Sky ran through the airport like his life depended on it, knowing that Sydney's flight could leave any minute. He ended up having to buy a plane ticket just so he could get past the gate; he hadn't cared about the cost of it, even if he wasn't the son of a millionaire he wouldn't have cared. He would have paid any amount of money just so he could see her one last time. "Syd!" he called out, seeing a line of people heading towards the gate where he was told that she would be. "Sydney!" he shouted again.

"Is there a problem, sir?" asked one of the airport officers. "I'm going to have to ask you to sit down and wait until your flight is called."

"I'm looking for a friend," Sky answered as he continued to search through the crowd for a young blonde girl. "Sydney!"

"Sir! Please…." He started to grab at Sky's shoulder, needing him to calm down, but the young SPD commander pushed on by him when he spotted a young woman with bright blonde hair wearing a pink sweater. He would recognize those blonde locks anywhere.

"Sydney!" Sky grabbed the young woman by the shoulder, as she was about to hand her ticket to the ticket attendant.

"Sky?" Syd turned to meet his face surprised to see him. "What are you doing here?" The last thing she was expecting was for him to show up; in fact the very idea had never crossed her mind. Sky had pretty much kept his distance from her and they had rarely spoken for the last two weeks after she put in her notice that she was leaving SPD to move to London. And after he didn't show at her goodbye party, she figured she wouldn't be seeing him period.

"Sir! I'm going to need to ask you to come with me," announced the airport officer reaching for Sky's arm fulling intending to drag him away for his unruly behavior.

"In a minute," Sky snapped as he glared at the security officer, giving him his hard firm demanding look that said he wan't one to be messed with.

"It's okay, Officer. I know him," she assured the security officer, knowing full well Sky was drawling a lot of unwanted attention. "Maybe you've heard of Commander Schuyler Tate." The last thing she needed to have on her shoulders was to be leaving here and then Sky getting himself into a huge amount of trouble with airport security, especially when it's only been a short time since he'd been promoted to lead Commander at SPD.

"The newly appointed lead SPD Commander?" He looked at Sky, a little taken aback as if he were embarrassed that was about to drag away the highest ranking commander of SPD earth base. "I'm sorry, Commander Tate. If you had told me who you were I would have been able to help you locate her."

"I'll remember that for next time," remarked Sky, sharply eyeing him, letting him know that he wanted him to leave, so that he could have a moment alone with Syd before she had to get on the plane.

Getting the hint that Sky was going to beat him if he didn't leave, The officer bid his farewell. "I'll leave you to your girlfriend…."

"….Oh, I'm not his girlfriend," remarked Syd all too quickly.

"Oh." He looked to Sky, getting a sense that there was more going on here, but getting into a lover's quarrels wasn't part of his job description so for now he was just going to back off and let the two work out whatever they needed.

"So, what are you doing here?" She eyed him sharply. "You haven't exactly said as much as two words to me in the past two weeks, and then you weren't at the goodbye party today," she questioned him, "…and now you come running in here, making a scene, calling out my name like a madman."

"…You forgot this." He held up Peanuts to her. He mentally kicked himself in the head, knowing that he should have said something better than that, but she had been right, he hadn't been very friendly with her lately. And he should have been at the goodbye party ….instead of taking a group of junior cadets out for a run on the course. He had been avoiding her and she knew it.

"Peanuts?" Sydney glared at her stuffed animal. "I was sure I packed him."

"….Z found him on the floor and then handed him off to me." No way was he going to tell her that Z had taken Peanuts hostage as a backup plan incase he flaked out on the going away party.

"And you came all the way here for that? ….You could have just mailed him." She was more than a little surprised that Sky would go to all that trouble just to return her silly stuffed animal. Though the stuffed animal was very dear to her, it wasn't life alerting or that important that she needed it this instant.

"I was going to be in town anyways, spending the weekend with my dad." Though that was true, it hadn't been the real reason why he had shown up, but from the way she had reacted when airport security had thought that she was his girlfriend, he wasn't sure what she wanted from him. "Eric, Hayley, Drake and the kids are showing up tomorrow for one big family get together."

"Oh, that's great! Megan did mention the family get together." she exclaimed, knowing that it had been a long road for Sky to rebuild a relationship with his father and everyone. She was happy that Sky and his dad were finally starting to become more like father and son. "It's good that you and your dad are becoming closer."

"Yeah. It is…."

"Ma'am," announced the ticket taker, tapping Syd on the shoulder. "You need to board the plane in the next few minutes."

Syd nodded her head and smiled, letting her know she understood. She then turned her attention back to Sky. "Thanks for bringing me Peanuts; you know how much I love him."

"…Yeah. Couldn't let you go without him." Sky handed him to her, looking into her eyes, doing his best to control his emotions.

"Well, I should be going, before they leave without me."

"Yeah. Couldn't have that…."

