It was over. After two long, agonizing years, the battle with the Troobian empire was over and Earth had won. Several followers and sympathsizers of the empire were either dead, incarcerated or had vanished completely. Grumm himself was imprisoned and awaiting exectution for his crimes and Earth's SPD was celebrating its victory over the Troobians.

Yet during the victory celebration, all Jack could think about was the price paid for that victory.

A-Squad, whom he and the other Rangers have replaced, were in a comatose state because of Grumm's brainwashing. Newtech City was being rebuilt after the final battle and over a hundred planets were completely wiped out, along with most of the species that inhabited said planets. Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of lives that were caught in the crossfire and that were fighting in the battle and those before it. It was thinking about that price that Jack could not bring himself to enjoy the party in the rec room.

"Can you believe it, Jack!" Boom shouted as he bumped into the Red Ranger. "We won! We won!"

"Not everybody." Jack replied, then decided to leave the party. He couldn't take it anymore, couldn't handle it. It was in his quarters that his fellow Rangers found him.

"Jack?" Z asked. "You ok?"

"No, I'm not. I'm glad Grumm's gone, but...I can't help but think about all the people he's hurt, all the planets he's destroyed."

"Yea, I know." Bridge replied. "But he won't be doing that anywhere else, to anyone anymore. It's over...it's finally over. We won."

"Did we? A victory like this is supposed to be mutual. It's not."

"We can't change what he did, Jack." Sky told him. "You know that. All we can do is move on."

"You don't get it, do you? We may have won, but I can think of one Ranger who's not feeling on top of the world right now. Remember him, Sky? He's usually our commander?" The other Rangers fell silent by Jack's outburst.

"You're worried about Cruger, aren't you Jack?" Syd asked. Jack nodded. "I know he's been through a lot, and now that it's over (finally), he probably has no idea what to do with himself."

"You mean besides let his long-surpressed feelings out and grieve like he's done since God knows when? Yea, like that's ever gonna happen." It was a good point; it's no intergalatic secret that Cruger has a habit of keeping his emotions bottled up, never really letting anyone in except for Kat. For as long as they've known him, he's only laughed twice, been outside of the academy without being on duty once and in his own gruff way, took care of them and everybody...except himself. That concerned Jack the most. "Look, guys, go back to the party, I need to take a walk." And that's just what he did. He had just about passed the command center when he heard shouting. Now that he recalled it, Cruger had left the party himself early for some reason...Kat must've followed him and now they're arguing.

"Are you out of your mind!" Cruger had shouted.

"Well, why not?" Kat asked. "You deserve some happiness in your life for once, especially after what you've been through, and since you're already attracted to her..." Now this was interesting; tough ol' Commander Cruger was crusing on somebody? Jack remembered what made him so miserable in the first place; the fact that in spite of their victory over the Troobians, Cruger had lost everything.

"Kat, in case you've forgotten, I outrank her and there are rules!"

"Isn't this the part where you say, 'To hell with the rules' and ignore them anyways? Wouldn't be the first time."

"Only when it was necessary, and no I don't ignore them. Bend them, maybe, but not flat out break them. As commander of SPD, I have to set an example to those subordinate to me."

"You stubborn old dog! You mean to tell me that you're going to throw away your chance at happiness for protocol!"

"If necessary."

Wait a minute, Jack thought as he kept hearing them. Cruger's crushing on someone and she's in SPD? Wonder who it is? Obviously someone he outranks.

"I don't believe you! All right, I get it, it'll be difficult handling a relationship like this and it'll be delicate, but it can work out. Have you at least told her about your feelings?"

"You know I can't do that, and no, you're not going to play matchmaker either."

"Damn it, Anubis!" Jack flinched at that and realized how serious this was. He's heard Kat address him as "Sir" or "Commander" and even "Doggie" on occasion, but never had he heard her use his given name until now. "I've known you for a long time and I know that if anyone deserves to be happy, it's you." Got that right. Jack silently agreed. Cruger just ignored her. "Anubis, listen to me. Aisynia would want you to be happy, not let your life dwell on her death. I know it's hard moving on, but at the moment, it's all you can do."

And this is where it could get ugly. Jack winced. Out of everything that's happened to Cruger because of Grumm, losing his wife was the worst of it all. Since there was never a body found after the invasion of Sirius, it was believed, somewhat, that Aisynia was still alive. When they had captured Broodwing last year, he claimed that she was on Grumm's ship and they had invaded it to find her. It was one of the most perilous missions he ever went on. The good news was that Broodwing's information was correct; the bad news was she had been long dead, killed by Grumm himself and perserved in cryogentic stasis as some sick trophy. When Cruger found that particular bit out, he was devasated and had spent weeks in a brooding rage...well, worse than usual. He had become obsessive with taking down Grumm and it took everything the Rangers and Kat had to snap him out of it. Now...now it appears he wants to move on, but is relucant to for some reason or another. Jack went closer to the door so he could hear better.

"I know that, Katherine." Cruger replied, ever so softly. "I know that nothing I say or do could ever bring her back and I have accepted that fact for some time now. It's just...Sydney has a lot of potential and I don't want to ruin it for her." That remark had Jack nearly falling over. Sydney! Cruger had a crush on Sydney, of all people! Well, it certainly explains his unwillingness to tell her on professional grounds. But...it can't be, can it?

