already killed Sky's alarm. Even so.

Jack mumbled something that could have been--well, anything. Sky glanced down and found Jack's head on his pillow, curled over the middle and least comfortable part of their improvised double bed. Eyes slitted to let in the smallest amount of light possible, Jack's voice was thick with sleep as he mumbled, "What's your policy on cuddling?"

Sky had to smile, relieved and more than a little charmed by the question. "Cuddling is good," he said softly.

"Good," Jack repeated, his hand sliding under the pillow and tugging it a little closer as he closed his eyes. Sky could feel the other hand, clumsy against his hip, more sweet than suggestive as Jack murmured, "C'mere."

"It's six thirty-five," Sky said, not immune to the invitation.

"Mmm." Jack sounded happy about it. "Plenty of time."

"It's late," Sky corrected. "It's after six-thirty, Jack."

Jack dragged his eyes open again and blinked blearily up at him. Seeming to realize he was serious, he rolled over onto his back and lifted a hand to rub at his eyes half-heartedly. "What," he muttered, "could you possibly have to do between now and eight o'clock that would take an hour and a half?"

"Shower," Sky reminded him, pushing his comforter toward Jack and easing himself off of the bed. The naked thing might take some getting used to. He usually had a lot more on when he rolled out of bed in the morning. "Clothes. Breakfast."

"Takes fifteen minutes," Jack mumbled, burrowing deeper into his own comforter. "Even with a shower... which, by the way, why?"

Sky eyed him as he walked around the beds in search of his sweatpants. "Did you just ask why you should take a shower?"

There was a long moment before Jack said, "Actually, I think I just asked why you're so mental about mornings." The words were clear enough, even if his head was now buried in his own pillow. "But yeah. Same idea."

Sky rolled his eyes. "Cruger complains about Kat's perfume even when she isn't wearing any. I think his sense of smell is up to this challenge."

Jack threw the edge of his comforter down and stared at Sky over the corner of his pillow. "Cruger complains no matter what Kat does because he's forgotten how to date. He thinks giving her a hard time is how normal people show affection."

Sky paused, raising an eyebrow in his direction. "It isn't?"

Jack's lips twitched, which was somehow more distracting now that he knew what they could do. Especially when Jack was watching him get dressed. "We're not normal, Sky. No one on this base is normal."

Sky shook his head, pulling up his pants and cinching the drawstring. "He's not going to say anything to Kat. Not until he gets closure about his wife."

Jack groaned, throwing his hands up over his head and stretching dramatically. "That's what Z says. His wife died ten years ago--how can he still need closure?"

Sky watched Jack's body arch against the bed, his shoulders dimpling the pillows and the comforter sliding low across his hips. He was tempted to just yank it off, but he thought that could be misinterpreted as "being mental about mornings," so he reluctantly restrained himself. There was still plenty to see.

"What are the chances of me convincing you to come back to bed?" Jack's voice was suddenly speculative, and Sky shook it off.

"Not good," he said. "Unlike your chances of getting a reaction from Cruger as soon as he runs into you."

Jack stretched again, yawning this time, and Sky couldn't look away. Even when Jack glanced his way, his sly look giving way to amusement as their eyes met. "You practically walked past him to get into my room last night," he pointed out. "I think he has a pretty good idea what's going on."

Sky snorted. "Yeah, thanks to you."

Jack only smiled. "Maybe I like having people know."

Well, that certainly wasn't going to be an issue. Between the noise they made, the rearrangement of Jack's room, and the fact that Sky had a roommate, no one would be left wondering for long. Least of all the base commander.

Still. If it mattered to Jack...

"If you want to send a message," Sky said at last, "there are other ways of doing it."

Jack eyed him with obvious interest. "Oh?"

"Give me your soap," Sky told him. "And your shampoo."

Jack grinned, but he lifted one hand to point at his head. "Does it look like I shampoo this?"

Sky blinked. He had no idea what Jack did to his hair. "Do you put anything on it?"

Jack pushed himself up on his hands, blinking around the room and then shaking his head once. He ran a hand through his braids to make them lie mostly flat, then pointed past Sky at the shelves behind him. "Moisturizer and oil in the plastic bag on the end," he said, stifling another yawn.

Sky gave him a skeptical look. "Oil?" he repeated.

Jack groaned, leaning toward the edge of the bed and catching himself just quickly enough to make it look deliberate. "I had to fall for a white guy," he muttered. Levering himself up off of the bed, he took the comforter with him and had to shove it back. It ended up half on the floor, pooled by his feet, and he stepped out of it with a total lack of concern for what he wasn't wearing.

"I'll do the shower thing with you," he was saying, "on two conditions. One, you do my hair afterwards. And two, you don't let this give you any ideas about me having some kind of relationship with your alarm clock. Internal or otherwise."

He was too interested in watching Jack to worry much about alarm clocks right now. But when Jack turned to look at him, raising his eyebrows, he realized he was supposed to say something. "Uh--"

"Don't worry," Jack said, reaching up to muss Sky's short hair with a smirk. "I don't trust you to do anything complicated."

"You oil your hair?" Sky blurted out. It was the only remotely coherent thing he could come up with when Jack was standing there, right there in front of him, naked and talking about showers.

"Yup." Jack patted his cheek indulgently. "And you won't be able to get it off your hands for the rest of the day."

He stepped past Sky, scooping up his pajamas as he went. He shook them on in a matter of seconds, loose shirt hanging a little lopsided over his shoulders, bright red towel a splash of color as he grabbed it and turned back to Sky at the door. "Don't have an extra towel," he said, grinning at what Sky suspected was a sort of dazed expression on his face. "Meet you in the bathroom?"

Towel. Right. He nodded, because he needed to go back to his room anyway to... get a towel. Bridge didn't usually drag himself out of bed until after seven. It would be fine.

It would have been more fine if Jack hadn't let him walk out of the room in just his sweatpants. He made it halfway down the hall before he passed Syd, clad in a fluffy pink bathrobe with her hair wrapped up on her head, already well into her morning routine. Her eyes flicked over him, and she clucked her tongue.

"What," she said, her voice full of reproach, "Jack doesn't have any extra shirts?"

The words didn't really register until he was past her. The fact that he'd left his shirt in Jack's room caught up with him a second later, and he was already turning around when he realized she'd been kidding. B Squad had apparently been waiting for him to hook up with Jack for some time, after all.

He shrugged, turning back toward his own room with a small smile. Message sent.

He was glad when the distress call came, restricted SPD channel or not. Even if there was only one reasonable explanation. Even if they were being lured away from Earth with the one message that would make them go when Grumm was this close to a final offensive that might destroy their planet once and for all. Even if a message from their lost Ranger team, almost a full year after they'd disappeared, could be nothing but a trap.

It was a trap that would get them away from the Delta base. Their departure would prevent or at least postpone a showdown between Jack and Commander Cruger that might tear this team apart. Trap or not, that was something.

Right now, it was everything.

When it actually was A Squad that they found--not at the exact coordinates of the distress call, but certainly close enough considering the sheer volume of space involved in the search to date--he was more relieved than he'd expected to be. Not because the signal was genuine. Not even because they'd finally found Charlie's team. Because there was no longer anywhere for the "promotable" members of B Squad to go, and maybe that would bank the power struggle between Jack and Cruger a little longer.

He'd find out tomorrow. They were spending tonight at a seasonal outpost in Caspian space, operated under contract with SPD and currently empty. It had power and water and breathable air, not to mention a lot more space than the ship B Squad had brought from Earth. The layover was nominally for A Squad, to give them a chance to get accustomed to the idea of human contact and civilization again, but Charlie was a fool if she didn't know what all the medical checks were for.

Not a fool, Sky thought grimly. Not like him. But he'd learned more than one lesson from Dru, and B Squad no longer took MIA recovery lightly. Charlie's team would be re-evaluated, thoroughly scanned, and gently interrogated before any of them got within a lightyear of SPD Earth.

It was a delicate task. It wasn't one he was well suited to, either, given that he had a history: both with the situation in general and Charlie in particular. She pushed his buttons without even trying. He'd grown up enough to know that she probably wasn't trying, but it didn't keep her from bothering him. He was still sensitive when it came to "amnesia" victims.

Every member of his team tried to point this out to him, starting with Bridge, who mentioned vaguely that A Squad might not need to be surrounded by all these people right now. Syd was less subtle, suggesting that Sky go find Jack and make sure station power was holding up under the suddenly increased demand. But it wasn't until Z said, point blank, "Sky, this would be easier if you didn't help," that he threw up his hands and stalked out of the outpost's medical facility.

He found Jack and Sam in the command module of the ship that Jack insisted on calling the "Treehouse." They were sitting side by side, feet propped up on the nav console, chatting idly about something that didn't make any sense. Probably swapping comic book stories, Sky thought, trying not to grind his teeth. He still didn't know what Sam was doing on this mission.

Jack must have heard him at the hatch, because he leaned back in his swivel chair and glanced over his shoulder. "Oh, hey," he said, smiling in welcome. "They finally kick you out?"

Sam made a sound that could have been a laugh, but was muffled too quickly to be sure. Sky glared at him anyway. Unlike Charlie, Sam did deliberately try to piss him off. He knew it was stupid to be jealous of a little ball of light that couldn't even demorph, but that didn't change the fact that he was and Sam didn't have any reservations about taking advantage of it.

"I wasn't really contributing anything to the process," Sky said stiffly, unwilling to confirm an assumption that only annoyed him more. Not only was he not helping, but everyone knew he wasn't helping and they didn't seem that surprised.

All Jack did was wave at the empty chair to his left, remarking, "Join the club."

He sighed, but what choice did he have? He took the seat on Jack's other side, slumping against the back and folding his arms over his chest. "They actually do have records of most of the year," he told the forward screen. "Black box data confirms their capture, escape, and subsequent crash in the Gamma Orion system."

