I'm sorry for the delay, but here it is, the fourth and final chapter. I'm not one hundred per cent happy with it, but I like where it ended.

Thanks to everyone for the fabulous reviews, this is the first story I've ever actually finished and it's definitly your doing. Please review this last chapter. I'm dying to know what you think!

Sky thanked God everyday for advanced ranger healing. A week and a half had passed, and despite some nasty looking bruises and a fresh scar on his back his injuries had mostly healed.

He couldn't say he'd used his downtime productively though. Without any kind of physical activity, all the blue ranger could do was think, and over-analyze, and brood…

He knew Sydney and Ryder were cousins. Jack had told him, Bridge had told him, hell, even Syd had told him. But he couldn't help but notice how different she acted with him. They were always laughing at some kind of inside joke or hugging or… Well, the laughing and the hugging was enough to set him on edge.

"Sky?"

Sky looked up at Dr. Kushner, who was watching him, concerned. "Huh? Sorry, what?"

"I was telling you that you're free to go."

"Really?"

The doctor nodded "I want to see you back here if your ribs pain you at all."

"No offense Doc," the ranger said stretching tentatively, "but I hope not to come back here for a long time."

The Indian man glared at him "Sky-"

"Fine. I promise."

Dr. Kushner nodded again. "Be careful out there Mr. Tate."

Sky inclined his head "Thanks Doc."

"Cadet Tate."

Sky saluted as he entered Cruger's office "Commander. I just wanted to let you know that Dr. Kushner cleared me for duty."

Cruger looked at Sky skeptically "He did?"

"Yes sir." Sky nodded. He handed Cruger a note the doctor had given him. "He said I'd have to be on light duty for awhile…" His voice trailed off as his commanding officer began to smile.

Cruger nodded, the smile lingering on his lips. "Thank you, cadet."

"Sir?"

"You're dismissed."

"Yes sir." Sky saluted and left the office wondering just what the hell was on that note…

"Sky?" The blue ranger turned at the sound of Sydney's voice. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm out." He answered simply.

"For real?" He nodded. He was shocked when the pink ranger let out a little squeal and launched herself at him. He let out an involuntary gasp of pain as she clung tightly to him, bruises and all, but shook his head when she asked if she'd hurt him. He liked the feeling of the blonde wrapped around him. "So are you coming to training?"

He nodded bitterly "Only to watch. Doc said I'd have to be on light duty for a while."

"Oh," Sydney smiled, despite his natural grumpiness, and looped her arm through his "well, we're about to start. Walk me there?"

He was going to say no… He was going to say he had other things to do… He was going tosay plenty of things before he looked down into her blue eyes. "Okay."

Syd kept up a steady stream of chatter the entire way to the simulation room. He knew that she, unlike him, didn't like silence much.

Bridge felt his roommate coming a mile away. Resignation. Adoration. Resentment… "Great." He mumbled to himself. As much as he liked Sky, and he did, he'dactually been able to sleep for the last ten days.

"What's that?"

Bridge looked over at Ryder, who'd asked the question. "Nothing."

Ryder looked at the green ranger skeptically, but was drawn away by the appearance of his cousin. "Look who I brought!" She stepped into the room, revealing Sky standing awkwardly in the doorway.

"Sky." Z smiled tentatively at the blue ranger. "You're out."

Sky barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the obviousness of Z's comment. "Yeah."

"Are you going to be training?"

"No." Frustration. Restlessness.

"He's on light duty." Syd smiled faintly, patting Sky's arm. This time Sky did roll his eyes.

"Yeah." He said again.

"Well, Kitten," Ryder grinned at his cousin and stretched out his arms. "Are you just gonna stand there with Mr. Monosyllabic or are you gonna spar with me?"

Sydney shook her head at the other blonde. "Give me a minute." She turned to Sky. "Are you going to stay?"

"No." the blue ranger shook his head. Impatience. "I've got some stuff to do." Jealousy. "I'll see you later." Anger.

Bridge sighed as Sky left. His friend definitely had some issues.

Sydney frowned as she watched Sky leave. Something was wrong.

Sky winced as he finished going through his physical therapy workout. The last three weeks of inactivity had definitely taken a toll on him. He grunted as he placed the weights on the ground. He sat in a hunched over position and watched as sweat dripped from his forehead to a growing pool on the floor. Wasn't this love thing supposed to be easy? He had told her how he felt and for some unknown reason she felt the same… wasn't he supposed to be happy now? It wasn't like he expected hearts and roses and little cherubs to float along behind him… well maybe he was expecting something like that… He let out a frustrated groan and lay back on the workout bench. How had he let his life get shot to hell like this? He didn't look up as someone entered the room. He didn't have to. He knew it was Bridge.