"Can't you ever think of yourself, just this once?" Kat pleaded.

"And what do you suppose I do, Katherine! Go straight up to Sydney and tell her how I really feel about her!" It was at that moment, Jack noticed the doors opened. Kat had saw him and tried to warn Cruger but he ignored her.

"Anubis..."

"Because personally, I would be more than eager to tell her I love her and everything, maybe ask her permission to court her but gods above and below forbid her career be jepordized because of me!" All Kat could do was stare.

"I was just going to say, that we have company." At that mention, Cruger growled and started to turn around. He let out a sigh in relief when he realized it was only Jack.

"How long have you been there?" he asked the Red Ranger. Please tell me you didn't just hear that. he pleaded silently.

Jack could just gape at this. He wanted to say he didn't hear anything and had just come this way but what came out of his mouth was, "You like Syd?" Both aliens only just groaned at that. "You like Syd, as in like-like her? Well...not exactly what I expected to hear, sir, but..." Cruger interrupted him with a growl, his face now a deeper shade of blue.

"Not. One. Syllable. Leaves. This. Room."

For an entire week after the victory celebration, things fell into routine. For a week, the new A-Squad taught classes to lower-ranking cadets and led otherwise normal lives. For a week, Jack observed and thought on things revealed since that night. I mean, how often do you hear about your commander confess to the fact that he was in love with one of his own Rangers? Jack still had trouble believing it; out of all the women in the universe, Cruger liked Sydney? Sure their Pink Ranger turned a lot of males' heads, but...this was what Jack had down when comparing the two.

He's old, she's young. She's social, he's a loner. She's all smiles, he's all frowns. She's bright, he's dark. She loves luxury, he loves simplicity. She's innocent, he's...well, not. She lives for the spotlight, he hates publicity. In short, those two are about as opposite as two people could be and still be on the same side. Then there's the fact they work together and he outranks her. Of course, it wasn't exactly prohibited for SPD officials to...be together, but it was something to be frowned upon, Sky once told him, especially if there's a gap between ranks. On the other hand, it wasn't exactly anyone's business what two people do outside of their working lives. It could work out...if Cruger ever works up the nerve to tell Syd how he really felt for her. But so far, he's been fighting it, keeping to professionalism when addressing her, avoiding her when they were both off-duty and occasionally glanced towards her every once in a while, when he thinks she won't notice, except Jack noticed the glances, full of longing and hopelessness. Jack couldn't understand it; he's been through so much and now he's denying himself a chance to be happy?

"I just don't get it." he muttered.

"What don't you get?" Z asked him. She noticed Jack had a lot on his mind lately. Jack contemplated on how much he should tell her; Cruger did make it perfectly clear that information was to be kept to himself...on the other hand, Z was somewhat a part of him, so technically, he would be following orders. And they were in their quarters, so odds of someone overhearing them is relatively low. Besides, he needed someone to confide in other than Kat.

"Oh, about how Cruger could punish himself like this." he replied casually.

"Punish himself how? Is this what you've been worried about?"

"Yep. Turns out the big blue dog is going about his business, acting all professional and having really no life what-so-ever and yet he refuses to live, and I mean really live."

"He probably doesn't feel there's much to live for."

"Not even for Sydney, who he happens to have a secret crush on?" Z looked at him in shock.

"Who's got a secret crush on me?" Syd asked as she walked in. Both Jack and Z just looked at her, Jack uneasy. If Syd found out, she'd either not believe him or become totally shocked. Either way, Cruger would be pissed at him, big time.

"Uh..." Jack started. "That would be...classified information, Syd. Sorry."

"Oh come on Jack!"

"No, really, I can't tell you. See, the individual in question would be really embarassed if I told you."

"Oh..." Syd looked like she was understanding. "I see. I think I know who you're talking about."

"You do?"

"Yea. To be honest, I thought Boom got over that." Jack had to sigh in relief, not so much that Syd would notice something was up, but at least she hadn't figured it out.

"It's probably infatuation, Syd. I'm sure he'll get over it...again."

"Okay! Just so we're clear." After Syd left Z and Jack alone, Z started on her old friend.

"Jack, let me get this straight." Z said once Syd was out of hearing range. "You're telling me that Cruger, the same Cruger who happens to be our commander, has a secret crush on Syd?"

"I swear to God, Z." Jack replied. "I heard it myself. Thing is, he won't tell her."

"He's probably just trying to protect her, he's like that you know. Doing what's best for everyone."

"That is exactly the problem, Elizabeth! He has done so much, for Earth, SPD, us...what's ever been done for him? Huh?"

"I get that, Jack...but to be honest, Sydney?"

"I know, I know...not exactly your standard Ranger couple, but you know what they say."

"It's always the pink ones?" Jack shook his head.

"Opposites attract. He's like a big stone, all cold and covered in shadow, and she's the light he needs to be warm...I think they'll be a great couple."

"It's going to take a while for me to actually see them as a couple, but...when you put in that opposites thing, I do kinda get it."

"Question is...how are we gonna get them together?"