"Yeah?" He saw Jack's head turn toward him out of the corner of his eye. "Their ship was pretty messed up."

"It took heavy damage when they were captured," Sky said, not moving. "According to system data, they were lucky to make it through an atmosphere, let alone crash land."

"You'd think they would have used up all their luck finding a habitable planet in the first place," Sam remarked.

The Omega Ranger's voice was utterly undistorted by his morph, which was either a tribute to the technology of the future or a result of him not actually speaking in the traditional sense. They heard his words just as clearly when he was in his light form, after all. The possibility of telepathic communication disturbed Sky enough that he'd decided it was better not to know.

"What about the guy out back?" Jack was saying. "He just happened to crash land in their backyard with a compatible comm system they could hijack to send out a distress call? These guys are luck personified."

"They're Power Rangers," Sky pointed out, wondering if he could put his feet up too without looking stupid. "It's not just luck. They really are that good."

"So what's your problem?" Jack wanted to know, and he sounded genuinely curious. Sky turned his head, still resting on the back of his chair, and he found Jack looking back at him. "You don't trust this; I can tell."

"Of course I don't trust it," Sky said. "My ex-boyfriend crashed on Earth after being MIA for a year, claimed amnesia, and then tried to kill the base commander. And me. And all of you. I think I'm naturally wary about trusting people who say they can't remember anything."

Jack made a face that seemed to agree, but it was Sam who spoke. "I missed that," he commented. "Not amnesiac, then?"

"Not so much," Jack said, still looking at Sky. "SPD pilot turned mercenary. Taking money to infiltrate the base."

"Didn't have to work very hard," Sky muttered.

"You let him in?" Sam guessed.

"Yes, I let him in," Sky snapped, his eyes flicking past Jack to Sam's expressionless visor. "He'd just crashed his ship. He needed medical attention."

"Just like A Squad," Sam observed.

Before Sky could snarl something uncomplimentary, Jack jumped in with a question clearly aimed at him. "What don't they remember, exactly? If the black box backs up their story of escape, and the ship was obviously at that crash site for a while, what's the problem?"

"Their capture," Sky said, focusing on him instead of Sam. "They don't remember everything that happened while they were being held. They've as much as admitted that they've been compromised."

"They were tortured," Jack suggested. "They blocked it out."

"Maybe," Sky said. "And maybe Dru was on a top secret mission, using the pursuit of an already imprisoned criminal as his cover."

I knew there was no getting my arrival past you. Dru's words, sweet if somewhat puzzling at the time, had turned bitter and mocking in his memory. You are still the best.

Jack was staring at him. He didn't realize why until Jack asked, "Wait, you knew Dru was lying?"

"Is Dru the guy who infiltrated the base?" Sam wanted to know.

"His cover was lousy," Sky told Jack, ignoring the Omega Ranger.

"You knew he was lying?" Jack repeated. "And you didn't tell us?"

"He said he was on a mission," Sky said with a sigh, turning to stare at the screen again. "Top secret, already said too much, etcetera, etcetera. I trusted him."

"You let your feelings get in the way." Of course Sam had to participate. "Past experience told you to trust Dru, so you did, regardless of what the facts of the time said."

Short of actually hitting Sam, he couldn't come up with anything that would adequately express his current feelings. So he stared straight ahead, wondering what had made him mention Dru in the first place. In front of Sam? He might be a Ranger, but he certainly wasn't B Squad.

"Now you're doing it again," Sam's voice continued. "Your experience tells you not to trust A Squad, so you don't. Regardless of what the facts say."

Was there anything that prevented him from hitting Sam? Sky considered the question carefully. It was true that Sam wasn't B Squad. He wasn't even a cadet. It was entirely possible that, being from the future, he didn't legally exist in this time at all. At least, not as the Omega Ranger.

Was he allowed to hit someone who didn't exist?

"I don't like it when you stop talking, Sky." Jack sounded, of all things, slightly amused. "The silent treatment makes me nervous. Cut it out."

Sky rolled his head against the back of the chair, turning just enough that he could raise an eyebrow at Jack. Really? If that was true, he should rethink his intimidation strategies. Not talking was a whole lot easier than yelling.

"Okay," Sam said, swinging his feet off of the nav console and setting them down on the floor with a thump. "You're a lot younger than I remember, but I'm still kind of scared of you, so. I'm going to go now. Let me know when you stop wanting to beat me up."

"Coward," Jack declared, but he didn't look away from Sky.

"You know it," Sam agreed. "I think I'll go see how the others are doing."

"Remember, no light form," Jack called after him.

Sam's voice drifted back to them through the open hatch. "Yes sir, Commander Jack, sir!"

Sky looked away from Jack to frown over his shoulder, just on principle. Sam was insouciant to the point of insubordination everywhere except in the presence of Commander Cruger. Cruger remained convinced that Sam was the model Ranger: advanced, intelligent, and perfectly obedient. Anyone on base could tell him differently if he bothered to ask.

"You know what worries me?" Jack drawled, and Sky could still feel his gaze. Watching him glare in the direction Sam had gone. "I'm never totally sure he's joking when he says that."

Sky gave him a half-hearted smirk. "The day Cruger promotes you is the day--" And he stopped, because that wasn't funny anymore.

There was a moment of silence, and then Jack said, "You really think A Squad's trouble?"

He tried to think about them without the filter of Dru's betrayal and found he couldn't do it. "I don't know," he admitted at last. "You?"

"Well, they weren't out terrorizing the Helix nebula in a ship that's too busted up to even call for help," Jack pointed out. "And I gotta say, they look damn glad to see us."

Sky let out a breath, trying to force himself to relax a little. "Yeah."

Then Jack added, "I told Sam to stay in his human form as long as he can. Might as well not mention the fact that one of us can become noncorporeal, just in case."

Sky swiveled his entire chair around to stare at Jack. "Just in case?" he repeated.

Jack shrugged, rocking his own chair back a little. "Like you said," he remarked carelessly. "Dru did try to kill us. You're not the only one who remembers."

Sky was trying to figure out what to say when Jack put his feet on the floor and turned to face him. "Also?" he said, unclipping his morpher and waving it in Sky's direction. "Terra's team is holding position just outside the system. They expect to hear from us every hour, on the hour, from now until we head back home.

"They offered to follow us to Earth if we want," Jack added. "But I figured if we don't know where we stand by then, we shouldn't be going back anyway."

Terra. One of the Border Rangers who had been searching for A Squad. Objectively, Sky knew why an SPD team would choose to call for help on a squad-restricted channel: undercover, not sure who to trust, or weakened and trying to avoid detection. This last clearly applied to Charlie's team, but by focusing the distress signal so narrowly they had avoided alerting the very Rangers who were actively looking for them.

Just one more aspect of the situation that had screamed "trap" from the beginning. Yet here they were, with an apparently un-brainwashed, un-cloned, non-villainious A Squad. Still preparing for some hypothetical moment when all their good luck turned out to be an illusion.

"You're more skeptical than I gave you credit for," Sky said after a moment.

"Learned from the best," Jack said flippantly.

For a while they sat there, looking at each other. Because there was so much to do when their non-villainious teammates weren't turning on them. At this rate, it could end up being a long night.

"I can't believe I'm trying to think of ways to pass the time if they don't turn out to be evil," Sky said at last.

Jack actually laughed, spinning his chair around once, a complete circle that ended when he caught his foot against Sky's outstretched legs. "We'll be able to get some sleep, at least. The station has plenty of bunk space."

Sky braced his legs as Jack pushed off again, spinning in the other direction this time. "Especially considering that some of us are willing to share."

"Yeah?" Jack's foot caught against his ankles this time, bringing his chair to a halt as he grinned at Sky. "That'll make the time go faster."

"Someone's going to have to keep you awake if you really plan on checking in with Terra every hour," Sky pointed out.

Jack scoffed. "I'm not going to check in every hour. B Squad is going to check in every hour. I figure if we each take a check-in or two we should all be able to get a decent amount of sleep.

"Or whatever," he added, smirking at Sky.

"I'm sure the rest of the team will appreciate the fact that you're dividing up the chores to make sure you have time for uninterrupted sex," Sky observed, crossing his ankles without moving his legs away from Jack's.

"I'm sure at least one member of the team will," Jack agreed.

Sky just watched as Jack lifted his feet and braced them on the edge of Sky's chair. One on either side of his legs. "You're very willing to talk about sex," Jack said suddenly. His gaze was intent. "Why?"

Sky raised an eyebrow at him. "Why not?"

Interestingly, this seemed to stump Jack, and he felt the corners of his mouth twitch. "What did you expect?" he wanted to know. "You figured since I keep my mouth shut so much the rest of the time, I wouldn't have anything to say about this?"

That made Jack grin again. "I dunno," he admitted. "It sounds stupid when you put it like that."

"If I want your opinion," Sky reminded him, "I'll give it to you."

Jack chuckled, pushing his feet against the edge of Sky's chair to make his own tilt back a little. "And you have," he drawled. "Many times."

"For the good of the team," Sky said, straight-faced and solemn.

"Uh-huh." Jack's eyes were half-lidded as he leaned back, watching Sky with unmistakable amusement. "Lucky us, you've become so much more sharing since we first met."

"I hope you're not implying that you've had anything to do with that," Sky said skeptically. "And yes, thank you, I know when you're being sarcastic."

Jack closed his mouth, but his smirk didn't fade. He was so obviously asking for it, spread legs and sexy expression and the verbal poking that passed for foreplay with him, that Sky found a perverse pleasure in ignoring him. All evidence suggested that the longer Jack was ignored, the more pronounced his attention-seeking behaviors would become. Sky sensed potential entertainment there.

What could he say? He was bored.