The green ranger sat down heavily and rubbed at his bleary, bloodshot eyes. "You look like hell." Sky commented, without looking at his friend.

Bridge smiled weakly and reclined to the same position as his teammate. "Yeah well… It's your fault."

"My fault?" Sky asked, quirking up one eyebrow.

"I can't sleep."

"How's that my fault?" Confusion.

Both of the rangers got up and rested their weight on their elbows, almost simultaneously. "How've you been feeling lately, Sky?"

Realization. Guilt. "I-"

Bridge smiled tiredly at his friend. "It's not your fault."

"But-"

Bridge stood up suddenly and cast Sky another tired grin. "Just… talk to Syd. She hasn't been feeling too great either." Sky could only watch as Bridge walked away. Sometimes he forgot that his roommate wasn't only a psychic he was a genius too.

"Sky!"

Sky turned as his name was called. "Syd?"

The blonde hurried towards him, apologizing profusely to several cadets as she bumped into them. "Sky. Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Uh," He cleared his throat, "Sure. Actually, I was just looking for you…"

"Okay, um, why don't we go in there?" She motioned to one of the training rooms, at this time of the daythey were usually pretty deserted.

"Okay." The blue ranger followed her into the empty room. "What's up?" He asked as the door slid shut behind him.

"Well-"

"B SQUAD PLEASE REPORT TO THE ZORD BAY IMMEDIATELY"

Syd sighed in frustration. Why did that always happen when she was about to talk to him?

Sky grinned to himself as he flew his delta runner to the crime scene. He hadn't been allowed to morph for three weeks; it felt good to be in uniform again.

"You guys ready to form the Megazord?" Jack's voice crackled through the communication system.

Sky heard the others answer and he nodded, though no one could see him. "Let's do it."

It didn't take long to defeat the creature with the megazord. They were dealt a few blows, sure, but it was nothing they couldn't handle.

The trouble came when they tried to apprehend the monster. It was odd, first of all what would have been the final blow hadn't killed the monster, as usual. Instead the feline creature had shrunk down to its normal size… "It's trying to lure us out of the zord." Sky deduced.

"What else can we do?" Jack asked.

"I say we squash it." The yellow ranger suggested, grinning wickedly.

"We can't do that." Sky said shaking his head.

"Why not?"

"Civilians." Bridge answered, feeling their terror.

"It's a trap." Sky informed the other rangers.

"We have to get down there." Jack announced, "We're wasting time."

Sky shook his head, but launched himself out of the megazord along with his teammates. They all landed on their feet, facing the cat-monster. "We won." Z announced, cocking her head to one side. "What's the deal?"

The monster growled and called forth a huge patrol of Krybots. "Ugh." Bridge groaned. "Haven't we seen enough of these guys?"

Jack pulled out his morpher and called SPD Command. "Commander, I think we're going to need Ryder on this one."

"He's on his way." Commander Cruger responded curtly.

Jack nodded and turned to Bridge "What do you say we have some fun?" Bridge nodded and the two called for their motorcycles.

Sky looked at Syd and Z. "You guys ready?" The two girls nodded at him. And Sky turned back to the rapidly approaching Krybots. "Let's do it then."

It seemed like they just kept coming, as many as they took out it seemed like two or three took their place. Things got a little better when Ryder showed up, but only a little. "Someone's got to take out the cat!" Syd grunted as it took a shot at her.

Sky backhanded the Krybot trying to sneak up on him and called out to Jack and Bridge. "Distract him!" He flipped over the head of another Krybot as it tried to rush him and rammed his elbow into what would have been its neck. "I'll contain it!"

The two nodded and began firing at the monster. As it turned away from him Sky held up his morpher "Judgment Mode!"

After that it kind of blurred together. There was a scream. He was pushed to the ground. Sparks were everywhere…

When he woke up he was in the infirmary again. He shifted slightly and groaned when he felt a familiar pain in his ribs. "Not again." He groaned and flopped back onto the bed.

"Nice to see you too, Mr. Tate." Sky groaned again as Dr. Kushner addressed him. "Not to worry," The doctor chuckled "We were just keeping an eye on you until you regained consciousness."

"What happened?"

