Disclaimer: I do not own PRSPD, nor do I claim to.
A/n: in this au SPD fic, Kat was married before the destruction of her home planet, and the memories haunt her because she had lost her husband and an unborn child, more on that to come in another fic.
That Holiday Spirit Thing
The first of December hit the S.P.D Earth Station like any other day, well, almost any other day. Most of the personnel that called that base home observed some holiday during that month, weather it be the majority holiday, Christmas… or Bridge's minority, Hanukah… there was always something to get ready for.
The rangers felt the spirit of the holiday fill the base and knew that this year would be special.
Commander Anubis "Doggie" Cruger and Dr. Katherine "Kat" Manx were both seeing changes in the rangers, in particular, Sydney Drew, the typically cheerful young woman was getting ready for the holiday full force and finding out all she could about the Jewish tradition of Hanukah so as not to leave Bridge Carson out of the holiday celebrations.
Syd was groaning that particular evening after finding out from Schuyler "Sky" Tate that candles for a Hanukah menorah were simply out of the question… too much of a fire hazard.
"Shoot!" she muttered as she walked into Kat's lab "Looks like my plan to help Bridge celebrate Hanukah is out of the question"
That line earned her a rather perplexed look from Kat.
"Syd, I thought you didn't care about Jewish traditions" Kat said rather surprised to hear the pink ranger complaining that another religion's traditions couldn't be observed
"Bridge is one of my friends, he deserves to be able follow his own traditions" Syd replied "it is the season of giving after all!"
Kat's expression changed from one of surprise to one of understanding, even Sydney had picked up the holiday spirit.
"I'll see what can be done" Kat replied
Sydney left Kat's lab and got ready to do some Christmas shopping, this holiday was her favorite excuse for shopping.
She had bought for a lot of the rangers, but she couldn't think of anything to buy for Kat, she couldn't think of anything that Kat needed or wanted so she went back to base lacking a present for Kat.
"What should I buy Kat for Christmas?" Syd asked no one in particular as she walked into the rec. room.
"Maybe you could give her something to wear" Bridge said
"I remember she was complaining about her lab getting rather cold, maybe you could get her something to resolve that situation" Sky suggested
"Yeah, but what?"
"Now that's up to you" Z said "you know Kat as well as we do… maybe even better than some of us"
"I rarely see her wearing any jewelry" Syd said
"With her job I'm not surprised" Z said "she's working with her hands so much that rings or bracelets are kind of awkward."
"Yes, and I don't think she owns any necklaces" Syd said
"She does" Commander Cruger said "but most of them bring back bad memories of how she lost everything when her planet was conquered."
"Oh" the team said in unison and exchanged mournful glances
"What about her watch, she hasn't worn it in quite a while" Z pointed out
"She caught it on something and broke it, she tried to get it fixed, but the jeweler that she went to said it was better off thrown away" Cruger replied "it was made on her home planet and given to her by her husband on their anniversary, that is the only reason it didn't actually get thrown away" he pulled the rather expensive looking watch from his uniform pocket, the band of which showed signs of being tugged rather hard and broken off the watch face, "she left it on her desk after she found out it couldn't be repaired and I picked it up thinking you rangers might be able to find someone who could fix it and get it working again"
Sydney took the watch from the commander's hand and inspected the damage.
"I know a jeweler who would be more than happy to fix this" Syd said "and he would be able to get it working like brand new"
"Could you do that for her?" the commander asked
"Yes sir" she replied
Sydney left to take it to her friend to see if he could repair the damage to Kat's watch.
Meanwhile Kat was looking for that very same watch.
"Now, I know I left it here" she sighed in frustration she had found a new battery for it, so she could at least get it working halfway decently.
Commander Cruger walked into the lab just like any other day, but in the back of his mind he felt guilty for stealing Kat's watch, but it was for a good reason, and she would get it back later.
"Maybe one of the cadets picked it up" he suggested giving her the notion that one of those on cleaning duty might have thought that it was garbage, or that someone might have accidentally left it there.
Syd smiled as she got into the jeweler's shop.
"Hi, Sydney, what can I do for you?" the elderly man asked kindly
"I've got an old watch here I was hoping you could fix up for me" she smiled
"You just bought a brand new watch from me Sydney…"
"It isn't mine, it belongs to my friend, Dr. Kat Manx… her late husband gave it to her years ago but it broke, and doesn't work like it should, I was hoping you could fix it" she pulled Kat's old watch from her jacket pocket.
"The jeweler that she took it to called the old thing garbage" Syd said
"This wasn't made on Earth was it?" the jeweler asked taking the watch from Syd's hand and giving it a visual once over.
"No it wasn't" Syd said "Why?"
"These alien time pieces are harder to repair than those from Earth, but I can do it easily"
"Oh, that's great, she'll love it"
"I'll even polish it up for her free of charge" he smiled warmly "when it leaves my hands it will work and look just like it did when it was given to her"
"That's great, thank you"
Syd started to leave but turned back to her old friend
"Why did that other jeweler not want to repair that watch?"
"Because it wasn't created on Earth and he could tell it, and he obviously didn't have the equipment, or just didn't want to put forth the effort to fix your friend's prized watch" he replied "in other words, he had no heart and no respect for customer service" his voice dropped in pitch and volume "and he was a regular Scrooge!"
Syd laughed slightly at that last bit
"Thank you" Syd smiled
"I should have it fixed tomorrow"
"I'll check back with you then"
Syd left the jeweler's with a new resound to find something to buy Kat for Christmas since she decided it was best to let Commander Cruger give Kat the newly repaired watch, since he had said that he had wanted it repaired for Kat to begin with.
She returned to base and contacted Commander Cruger.
"Could he fix that watch?" Cruger asked quietly
"Not only will he fix it, he will restore it to new condition for her"
"Great work, Cadet" Cruger smiled slightly "Kat will appreciate this more than you realize"
"With as valuable as that watch is to Kat, I think I do know how much she will"
Meanwhile:
The Jeweler turned the watch over so he was looking at the inside of the watch and found an engraving on there that warmed his heart.
"My beloved Kat, I never thought that one day you would give me half of what you already have, and I hope that one day, I can give you just as much…"
The old jeweler knew that it must have broken her heart to lose the person that put such love into such simple words.
"Ah, so this is why it is so valuable to Dr. Manx, it is a promissory gift that signified a turning point in her relation ship, that loss must have been painful… the least I can do is make sure this watch makes it back into her hands looking just as beautiful as it did then" he smiled and got to work seeing this piece as having more meaning than the other piece he had to work on, and knowing this one would take more time.
Meanwhile, a certain evil individual planed on playing the role of Scrooge and trying to ruin this Christmas for Dr. Manx and the rest of S.P.D.
To Be Continued…
A/n:First holiday themed pr fic, second SPD fic, pls pls go easy on me for any ooc-ness