Jack was literally stalking him by the time Z showed up. Prowling around Sky's chair, he was making a show of poking and prodding anything he passed--other chairs, control consoles, any part of Sky that happened to be within reach--but the intensity of his attention whenever Sky spoke belied his casual restlessness. They had gone from talk of the team to a debate on how A Squad's ship compared with the Treehouse to an outright argument over whether saltwater or freshwater fishing required more skill.

Sky had silently estimated Jack's frustration threshold at under five minutes and falling fast when Z walked into the command module. "Geez, guys," she said, folding her arms as she took in their tableau. "Just make out already."

Jack was noticeably distracted when he responded, "A Squad check out okay?"

"So far so good," she said lightly. "Looks like we'll be getting some sleep tonight after all. At least," she added, and for some reason it was Sky she smirked at, "some of us will."

"Hey." Jack acted like he'd just noticed what she was implying. In his best leader voice, he demanded, "Is the innuendo really necessary?"

Sky couldn't help it. He snickered, and Z's knowing gaze was playful. "Sky," she said, her tone full of mock reproach, "you've been teasing him again."

"Hey," Jack objected, but she paid no attention.

Sky just shrugged, and Jack turned that glare on him. "Nothing else to do," Sky pointed out. "And he's cute when he's trying to be subtle."

"Not his strongest area," Z agreed, grinning at Jack's obvious outrage.

"Not my--" Jack broke off, leveling a finger at Sky and then clearly catching himself. "Was there something you wanted?" he asked Z.

"Dinner," she said, unfazed. "Bridge pumped Charlie and her team full of vitamins and protein shakes, and Syd's sent them off to take showers and get cleaned up the rest of the way. I figured they could use some real food, so we're setting up a pizza party down the hall."

He was all for pizza. "I'll help," Sky offered, spinning his chair around and getting up. "Ship synthesizers or station?"

"Sit down," Jack said sternly.

The order took him by surprise, and he reacted before he thought. Z's eyes sparkled with laughter. He grimaced, but it didn't change the fact that, somewhere along the line, he had become yet another Ranger who would automatically do whatever Jack told him to. It seemed like there were fewer holdouts every day.

"We'll be there in a minute," Jack was saying. "The big observation area near the infirmary?"

"That's it," Z agreed. "I'll grab some pizzas and head back. But if you don't show," she added, backing toward the hatch, "next time I'm sending Bridge."

"We'll be there," Jack said, rolling his eyes. "Go. Shoo."

"Oh, 'shoo,'" Z mimicked. "Bringing out the big guns, now!"

She was already retreating, and Jack didn't fight her for the last word. His full attention shifted to Sky. "Cute when I'm trying to be subtle?" he repeated, wide eyes making his expression more amused than indignant.

"Don't let it go to your head," Sky told him, leaning back in his chair casually.

Jack stared at him. "What if I'd just said 'let's make out'?" he wanted to know.

Sky shrugged, not moving. "All you had to do was ask."

"Yeah?" Jack looked like he was trying not to smile. "Well, I'm asking."

Sky stood up, close enough that Jack had to look up at him, which had never seemed to bother him as much as Sky thought it should. "About time," Sky muttered, and he'd meant it to sound exasperated but he was afraid it just came out sounding relieved.

Jack slid a hand around behind his neck when he didn't move quickly enough, stepping into him, lifting his head, pressing their mouths together--gently. A careful kiss that was soft and warm, open-mouthed, but sweet and unintrusive. Breathing without effort, more lips than tongue, he... lingered.

Jack was kissing him like kissing was the point. Sky smiled into his mouth, just enough that Jack could feel it. "You learn fast," he murmured, the words twisting around the kiss.

"Mmm," Jack mumbled, and it was hard to tell whether he was agreeing or just caught up in the closeness. "Top of my class."

Sky let out a breath of amusement, tongue sliding into the corner of Jack's mouth so his lips could move more easily over it. Jack made a soft sound, his other hand flat against Sky's chest, and Sky knew where that was going even before he felt fingers fumbling for the zipper of his jacket. He didn't protest. They had a few minutes: Jack could have his fun as long as Sky got to kiss him while he did it.

It wasn't so much that he regretted that decision later as it was that he suddenly remembered why he should. He was going to have to walk into a room full of SPD Rangers with the team leader he'd just been... his jacket was undone, t-shirt wrinkled where Jack had been playing with it, lips wet and tingling from the pressure and yeah, he was gonna need time to do more than catch his breath. Fucking Jack.

"Okay," he gasped, turning away to block his view of Jack. "In case you're curious, swearing at you in my head doesn't do any good."

Jack laughed like he was fine, but his voice sounded funny when he said, "Do it out loud if it helps."

Sky couldn't help shooting a covert glance in his direction. Jack was doubled over, and there was no way that was comfortable but his hands were braced on his thighs, braids falling toward the floor. "What are you doing?"

Jack straightened up, tossing his hair back away from his face, and he gave Sky a unrepentant grin. "Gets the blood going in the right direction," he said. "You ready?"

Sky stared at him. "Do I fucking look ready?" he demanded.

Jack's grin widened, and Sky closed his eyes to block out Jack's lazy appraisal. "Oh yeah," Jack's voice teased. "You look pretty fucking ready to me."

"Shut. Up." The words were ground out, and he lifted a finger in Jack's direction without opening his eyes. "Don't even think about it."

"Hey," Jack said lightly. "I'm not the one who said it."

He was trying so hard not to smile that he might actually be thinking slightly less about kissing than he had been seconds ago. He could probably blame his mistake on that. Or on some sort of Freudian slip, which he had zero intention of saying aloud.

Not that he really had to say it. Looking at him, it had to be pretty obvious.

"Seriously," Jack said, and the amusement was still there in his voice but he wasn't teasing anymore. "Take off your jacket. Fix your shirt. I didn't touch your hair, and once you splash some water on your face, you'll be good to go."

Sky opened his eyes. Jack's darker skin didn't flush easily, and Sky had been more concerned with getting his tongue in Jack's mouth than getting his hands under Jack's clothes. Still, Jack looked irritatingly put together, calm and composed and next time, Sky promised himself, he's not going to look that good afterward.

He did leave his jacket behind, on the condition that Jack take his off too. It turned out that this drew fewer double takes than he'd expected, since Syd and Z were down to their t-shirts too and Bridge wore his jacket open whenever he could get away with it. He and Jack got to the observation area before anyone from A Squad, and for a few minutes it was just the five of them, relaxing on a station they had mostly to themselves.

...Just the five of them?

"Hey," Jack said, winding extra cheese around his finger as he pulled a slice of pizza free and managed to not totally destroy the integrity of the surrounding pieces. "Where's Sam?"

"He didn't really want to sit around and watch the rest of us eat," Z said, rolling her eyes in a way that made it clear she thought Jack was being insensitive. "He's out exploring the station."

"He said he'd come hang out later," Syd added. She was the only one with a napkin in her lap, her pizza folded carefully and precisely to minimize spills.

"Huh." Jack seemed to be paying more attention to Sky's pizza than he was to their answers. "A Squad got some clean clothes, right?"

"No, Jack." Z was definitely rolling her eyes again. "We sent them off to the showers with no towels and just their old dirty uniforms to put on afterward."

"We should burn those," Syd said, wrinkling her nose in distaste. "They're probably clogging up the air cyclers on the station just by existing."

"Whereas starting a fire in a closed system with a limited amount of oxygen would clearly solve the problem," Bridge remarked.

"Mmm." Mouth full, Z made a sound to hold her place in the conversation, pointing at Bridge to indicate the thought was directed at him. Swallowing, she said, "The problem was clogging the air cyclers with contaminants. Technically, burning the contaminants does solve said problem."

"The immediate problem was clogged air cyclers," Bridge said mildly. "The implied problem was a lack of air due to clogged air cyclers. A fire will deplete our air faster than cycler failure, thus accelerating the problem we'd be trying to prevent."

"Guys?" Syd waved a very clean hand in their direction, eyeing them dubiously over her pizza. "I was kind of kidding."

Sky was distracted by the way Jack was sprawling across the couch beside him, taking up a lot more than his share of the space and not being anywhere near as careful with his pizza as he should be. "Get food on this shirt and you're giving me yours," he warned, trying to shift out of reach of Jack's carelessness.

"I'm flattered that you think my shirt would be cleaner than yours," Jack countered, bouncing a little to establish his space. Scooping a piece of tomato back onto his pizza just before it could fall, he stuck his finger in his mouth, then wiggled his just-licked fingers in Sky's direction threateningly.

Semi-threateningly. He had, after all, cleaned them off beforehand. And Sky really didn't have any reason to be afraid of Jack's germs at this point. "At least the sauce will show less on your shirt," Sky muttered.

That was when he realized that Syd, Bridge, and Z had abandoned their discussion of odor versus air to stare at them--and they weren't the only ones. Charlie had padded silently into the room on stocking feet while he and Jack were bickering. Her team trailed behind her in a disorderly but unmistakably cohesive fashion.

No shoes, Sky thought distantly. Why that one thing about their appearance should strike him, he had no idea. Clad in standard issue squad pants and clean SPD t-shirts, they were all wearing white socks and no shoes--with the exception of Rose, who wasn't even wearing socks. Emergency supplies from the Treehouse.

Seeing them cleaned up, in fresh clothes, looking as normal as they could possibly look under the circumstances... somehow that brought it home like nothing else. Even generic unisex clothing couldn't disguise their gauntness. And station lighting did nothing to hide their weariness, the tired lines on faces that were trying so hard to look alert and appreciative.

Charlie's gaze flicked to Jack while he was still staring, then back to Sky. "He only wants it because it's red," she said. Her voice was less stern than he remembered.