"You hit your head when Syd pushed you out of the way."

Sky looked over at the voice. And was shocked to see Ryder standing there, bare-chested, except for the bandages. "What happened to you?"

The 17 year old shrugged, then winced at the pain the motion caused. "I got hit. We're supposed to go to the debriefing." The blonde said, shrugging on his shirt. "If you're ready?"

Sky sat up slowly, and carefully got out of bed. He twisted his back until he heard a satisfactory pop and turned back to the Omega ranger. "Let's go."

"Sky!"

The blue ranger shook his head at Sydney, there would be plenty of time for that later… He definitely didn't feel like showing his emotional side. Especially in front of Commander Cruger.

Cruger nodded at Ryder and Sky as they saluted him. "Congratulations, team, and Cadet Delgado, for containing the monster. Gruumm won't take this defeat well, I'm afraid. So we'll have to be prepared. If there's nothing else?" Sky and the rest of the rangers shook their heads. "Alright then, you're dismissed."

The rangers filed out of the room and Bridge sighed. Confusion. "Sky," Sydney tugged on the blue ranger's hand. "Can we talk now?"

"Yeah." He nodded distractedly, and let Sydney drag him behind her. He waited until she had pulled him into her, and Z's, room to ask the question that had been gnawing at him. "Before you say anything," He held up a hand, effectively cutting the blonde off. "What happened today?"

"You don't remember?"

Sky shook his head "I remember a scream, then somebody pushed me, your cousin said that was you," Syd nodded, "Then I hit my head. I don't remember anything past that."

"There's probably a video of the battle somewhere." Syd mused. Then she snapped her fingers and pulled out her morpher. "Bridge."

"Yeah?"

"Could you send R.I.C. to my room?"

"Sure, but why-"

"I'll explain later." She put her morpher back into pocket and turned to Sky.

"So, what did you-"

"What's wrong with you?" Syd demanded.

"What?"

"What's wrong with you?" she repeated.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You're avoiding me. You hate my cousin for some reason. You're training 24 hours a day and keeping Bridge up to all hours of the night…" She counted off the reasons on her fingers.

"I'm not avoiding you." Sky said lamely.

"Yes." She retorted. "You are."

"No-" He was cut off by a frantic pawing at Syd's door.

Sydney glared at him and moved to the door "That's R.I.C." Sky sighed in relief; for once he was glad Sydney had gotten the bucket of bolts upgraded. The blonde girl smiled as the metal canine stopped in front of her. She patted it fondly on the head. "Hi, boy." The dog yapped happily at her. "I need you to show Sky the footage of today's battle."

The dog barked again and started projecting the fight onto Syd's bedroom wall. "I've seen this part." Sky said of Jack and Bridge getting on their bikes. The footage fast-forwarded until Sky held up his morpher to judge the monster. "Stop." The footage slowed to normal speed and Sky began watching earnestly.

Then there was the scream "Ry!" It was Sydney, she was screaming at her cousin, who was completely surrounded by Krybots, but she was running in the opposite direction. Sky watched as Sydney launched herself at him, pushing him out of the way as one of the Krybots shot at him. The beam narrowly missed the pink ranger, as she rolled out of the way.

There was a huge explosion as several Krybots fired at Ryder at the same time. He jumped straight up into the air, missing the beams, but he didn't avoid the explosion. He was caught by the blast and thrown violently into the pavement of the road.

He didn't really pay attention as the battle raged on and Z managed to capture the monster in a containment card. "Sky?" The blue ranger blinked as Syd snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Sky?"

"What?"

"Are you okay?" She looked at him worriedly, "You were just staring into nothing-"

"You chose me."

"What?" She was the one who was confused now.

"Ryder and I were both in trouble… but you chose me."

"Of course I did."

"But why? I mean; he's your cousin. He's family. You love him."

"Of course I do, but I love you too."

"But-"

Syd shook her head, but a grin tugged at her lips, "That's what this whole thing has been about…" She stroked his cheek lightly. "You were jealous."

"No-"

She shook her head again. "Yes you were." Her smile widened "It makes so much sense now." She kissed him softly. "I love you, Sky. I choose you. I always choose you. Always."

Sky stared into her eyes and was shocked at the depth of emotion he saw there. He smiled slowly and pulled Sydney against him. He placed his hands on either side of her face and kissed her passionately.

Bridge tightened his grip on Z's hand as they walked past her room. Realization. Elation. Adoration. Love. "Finally."