The cushions shifted as Jack scrambled to his feet, putting his pizza down on the table and grabbing a napkin. "Yeah," he said, glancing at Sky and then offering his hand to Charlie with a grin. "That's not why.

"Jack Landors," he added, when she shook his hand. "SPD Red. I don't think we were properly introduced before."

"Charlie Carrera," she said, and now all her attention was on Jack. The corner of her mouth twisted ironically as she added, "SPD Red."

"Oh, yeah, hey." Jack didn't look embarrassed, just vaguely apologetic. "Sorry. You were gone kind of a while."

Sky didn't have to look to know that Z would be shaking her head at Jack again. For all that she pretended to be the tough one, the one who didn't take any crap and wouldn't be suckered by a sob story, she did occasionally know what not to say better than Jack did. It didn't always stop her, but she knew.

"I guess you guys are the new A Squad," Rose said, coming forward on bare feet to join them. Sky didn't miss the way her hand touched the back of Charlie's elbow. "I'm Rose. It's nice to meet you, Jack."

"Hey," Jack said, holding out his hand to her too. "Same here."

Only when Sky realized the others were quietly gathering--Syd and Z coming to stand beside Jack with Bridge waiting a little behind them, the rest of Charlie's team ghosting up behind her and Rose--did it occur to him to get to his feet. The surreal nature of the situation held it all at a distance. He wasn't sure he'd even accepted it yet.

A Squad. Here. SPD superstars, missing so long that they'd achieved almost mythic status. And B Squad, the cleanup team, doing Ranger duty because there wasn't anyone else... a team made up of cadets and convicts and some extra personnel who seemed to have picked up morphers almost by accident.

"We're still B Squad," Syd was saying. "Commander Cruger wouldn't promote anyone to your positions, even when Galaxy Command tried to insist. He never gave up on you."

Sky glanced at Jack in time to catch Jack's sidelong glance in his direction. Charlie had seen it, he realized as soon as he looked away. She narrowed her eyes at them, but whether it was for their timing or the look itself, he couldn't tell.

A series of squeaks and grunts replied to Syd as Charlie's Second stepped up to her other side. "He says Cruger's a stubborn dog," Rose said fondly. "Miguel's translator has been on the fritz lately," she added, probably for Jack's benefit.

"Broken?" Jack asked, glancing over his shoulder. "Bridge?"

Bridge shook his head. "Already looked at it," he reported. "It's in and out: sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. There's nothing I can do without better diagnostic equipment. He says it's doing a better job with our language than it is with his."

Miguel said something else, and Rose translated, "It's a good thing you guys showed up when you did, because he would have been really bored with only me to talk to."

Charlie's second-in-command reached around behind her and smacked Rose on the back of the head, a surprisingly human gesture that actually made Rose giggle. It was the first time Sky had seen any of the A Squad Rangers laugh since B Squad had found them. The sound seemed to make even Charlie relax a little.

"He says it's lucky you're here and he'll be glad to get back to SPD before it fails completely," Rose admitted. "I added the part about me being boring."

"Translator seems to be working fine now," Charlie muttered.

Miguel held up his right hand and offered her another very human gesture.

"Fuck off," Rose said helpfully.

"Yeah, thanks," Charlie said. Her lips twitched. "I got that."

Miguel opened his hand and offered it to Jack. He said something that, again, the translator didn't render, but the gesture was clear enough. Jack reached out to shake his hand even before Rose started to interpret.

"This is--" Rose made a series of sounds that might have been exactly what her alien teammate had just said or might not. "He goes by Miguel."

"Nice to meet you," Jack said easily. "Sorry about the translator."

Miguel replied, and this time Jack looked at Rose when she ducked her head. "He says he's in my debt," she said, clearly embarrassed. Miguel said something else, longer this time, and she continued reluctantly, "And you should thank me, because he does, and without me he would have gone crazy months ago."

Jack didn't hesitate. "Thanks, Rose," he said. To all appearances he was completely sincere.

Then Z chimed in, and Syd, and even Bridge, and somehow Sky found himself muttering, "Thanks, Rose." He thought he felt Charlie's gaze rake across him, but she and the rest of her team had closed ranks around Rose and were touching her, hugging her, ruffling her perfectly straight hair.

"Hey," one of Rose's remaining teammates said, leaning around her to offer his hand to Jack. "Des. Thanks for coming after us."

"It wasn't just us," Jack said, shaking the Green Ranger's hand. "Rangers from all over the galaxies have been out here looking for you."

"Don," the Yellow Ranger said, taking Jack's hand as soon as Des let it go. "We thought they would, y'know, Ranger solidarity and all. But we figured we were so far from our last known location that the odds of anyone stumbling over us were slim to none."

"Emphasis on 'none,'" Des agreed. "Criminal or not, we owe that little guy with the weapons. His ship might've been banged up as bad as ours, but at least the comm was salvageable."

A new voice interrupted, sounding remarkably plaintive. "I'm sure we were promised more food at some point. Surely that takes precedence over the rehashing of--"

Miguel's translator cut out in the middle of the sentence. He continued for a few seconds before throwing up his hands in disgust. Whatever he said after that was probably best filtered through Rose, who said only, "Maybe we could eat while we're talking?"

Don clapped Miguel on the shoulder sympathetically, but Syd launched into a description of their pizza options while Sky tried to ignore the look Charlie was giving him. Then Z made an offhand comment about the food coming from the Treehouse, Don recognized the reference, and the conversation degenerated from there. Of course someone on A Squad read Ranger Quest.

"So," Charlie said, under cover of the comic book love fest that was going on around the pizza. She hadn't made any move to get her own, maybe waiting for her team. Maybe just waiting to talk to him. "I never did congratulate you on..." She waved vaguely in the direction of his delta morpher.

He'd made Ranger just days before her team shipped out. Not Red. Not even A Squad. Now he shrugged if off. "You were kind of busy." He didn't mention that he probably would have blown her off if she'd tried, reading any kind of "congratulations" from his higher-ranked rival as condescension.

She folded her arms. "You should have been Red."

"Funny," Sky said, glancing over at Jack automatically. His team leader was trying to bring Don up to speed on a year's worth of issues in a matter of minutes. "That's what I said."

Jack looked up just then, catching his eye. He paused in the middle of whatever he was saying and tilted his head at Charlie inquiringly. Sky shook his head once. They were fine.

The corner of Jack's mouth quirked in acknowledgment. Sky could feel himself smiling back as he told Charlie, "Luckily, Cruger won that one."

Charlie's expression made it clear that she'd interpreted that exchange exactly as it was. "Finally stopped pining for Dru?" she asked bluntly.

"Dru came back," he said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Not dead. Working for the other side." It turned out that it got easier to say with time. "He's behind bars now."

He couldn't deny that her flicker of surprise was reassuring. He wasn't the only one who had totally misread Dru Harrington. Jack had been suspicious of him from the start, after all.

"Sorry," she said after a moment.

Sky shrugged again, because there was nothing else to say. "It's over."

"Yeah." She shifted, and he realized they were mirroring each other at the same moment she did. They both dropped their arms awkwardly, and he cleared his throat. She wasn't exactly the teammate he remembered.

"Well," she said, in a tone that said maybe he wasn't quite who she remembered either. With a half-shrug, she added, "In retrospect, I guess you're lucky you didn't make A Squad."

He tried not to smile, but it was harder than he expected when his rueful look prompted one from her. "The thought crossed my mind," he admitted.

Charlie held out her hand. "Thanks for coming after us," she said simply.

He clasped her hand without hesitation, shaking it once, because some things were more important than team rivalry. "Welcome back."

"Hey," Jack's voice interrupted, loud enough to warn them that he was coming as he sauntered back toward the couch and his own abandoned dinner. "You guys are making me nervous over here. You plotting to overthrow me?"

Sky rolled his eyes. "Not everything is about you, Jack," he informed the entire room.

Jack grinned, walking right up to him and throwing an arm over his shoulders. "Why not?" he wanted to know.

"Where'd you come from?" Charlie asked, eyeing him. "You weren't a cadet at the Earth academy."

"Not a cadet at all," Jack told her. Jerking his head at Sky, he said, "He arrested me. I broke out, stole a morpher. They haven't gotten rid of me yet," he finished cheerfully.

Sky sighed, because of course, all of A Squad was listening now. "He didn't steal it."

"But you did arrest him?" Charlie sounded skeptical.

"It's a long story," Sky muttered.

"What about you?" Don was asking Z. "I'm sure I'd remember you if we'd met before."

Z swallowed a mouthful of pizza, licked her fingers unapologetically, and gave him a smirk to mirror Jack's. "They arrested me too."

"Ah, but you didn't break out," Jack interrupted, his arm sliding off of Sky's shoulders as he turned. "I win the delinquent award for that. You took Cruger's deal, fair and square."

"What, is this a competition now?" Z wanted to know. She sounded more amused than anything else. "My record's a lot longer than yours, Jack."

Jack snorted, paying no attention to the looks the A Squad Rangers were giving each other. "That happens when you have an actual identity!"

"Well, you do technically have an identity," Bridge pointed out. "It's just that no one knew what it was. Except for a few people. Like Kat. And obviously your parents would know. And anything Kat knows, Commander Cruger knows, so--"

"Is Grumm still threatening Earth?" Charlie interrupted, her voice cutting through Bridge's monologue without apology.

Jack grimaced, but he didn't seem surprised by the question. "'Fraid so."

"You let him blow up anything important?" Charlie demanded.

Jack had to think about it. "Not yet," he decided at last.

"That's all we need to know," Charlie said.

Sky raised his eyebrows, but Charlie turned and headed for the pizza without another word. He and Jack looked at each other. "Is that good?" Jack whispered.

It wasn't A Squad turning evil and drawing their blasters. In that order or any other. "Seems like," Sky muttered, watching Charlie warily.

It continued to seem that way as the pizzas were divided up, the mingled squads separating out again as they found places to sit. It was a little strange to realize that, somewhere along the line, B Squad had become as cohesive a group as A Squad. Not exclusive. Just very... friendly.

Okay, Sky thought, as Jack flopped down beside him again. The Red Ranger's foot hooked over his ankle and tapped his toes once, giving him a wink when Sky glanced at him. He was sprawled against the end of the couch again, plate on the arm, making it very clear that there was no room for anyone else there. So maybe a little exclusive.

Miguel did remark, in a moment when his translator was working, that he used to hate pizza. Z offered to get him something else. This inspired a round of "food the synthesizer does best and worst" from Bridge and Syd, but Miguel waved it away as his translator cut out again.

"That's not what he meant," Rose said, her half-eaten slice of pizza already set aside so she could do something with Charlie's hair. "He says he can't believe he used to hate it, because now it tastes so much like home that he can't imagine anything else."

"I tell you," Don agreed, "it's a good thing there's no beer, because otherwise I'd think we're all dead in heaven right now."

"Sorry," Syd said, making a face. "Synthesizers still don't produce alcohol."

"Seriously? After a whole year?" Des shook his head in mock sadness. "Man, the future ain't what they said it'd be."

"We get back to Earth," Jack said, wiping his fingers on a napkin Sky had shoved into his lap, "the first round's on me."

"He asked for beer," Sky pointed out, loud enough for everyone to hear. "Not tequila."

Jack grinned, but it was Charlie who answered. "We're flexible," she said, somehow still a commanding presence even when her only female teammate was playing with her hair.

"Hey, is that a Red Ranger thing?" Bridge asked, apropos of nothing.

"What?" Jack wanted to know. "Tequila?"

"Probably," Charlie said, right on top of him. From the other side of the room, her eyes met Jack's, and Sky didn't miss the look of shared amusement.

"Braids," Z said. "I thought that was funny too."

"Oh, hey," Syd said, looking from one of them to the other. "You both have braids!"

That's what Rose was doing, Sky realized. Twisting Charlie's hair into braids. Her trademark red streak was wound through the right one from the top down. Funny... he'd always thought her hair was dyed, but seeing it now, it had to be either natural or some kind of magic.

"It's just practical," Jack said.

He said it at the exact moment that Charlie said the same thing. Their words actually overlapped. They looked at each other again, and this time they wore identical expressions of surprise.

Two Red Rangers whose sole purpose in life was to drive him crazy and they were already speaking in stereo.

"Great," Sky remarked, to no one in particular. "My life is now officially hell."

Sky stood, tense and angry, inside an elevator that wasn't moving anywhere near fast enough. Bridge was beside him, apparently the only one not taken by surprise when he'd turned and walked out of the command center without being dismissed. Everyone else's eyes had been on Sam and Nova, disappearing into the timestream, when Sky's anger finally began to win out over his shock.

He'd just seen Jack. Or he should have. He'd been planning to, but Jack hadn't shown at breakfast and they'd all been called to Command before Sky could go looking for him. Jack hadn't even come back to his room the night before--which Sky knew, because he'd fallen asleep there waiting for him. Just a few more minutes, Jack kept saying, his voice distracted over his morpher.

In Kat's lab until who knew when, and then mysteriously gone this morning? What the hell was that? He was holding Jack's morpher in his hand, so that was proof Jack had been around long enough to give it to Cruger. He couldn't have dropped in on the rest of them long enough to say, "Hey, by the way, I quit?"

He quit? He'd turned in his morpher and walked away? What happened to "together or not at all," "I won't leave you," and "Oh, Sky, I'm so different from Dru!" Because Dru was a fluke, a bad apple, the one guy in a million who wouldn't appreciate how much he was giving up by letting Sky go.

Yeah, Sky thought with a sneer. Jack seemed really fucking different right now.

He strode off of the elevator before the doors were all the way open, not caring if Bridge followed or not. His roommate had been smart enough to keep his mouth shut this far. And frankly, Sky didn't think there was much anyone could do to piss him off more than he already was.

Jack's door opened for him, unlocked and un-knocked-upon. Nothing had changed in the last hour. The room was exactly as he'd left it on his way to breakfast: Jack's stuff everywhere, Sky's things folded neatly at the end of the spare bed.

Which told him exactly nothing. Jack had joined SPD with two shirts, a pair of pants, and some old sneakers, all of which he'd been wearing at the time. It was entirely possible that he'd left SPD without much more.

"Sky?" Bridge's voice was quiet.

Sky glared down the hall at him, but Bridge just jerked his head at their own room. "What?" Sky demanded. He was already walking, faster, hurrying, trying not to think that maybe Jack was in his room.

He's gone, he chanted silently. Jack's gone, he left, they always leave, grow up already. He's gone.

Jack was in their room. Sprawled across Sky's bed, one pillow under his head and the other curled loosely in his arm, he was wearing a black t-shirt with his canvas jacket and jeans. He'd kicked off his shoes before climbing onto the bed, but he hadn't made any effort to pull the covers over him. He was, to all appearances, sound asleep.

"Jack," Sky said, and he'd meant it to sound stern and unforgiving but even to his ears he sounded pathetically grateful.

"He wasn't here when I left for breakfast," Bridge said, still quiet and maybe a little puzzled. "I'm sure I would have noticed someone who isn't you sleeping on your bed."

"Jack," Sky repeated, louder this time. "What are you doing?"

"Huh?" Jack bolted upright, staring at him in total non-comprehension. "What? What time is it?"

"It's eight twenty-three," Bridge offered.

"What the hell is this?" Sky demanded, holding up the Red delta morpher. He tossed it in Jack's direction, but Jack didn't make any effort to grab it. Instead he just watched, blinking, apparently baffled as the little device landed on the bed next to them.

"It looks like my morpher," Jack said after a moment. "I thought I gave that to..."

His eyes widened, and Jack lifted a horrified gaze to Sky's. "Tell me Cruger didn't give you this."

"Well, I could tell you that, but then I'd be lying," Sky snapped. "Not only did the commander give me your morpher, effectively promoting me to your position, he also told the entire team that you'd left SPD. He went so far as to imply that we'd never see you on base again."

"Actually, he just didn't answer when Syd asked why," Bridge pointed out. "Which I guess did seem kind of ominous. But he didn't really have time, because she was kind of upset that you hadn't told us, and Z was trying to calm everyone down--"

"No, look--" Jack swung his legs off of the bed, surprisingly coordinated for someone who had looked as confused as he had a moment ago. "This is my fault; I wanted to catch you guys before he did, but you must have already gone to breakfast and then I fell asleep..."

"What the hell happened?" Sky interrupted, only slightly mollified by Jack's obvious distress. "Were you in the lab all night?"

"Yeah." Jack blinked at him, the stream of words stopping just like that. "Sorry."

"Kat's lab?" Bridge repeated. He said it like he knew it was true but it didn't quite make enough sense to be a statement. "What were you doing there all night?"

"Trying to help A Squad," Jack said, lifting a hand to rub his eyes and push his braids out of his face. "I called Hope, you know, from the Kerovan Rangers? But I couldn't tell her exactly what happened to them, and she couldn't tell Kat exactly what to look for, or something... so she's on her way here."

It took Sky a second to get it, but Bridge understood right away. "Hope's coming to help Kat?" he guessed.

"Yeah." Jack was frowning. "I told her to call me when she got in, not the base, 'cause Cruger was on a tear even before the whole morpher thing. I didn't really count on that," he added, glancing down on the morpher still sitting beside him on the bed.

"Guys?" Z's voice came from just outside in the hall. Bridge turned automatically, but Sky didn't take his eyes off of Jack. He heard Z call, "They're down here!" and then she and Syd were squeezing into the room with the rest of them.

"What's going on?" Syd wanted to know, looking around at all of them as she pushed her way past Sky and Bridge. "Jack! Why did you give Cruger your morpher? Are you really leaving SPD? Why didn't you tell us?"

This last question was punctuated by a punch to Jack's shoulder that was hard enough to make him wince, and Sky didn't think he was playing it up. Syd's fists were a bitch when she was mad. It was some small amount of satisfaction by proxy, since Sky couldn't think up a rational excuse for socking Jack himself.

"I'm sorry, okay?" Jack held up his hands to defend himself, but Sky saw his gaze go to Z when he was satisfied that Syd wouldn't hit him again. "I screwed up. We played chicken and he won. It was really late, and I guess I just dozed off before I could find you guys."

"What happened?" Z asked. Weirdly, the note of sympathy in her voice made Sky bristle almost as much as the way she slipped past him to join Jack on his bed. She picked up the Red morpher before she sat down, studying it for a moment before handing it back to Jack without so much as a glance in Sky's direction.

Jack took it, but he did look at Sky. "Cruger stormed into Kat's lab at... I don't know, say six-thirty," he said. "He wanted to know what we were doing, running tests on A Squad when the base is a mess and the city is full of Grumm's leftover lackeys."

"Is that where you were last night?" Z interrupted, and now she looked over at Sky too. She'd come looking for Jack just before midnight and found Sky instead. "Working with Kat?"

"Yeah," Jack said with a sigh. "I feel like it's my fault, you know? For letting the commander dismiss us as soon as we got back. Kat thinks they were programmed, some kind of subconscious trigger that didn't kick in until they were alone with Cruger--and we just walked out. We let A Squad capture him."

"First off, that's ridiculous," Syd said, folding her arms. "We didn't know. And second, how come we didn't know? Why didn't we find anything like that when we were running a bajillion tests on them back at the outpost?"

"Well, if it makes you feel better, Kat hasn't found anything like that either," Jack admitted, putting his hands on the edge of the bed and bracing himself as he leaned forward. "They look perfectly normal to her too. But she says it's the only thing that makes sense."

"Maybe it is," Bridge said slowly. "I mean, they seemed normal enough when we picked them up. But as soon as we got back here... I thought there was something weird about them as we were leaving the command center."

"Should have listened to you," Jack said, shaking his head. "Turns out it was our problem after all."

"What happened with Cruger?" Sky hadn't forgotten the point in all of this. "So he's got something against A Squad now; who's surprised? I'm not too thrilled with them myself."

"They didn't turn on us, Sky." Jack was giving him a look that left no room for doubt, a look that said Sky was the disappointment here for not believing. "Not willingly. Not ever."

"Rangers can turn bad," Sky snapped. "They're only human."

"Or whatever Miguel is," Syd added.

"Hey, I've got an idea," Jack said sarcastically. "Let's re-enact my entire morning, only this time I'll be me and you can be Commander Cruger."

Bridge appeared to take this suggestion seriously. "Wouldn't that be kind of a waste of time?" he wanted to know.

"What did he say?" Z insisted, leaning over to bump Jack's shoulder with her own. "Did he kick you out or what? He can't think you had anything to do with A Squad going crazy on us."

"Nah." Jack nudged her in return, an affectionate if somewhat distracted gesture. "I think he came by to chew out Kat, actually. But when he found out I'd been there all night, he implied that I was sabotaging my own team for the sake of people who are basically traitors.

"I told him I'd give up my morpher before I let him accuse another Ranger of treason," Jack continued with an offhanded shrug that hid more than it revealed. "He called my bluff."

Syd was frowning. "What, just like that?"

Jack snorted. "There was a lot more shouting than that. I'm hitting the high points. Which, by the way, include Kat standing up for me and Cruger threatening to fire her for--" He paused, lifting his gaze to the ceiling as he recited, "Insubordination, inefficiency, inconsistency, and... some other 'in' word that I can't remember. He was very alliterative."

"Which is pretty impressive," Bridge commented, "when you consider that English isn't even his first language."

"He threatened to fire Kat?" Z repeated. She acted like this was the biggest surprise of the morning.

"Followed by her threatening to quit first," Jack agreed. "They're not speaking to each other right now."

"Like anyone can keep track of when they're on or off," Syd said, rolling her eyes. "They'll probably be best friends again by lunch time."

"I wonder how Isinia's doing," Bridge remarked.

Sky turned to stare at him, and he wasn't the only one.

"Well, the commander has been under a lot of pressure lately," Bridge pointed out. "A Squad betrays him, he's held captive aboard the Terror, he has to kill Grumm--twice--and he ends up rescuing his wife who's been a prisoner of war for at least a decade. Not to mention the whole suicide Omni mission... thing."

"Hey, the last few days haven't been a picnic for any of us," Jack protested. "We're the ones who had to find A Squad and then fight them. We're lucky we didn't go down with the Delta Squad Megazord. And we're the ones who had to retake the base. It's not like he's got a monopoly on being betrayed and captured, either."

"And we're handling it so much better," Z finished, rolling her eyes.

"Maybe we should all get some therapy," Syd suggested brightly. "We could declare amnesty for anyone who quits or is fired before then."

"Hope for Jack," the Red morpher said, and whatever Jack was about to say went unsaid as he stared at the morpher like he'd forgotten he was holding it. Then he looked up at Sky, like--

Sky raised his eyebrows. "It's not mine," he said sharply.

Jack looked away as he flipped his morpher open. "Go for Jack."

"I'm inbound to SPD," the voice came back. "ETA six and a half minutes."

"Yeah, all right," Jack said. "You got a landing pad?"

"Yeah, but I'm gonna need an escort," she answered. "Unless you want me to pull rank as soon as I set down."

"I'll be there," Jack promised. "The base is still kind of a mess."

"Got it." And she was gone.

"I'm gonna go meet her," Jack said, lowering his morpher. "You guys--"

The alert howled through the residential levels, and he closed his mouth. Z jumped up immediately, but Jack didn't move. They all just stood there, frozen, as he looked up at Sky and offered him his morpher.

"Don't be ridiculous," Sky said, folding his arms. "Contrary to your inflated opinion of yourself, we can go a few hours without a Red Ranger."

"Take care of A Squad," Syd agreed. Her voice was unexpectedly gentle. "Let them know we want them back, too."

Jack nodded once, and Z clapped him on the shoulder. They turned to go, but Sky kept his eye on Jack a second longer. "Stay out of Cruger's way," he said.

Jack tossed off a mock-salute. "Yes sir," he said easily.

Sky frowned at him, but he had to go and Jack knew it. Jack should be going with them. Maybe Syd was right... maybe they would all calm down in a day or two. Maybe a little time was all it would take for things to get back to normal. Or what passed for normal around here.

Unfortunately, the day only went downhill from there. He spent most of it tracking and apprehending "leftover lackeys," responding to two requests for backup from the C and D squads--deployed to assist theirs, and that irony wasn't lost on him--and extracting a group of first responders who had gotten in over their heads in one of the demolished sections of the city. He tried to stop by Kat's lab in between calls.

"What, you skip debriefing?" Jack demanded, the first time he showed up.

"Cruger's on a call," Sky said, tossing him a bottle of orange juice from the mess. "Did you ever eat?"

"Oh, yeah, this is a real popcorn crowd," Jack said. He rolled his eyes at the rest of the lab. "Every time I try to sneak away, they want to pick my brain about the rescue or use me as a baseline for some test or something."

"Any luck?" Sky asked. It was a foolish question, and he knew it. If there were progress, he wouldn't have to ask.

Jack just shrugged, popping his orange juice open as he offered, "Hope's got a lot of experience with this stuff. She and Kat are driving each other crazy--coming at it from opposite directions, you know?"

He didn't know, and he said so. He glanced around as he did it, but no one seemed to be paying any attention to them. Sky was--just slightly--more interested in talking to Jack than in actually finding out what was going on, so he didn't look too closely.

"Kat wants to know what happened," Jack said, swallowing. He gestured vaguely with his orange juice bottle as he added, "Hope just wants to know if it's going to happen again. Doesn't care so much about the cause if we can neutralize the effects."

"Seems like you can't have one without the other." Sky hitched one hip up on a swiveling stool and turned a little, watching Jack take another gulp of juice. He wondered if he'd be subject to mockery from now until the end of time if he brought Jack something to eat.

Jack shrugged again. "Hope's trying to duplicate the situation with Cruger in simulation, so we can find out if the whole squad's gonna go off the deep end all over again. If not, maybe we can at least let them out for a while, see if they can help us figure out what happened."

Sky stared at him. "Let them out?"

"Yeah." Jack eyed him over his orange juice. "They're not weird now, Sky. The whole mind control thing ended when Grumm did. Or it wore off on its own; we're not really sure."

"That's so reassuring," Sky scoffed. "They know how to act non-violent when they're under observation in solitary confinement. Good for them."

"They're not in solitary anymore," Jack said. "We couldn't do that to them, Sky. They'd go crazy. You of all people know what it's like," he added, and his tone sounded more than a little accusing.

"They tried to kill us," Sky reminded him. "And it's not like they're the exception lately. I'm sick of getting screwed over by people I trust."

"Yeah, well, the alternative is not to trust anyone." Jack was studying him with a gaze that demanded understanding. "I've been there, and believe me: it's not worth it. Better a few mistakes than a lifetime of bitterness."

"Whatever," Sky muttered. "You want some lunch?"

As a diversionary tactic, it worked a little too well. He should have realized he was in trouble when Jack leaned back against a lab bench, sliding his hands along it in either direction as he regarded Sky speculatively. Sprawling while standing up, that's what he was doing. It was the look of a man who had never known military posture in his life.

"Sky," Jack drawled, and truth be told, Sky was too busy trying not to stare to notice his tone. "Did you just ask me out?"

Sky blinked, catching his eye in surprise. "No."

"I disagree," Jack said, a smile spreading across his face. "I think you just asked me to go to lunch with you."

Sky rolled his eyes, letting the stool he was sitting on spin all the way around. The split second he spent looking away from Jack gave his brain time to catch up. "I was actually going to bring you something to eat, since apparently you're too lazy to go find food yourself. But if I was asking you out--which I wasn't--I don't know why you'd be surprised."

"Oh, right," Jack scoffed. "Why would I be surprised? Because Sky Tate is such a man of the people. I bet there's roses on Valentine's Day and chocolate on my birthday. We'll probably have to celebrate our one year anniversary.

"Hey," he added, eyes narrowing. "Is that why you asked me to lunch? So we'd have a first anniversary date?"

"For the record," Sky told him, "I didn't ask you to lunch."

"Uh-huh." Jack seemed to agree with this about as much as he agreed with anything Sky said. "So how long do I have to go out with you before one of us is allowed to ask the other on a date?"

"I'm sleeping with you," Sky said. "We're not technically going out."

"Technically," Jack countered, "we've been going out for months."

"Could you two settle your domestic dispute somewhere else?" Kat's voice broke in. "This really isn't as easy as it looks."

Jack grinned at his expression. "Hey, Sky," he said easily. "Want to go to lunch with me?"

It was a good thought, and getting kicked out of the lab, however temporarily, pretty much guaranteed Jack enough time to get some food. Sky, however, had no such guarantees. They were only halfway to the mess when the alert went off again, and B Squad--minus Jack--was back on the streets.

The next time he stopped by, A Squad was there. Sky waited just inside the door, not really wanting their attention, but of course Jack yelled across the room as soon as he noticed him. "Hey, Sky!" he called. "Present for you!"

Sky caught the projectile hurtling toward him reflexively. Plastic cup, cellophane seal. Blue jello.

"Cute," he said, catching Jack's eye as he held it up.

Jack just grinned. "I thought so."

Apparently Hope's concerns had taken priority over Kat's, at least in the short term. A Squad was being subjected to a whole new battery of tests, but they weren't restrained in any way and no one in the room had a weapon that Sky could see. He supposed, if nothing else, Kat had an emergency button that the commander hadn't failed to answer yet.

They were gone when he made it back to the lab that evening. Jack was still there, though, and he couldn't help but wonder what Jack had to contribute that he could spend the entire day with Kat and Hope. Or maybe he was just doing what Sky had told him to and staying out of Cruger's way.

Yeah. That would be the day. Not only was Kat's lab normally the commander's favorite haunting ground, but the last time Jack had done what he was told was--

Well, two nights ago, actually. The thought was as irrelevant as it was appealing.

"Hey," Jack's voice said. "You okay?"

Sky blinked. He wasn't entirely sure how Jack had ended up next to him, and he had enough presence of mind to know that was a bad thing. "Okay?" he said aloud. "Yes. At the top of my game? Probably not."

"Long day," Jack said, not bothering to make it a question. He knew perfectly well the day had sucked. Just because he hadn't been with B Squad didn't mean he couldn't guess what they were going through.

"Yeah," Sky said, looking around for somewhere to sit. He wasn't sure they were done for the night, even now, and he might as well take the rest where he could get it. "For you too, it looks like."

"Frustrating as hell," Jack admitted with a grimace. "I hate being stuck in here while you guys are out saving the city. I heard even D Squad was deployed downtown."

"Where we promptly had to rescue them," Sky muttered. The lowest ranking squad had been assigned to base cleanup until it became clear that SPD's regular deployments weren't enough.

"You need real backup," Jack said. Like that was news to anyone. "Hope says we should just turn A Squad loose and cross our fingers."

"Right." Sky didn't have energy to waste on the incredulity that suggestion deserved. "Because we want to fight the good guys when there are enough bad ones out there to overrun the city."

"They're not going to fight us," Jack protested. "Have you even seen them? Have you talked to them? They're just as confused as we are and all they really want is a chance to make up for what they did."

"We can't pretend they're fine!" Sky burst out. "They were POWs, Jack! They were stranded on a planet with a ship that wasn't even salvageable, no civilization, limited defenses, and zero outside contact! That's solitary, and whatever went wrong in their heads, you can't just throw them out on the streets after something like that and expect them to do their job!"

Jack folded his arms, and the sudden quiet in the lab made Sky look around. "What?" he demanded. "There are protocols for this sort of thing! Recovered MIAs have a set readjustment period based on nature and duration of the absence. Former POWs are required to enter counseling and--"

"Sky," Jack interrupted. "Okay. We get it."

"I don't think you do!" Sky exclaimed. "B Squad is it, Jack! You said it yourself, it's all down to us now. Then you go and give up your morpher in some stupid pissing contest with Cruger, and we're down not just a megazord but a SWAT flier and a Red Ranger on top of it!"

In what was just the final straw, the alert started to howl through the base again, and a voice Sky didn't recognize was summoning B Squad back into action. He threw up his hands in disgust. Sliding off of his stool, he headed for the door.

"Sky." Calm and aggravating at the same time, Jack's voice was still enough to stop him in his tracks. He turned reluctantly to see Jack holding out the Red morpher again. "Take it."

He was tempted, just for a moment. Because Jack almost deserved it for ditching his team in the first place. But it was still Jack's Red morpher, and taking it would somehow mean admitting that B Squad was no longer Jack's team.

"Sky," Jack repeated, less patiently this time. "The Battlizer. You look like you're about to fall asleep on your feet. You need every advantage you can get. Just take it already."

"B Squad to Command," the allcall blared. "B Squad, please report to Command immediately."

"We're coming," Sky muttered, snatching the morpher out of Jack's hand before he could think about it any more. "We always come. You don't have to keep calling us."

"You'll have backup," Jack told him. "You will have backup, Sky. Don't lose it out there."

It didn't even deserve a response. Sky waved over his shoulder, on his way out of the lab and back to Command for the fourth time that day. Would they ever be able to save the city and have it stay saved? Just for a few days? A few hours?

He was exhausted. That was the only explanation he could offer when the Battlizer failed him, the ground gave way beneath him, and only his SWAT gear kept him from getting crushed in the collapse. The others were coming. He knew the team would be there. He had even, somehow, believed Jack when he promised the impossible.

That didn't keep him from being surprised when another Red Ranger in modified SWAT gear appeared above him. He was hallucinating. He had to be. Except that his hallucination was reaching out a hand to him and instinct that wouldn't be denied prompted him to grab for it.

The hand was solid. A Squad Red hauled him up out of the pit with a strength that Sky could have summoned one rescue, two fights, and five hours ago. "Charlie," he gasped, accepting the hand on his arm as he tried to find his balance again.

"Nope," Jack's voice said cheerfully. "Good guess, though."

His head whipped around, the Power compensating once again for his increasingly slow reaction time. "Jack," he snapped. "What are you doing here?"

"Saving your butt," Jack told him. "I'll just assume there's a 'thank you' coming at some point."

All of A Squad was there. Green and Blue were arresting the guys who'd given B Squad so much trouble. Yellow was all over the weapons, the equipment that had probably compromised structural integrity for miles around. And Pink was, somewhat awkwardly, picking up the rest of B Squad and dusting them off.

"Jack," Sky said, staring at them with a sort of horrified fascination. "What did you do?"

Jack held his arms out to the sides, and Sky could just imagine the look of wide-eyed innocence under his visor. "I brought backup. I told you I would."

"Sky!" It was Syd who got to him first, although B Squad was starting to pull itself together while A Squad judged and confined their erstwhile opponents. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he said brusquely. Then, to Jack, he added, "Cruger's going to kill you."

Jack shrugged, and Syd spared him a brief glance. "Who, A Squad? Why?"

Sky was saved from answering when Jack demorphed, and Syd actually took a step back in surprise. "Jack? What are you doing here?"

"Got tired of sitting on the sidelines," he said flippantly.

A Squad Blue came up behind him--not tall enough to be Miguel--and offered him three containment cards. "Thanks," Jack said, taking them and waving them in Sky's direction with a smug smile. "Oh, and you're welcome. By the way."

"Who are you?" Sky demanded, paying no attention to him.

The Blue Ranger's armor disappeared, leaving a blonde girl blinking at him in its wake. "Hi," she said, smiling uncertainly.

This time it was Bridge who did a double take. "Sophie?"

"Came back to help when she heard about the attack," Jack said, and it said something about the magnitude of Grumm's final offensive that, even after all they'd been through, he didn't have to specify which one. "She happened to wander through the lab at the right time."

Sky couldn't tell whether Jack was joking or not. "Seriously," he said, eyeing Jack with a look that was totally lost behind his visor. "Cruger will kill you."

"I don't think so." A Squad Yellow's voice was disturbingly familiar, and when she demorphed it was Kat Manx standing there in front of them. "The commander said he didn't want to hear another word about A Squad until the Delta base is at optimum efficiency again. We're just following orders."

Z got it before Sky did, which had to be another sign of his fatigue. "Cruger doesn't know about this?" she demanded.

"What is this, exactly?" Bridge wondered aloud. "Is A Squad back in prison?"

"Voluntary rehab," Jack told him. "At least until we figure out that trigger. It was Charlie's idea," he added, glancing at Sky. "It'll give them a chance to re-acclimate to Earth."

"We're just kind of, uh, holding the morphers for them," A Squad Green said. Sky recognized Boom's voice immediately. "Temporary reassignment. Just filling in, really. No big deal." His obvious enthusiasm belied the attempt at nonchalance.

"Who's Pink?" Syd wanted to know. She didn't seem bothered by the idea.

The other Pink Ranger demorphed after only one false start, and a blonde woman with an orange baseball cap gave them an idle wave. "Hey," she said, her gaze on Sky for a long moment before it flicked to the others. "Ally Samuels. Nice to meet you."

Ally. Sky stared back at her for a second too long, and when he glanced to the right he found the rest of B Squad waiting on him. He nodded once. "Power down," they declared simultaneously, and their armor burst into confetti nothingness at the same time.

"Sydney Drew," Syd said, waving at Ally without offering her hand. "You must be Jack's friend. We've heard a lot about you."

"Really, a lot," Z repeated, holding out her hand with a smile. "I'm Z. Good to meet you."

"Same here." Ally shook her hand, and Sky didn't miss the fact that her smile was almost a mirror of Z's. "On both counts."

The similarity between the two was more reassuring than startling. Sure, Jack said he'd had a crush on Z once, but they might as well be brother and sister now. Of course he would befriend someone who acted just like her.

Still. Just when he'd gotten rid of one Sam...

"How long have you been on base?" Bridge was asking Sophie. He didn't seem to be paying any attention to Ally, even when Sophie looked at her uncertainly, until Z nudged him gently and tilted her head.

"Oh, uh, hi?" Bridge lifted one hand in her direction, a sort of absent wave that turned into something else when he used the other hand to point at his gloves. "I don't do the... no. Not so much."

"Introduce yourself?" Ally said, giving him an amused and vaguely skeptical look that made Sky frown. Bridge might not have spelled it out, but he was wearing gloves and the implication was perfectly clear.

"Shake hands," Z jumped in. "This is Bridge. And the unsmiling one is Sky. Nothing personal, he's just mad that you've been monopolizing his boyfriend."

"Sounds pretty personal to me." Ally eyed him with an expression not unlike the one Z had given him the first time they met. Just try it, that look said. Just try to get to me. I dare you.

Sky held out his hand, because what did he care about her challenges. Jack had spent a lot of time off the base during the days following Cruger's offer to promote him. So he'd made a friend--one that he trusted with a morpher. So what?

Ally shook his hand, but of course she couldn't keep her mouth shut. "So are you Bridge's opposite?" she wanted to know. "You do shake hands, but you don't introduce yourself?"

"Even if he doesn't kill you," Sky told Jack, releasing her hand and putting both of his behind his back, "he may kill them." With the possible exception of Kat. "Did you think of that?"

"You don't have to sound so happy about it," Ally muttered.

"No one's going to kill anyone," Jack said firmly. "We're doing a job that needs to be done, and if the commander's got a problem with that, he can fire me again for all I care. Until then--or until Charlie and her team are back on the streets--we are A Squad."

"You can demorph now, Boom," Kat added.

"Oh, yeah. Right." The Green Ranger fumbled through the demorphing process, somehow managing to end up with a proud expression at the end of it. "Ready to serve. That's me."

"Jack, they're not even... you know." Syd gave them a sideways look that seemed to be mostly aimed at Ally. "Cadets."

"They've all had training," Jack pointed out. "Except for Ally. And man, you should see what she can do with a coat rack."

Sky snorted at Ally's small smile. Clearly a private joke. "When they start issuing coat racks instead of blasters," he snapped, "that will matter. In the meantime, could we focus on how completely ridiculous this is?"

"Actually, I think it's a great idea," Z remarked. "If we're ever going to have a day off again, we need another squad, and we all wanted to promote Sophie months ago. Kat and Boom know what they're doing.

"Maybe Ally's not SPD," she added, and now she was looking right at him, "but Jack chose her, and this morning you told Cruger you'd follow anyone he chose. Is Jack so different?"

"That's a good point," Bridge said thoughtfully. "I mean, Jack trusts her. And Jack and Z didn't have any training when they became Rangers either."

Sky's biggest problem with Z was Bridge. He was perfectly aware that her biggest problem with him was Jack, so maybe that made them even. He didn't know. But he was pretty sure that, even or not, stealing each other's best friends meant that she didn't expect anything but the worst from him.

He was oh so happy to disappoint her.

"Your squad," Sky told Jack, because he was not involved. He held up his hands to show how not involved he was. "Your decision."

"Hah," Jack said. "Someone write that down. Sky just said I'm allowed to make decisions for my squad."

"Actually, when he said 'your decision,'" Syd put in, "I think he meant 'your career.'"

Sky snorted, because that was exactly what he'd meant. Jack already knew and probably didn't care. Which in many ways made him the perfect person for this particular problem: SPD did need A Squad, Charlie's team wasn't duty-ready, and the other squads weren't currently promotable. For a variety of reasons.

Enter Jack's temporary A Squad. Sophie was even qualified, at least for B Squad, and there was no real reason she couldn't fill in. Kat was actually overqualified. Boom shouldn't have been let anywhere near a morpher, in his opinion, and Ally was a variable he'd rather not know too much about. But as teams went, it wasn't the worst he'd seen.

"My SPD 'career' has always been so much more important to me than the safety of the city," Jack was saying. "In fact, just last week, I accepted an award for how well I follow rules at the expense of my friends' well-being. I hung it on my wall; I'll show it to you when we get back."

Bridge was giving him an odd look. "Really?"

"No," Jack told him.

What Jack should have gotten an award for was his attitude. He made things happen just by assuming that they would. He didn't stop to ask, either for permission or for help, he just went ahead and did whatever he thought was right. Sometimes it blew up in his face. Other times he won the day.

It was impossible to tell which of those times this one was going to be. Cruger was gone again when they returned to base, off to debrief at some Galaxy Command meeting, so Kat took the opportunity to requisition Jack's new team some uniforms. Sophie, Boom, and Ally went with the rest of them to the mess hall.

After dinner, which was late but mercifully uninterrupted by urgent summons, Z offered to show Ally around the base. Sophie disappeared with Boom and Bridge to do whatever geeks did in their downtime, and Sky headed for Command. Syd offered to keep him company, but Jack waved her off.

"I got it, Syd," he said, in the tone of voice that meant, really, go away.

At least Jack waited until they were alone in Command to confront him. "Talk to me, Sky. You got a problem with this?"

"I said I didn't," Sky reminded him evenly.

"No, you said it was my decision." Jack watched him fold his arms, but his own expression was inscrutable. "And before that, I believe the word 'ridiculous' was mentioned. So. What?"

"What do you want me to say?" Sky demanded. "I'm mad at you, jealous of your little friend, feeling betrayed because you put together a squad SPD desperately needs and apprehended gunrunners who were kicking our butts in the process?"

"If that's how you feel, then yeah." Jack's gaze didn't waver. "I want you to say it."

"I just did," Sky snapped.

"Okay, start with betrayed." Jack braced one arm on a control console and stared him down. "Why? Because you wanted me to stay with B Squad? Or because you wanted to be on A Squad?"

"I don't care about A Squad!" Sky shouted. "You fucking left us! After you promised not to! Together or not at all, you said. We move up together. And now Cruger's getting exactly what he wanted: you leading his front line team!"

Jack had the nerve to laugh. "Sky, you're leading his front line team. I'm gambling Charlie's reputation and Kat's charm that Cruger will be too embarrassed to disband us when he gets back. If the most effective thing we do is keep SPD from getting ideas about making Charlie's team quietly disappear, then we've served our purpose."

"So, what, arresting criminals is just a bonus?" Sky demanded.

"If we have the morphers, we have a duty to use them," Jack pointed out.

"You had a morpher," Sky growled. "You had a team."

"Nothing lasts forever," Jack told him. "You said it yourself."

"You said you wouldn't leave." He didn't want to think about how it sounded: petulant, desperate, the voice of someone who'd already lost whatever he was fighting for. But he couldn't help shoving it in Jack's face.

Jack straightened up, throwing his hands out to the side in a gesture of ultimate surrender. "I'm not leaving, Sky! I'm right here, I'm trying to stay here, and this is the best way I can think of to do it!"

"Here's a better way," Sky said, yanking the Red morpher out and thrusting it at Jack. "Maybe if you could keep your mouth shut around Cruger for two seconds--"

"Like you don't mouth off every chance you get." Jack didn't even wait for him to stop, just talked over him. "It's a Red Ranger thing, Sky, just accept it already. We all think we know best, and no one's gonna tell us otherwise. You should have had that morpher from the beginning."

His eyes narrowed, because that was a backhanded compliment if it was a compliment at all. "Maybe I don't want it."

"Maybe I don't either," Jack said, and his tone made Sky shut his mouth. That tone was dead serious. This wasn't what Sky wanted to hear at all.

"You're right, you know," Jack continued. "I didn't want to be a Ranger. And to be totally honest, I still don't. But there are people here counting on me. Charlie's team needs someone to speak up for them. Sophie and Boom need someone to take a chance on them. And B Squad needs backup that isn't orientation level cadets.

"You don't need me," Jack said bluntly. "But I want you. I know how much SPD means to you, and frankly, I'm scared I'd never see you if we didn't work together. So I'm still here. Almost a year later."

Sky transferred his stare from Jack to Jack's morpher. To the B Squad Red morpher, because it was easier than looking at Jack right now. To the morpher Jack had given him, twice now, because... because he thought Sky should have it. Because he wanted Sky to have it.

Jack knew what Sky wanted, and he was willing to compromise what he wanted to get it for him.

"One year doesn't guarantee another," he said. Trying to pretend he was talking to himself. He meant Jack to hear. He wanted to hear Jack promise.

Instead, Jack chuckled. "Sky," he said, and his voice was full of an affection that could have been there all along. "I'd propose right now if I thought it would help. But I don't. Because when it comes down to it, there are two ways of looking at the world."

Jack paused, then prompted, "Don't you want to know what they are?"

Sky sighed. "Not really," he said, which was only partly a lie.

"You can either assume everything's going to go wrong," Jack told him, "or you can assume everything's going to work out. Neither one gives you any control over what actually happens. But assuming everything's going to be fine is a lot more fun, so. Maybe you should try it."

He supposed he should consider himself lucky that Kat showed up just then. She walked into Command wearing a bright yellow jacket over her... whatever passed for a uniform in the lab these days. And she tossed an equally bright jacket on the console beside Jack on her way to her station. "Squad gear," she said as she passed.

Jack looked from her to the jacket in surprise. "That was fast."

"I know all the supply officers," Kat said over her shoulder.

Jack picked it up, shaking the jacket out and raising his eyebrows as he studied it. "It's very red," he said at last.

"A Squad, Jack." Kat had turned around to watch him, smiling at his surprise. "Get used to it."

"Whatever you say, Number Four," Jack teased.

Kat's smile didn't fade. "You should be nice to me. I'm the one who's going to keep you from getting fired. Again."

"Says the woman Cruger threatened to fire three separate times this morning," Jack added.

"He can't fire me," Kat said with complete assurance. "I've got seniority."

They exchanged glances and Sky shrugged once. "She's got a point there."

"Huh." Jack swung the jacket over his shoulders, shrugging into it and holding out his arms to study the sleeves. "Okay."

"Okay?" Sky repeated. "You're A Squad Red. You're the highest ranked person on this base right now."

Jack grinned. "Does that mean I can do whatever I want?"

Sky raised his eyebrows. "Has that ever stopped you before?"

"C'mere," Jack said, waving for Sky to follow him across the room. "I have a thing about you and the commander's chair. This might be my only chance."

Kat cleared her throat. "I think I'll go now," she said, to no one in particular.

"Thanks, Kat," Jack said cheerfully. "You're the best."

Sky was right behind him, but he kept his voice down even as Kat disappeared into the hallway. It wasn't like the doors were closed. "What about me and the commander's chair?"

Jack was beaming at him, happy and mischievous and maybe whatever promise he wanted was right there on his face. "Guess you'll never know if you don't sit down, will you?"