"Take care of yourself, Sky." She put her arms around him, embracing him in her arms. It was then she started having flashes of them dancing together at Z and Chases Wedding, that had been the last time they had been this close, since their breakup. It felt felt strange being this close again, especially after their almost kiss that both seemed to pretend didn't happen, but at the same time it felt good, like something had been missing.

"You too," he answered he answered softly holding her in his arms taking in her scent. He felt a tear leak out from his eye, but quickly got rid of it before he pulled away from Syd, so she wouldn't see.

"So, I guess this is it. I'm going to London, I always wanted to go there, see the world," she smiled brightly. "It'll be a new adventure."

And as he stared into her bright blue eyes, there were so many things he wanted to tell her… He wanted to tell her to stay, that SPD wouldn't be the same without her, that the team still needed her ….that he still needed her and didn't want her to go, but the excited look on her face as she told him how happy she was at starting her new life. He knew she would finally be able put what had happened between them behind her. He couldn't take that away from her, he had already taken so much from her. How could he ask her to give all of that up for him? It wouldn't be fair, especially not after how he had treated her, while they were together and even after they had broken up. He didn't have the right to ask her to stay. "Goodbye, Sydney," he said as he brushed a strand of hair from her eyes. "I wish you all the happiness in the world."

Syd smiled, as she backed away slowly. She couldn't quite place it but there was something in his eyes, something he wasn't telling her, but she needed to get on the plane or it would leave without her. She turned around and headed towards the gate to get onto her plane.

All Sky could do was watch as she walked out of his life ….but he knew he had already done that, he had walked out on her, he had been the one to push her away. He wanted to go after her, stop her from ever leaving, but he just couldn't bring himself to do that. After a few minutes of standing in the same exact spot where Sydney had left him, the young commander wandered over to watch the plane take off.

Sky watched out the large airport windows, watching as the woman he cared about slipped through his fingers, just as he had let her five years ago. And just like then he had never told her the truth about his feelings. He always let something get in the way, whether it had been his pride, his anger, his duties, his commitment to SPD or his fears… Every damn time he had let one or all of them get in the way. He kept on telling himself that he didn't deserve her, she deserved far better then he could have ever given her. He leaned his hand against the windows bowing his head down, unable to watch as the plane disappeared into the sky, taking her away for what could be a very long time. And even if she did come back for a visit, things wouldn't have changed. Things hadn't changed for the last five years. Ever since their relationship had come crashing down, they weren't really even friends, at least not in the way they used to be. They were just teammates …..and now they weren't even that. He had lost her in more ways than one and he knew deep down it had been his own damn fault. You have no one but yourself to blame for this one, Tate.

He sighed heavily, as he cleared his throat, pushing away his sorrows. "I never even told her…" he whispered, just barely, now knowing what his dad was telling him about regrets and needing to let the person you care about know how you really feel. Unlike his parents who had been torn apart he wasn't able to be honest with Syd. He blew his chance. ...Or had he?

"Told me what?"

Sky's eyes widened. He thought he was just hearing things, just imagining. He had seen the plane take off, taking her with it. There was no possible way that she could still be here. But then he heard the voice again. He forced himself to turn around, needing to prove to himself that she wasn't there, but when he finally looked he couldn't believe it. There she was, standing in front of him, holding Peanuts to her chest. "Syd…." he managed to say. "What are you doing here? Why aren't you on the plane?"

"You tell me…." She answered firmly staring him hard in the eyes. She needed to hear from him why she had gotten off that plane, nearly having to put up a fight with the flight attendants to do so, because even she herself wasn't sure why she had gotten off. She thought she had put everything about them behind her, that she had moved on. She thought he had moved on especially when he pulled away from her after the dance. "Sky, what didn't you tell me? Because I know you, you wouldn't have driven all the way here just to give me some stupid stuffed animal."

But Sky made no attempt to answer her question. He just stood there like a stone wall staring at her. The last thing he was expecting was for her to get off the plane. And he couldn't find the words for what he wanted to say to her.

Syd couldn't believe this, well actually she could, this was just like Sky, but this hadn't been the Sky she had wanted to see. "You selfish, arrogant, pride-filled, bastard!" She slapped him across the face, feeling the sting from her hand. She was so angry and upset with him, her eyes filled with tears and all Sky could do was just stand there, seemingly to have ignored the fact that Syd just slapped him. "I did not get off that plane just so you could stand there and put up your wall," she choked. She had thought that he had changed, that he had finally come to his senses, but this made it the all more clear that she had been wrong, Sky hadn't changed at all. "It's no wonder no girl would ever go out with you. They all have enough sense not to. I was the only one stupid enough to think that you could actually change your ways, but I guess I'm just another dumb blonde." She hardened her eyes, but sadness was behind them. "….I feel sorry for you, Sky, because one day you will be all alone."

"Syd, wait-" he started to say, but only to have the beautiful angry blonde woman cut him off.

"No!" she snapped. "You don't get to talk yourself out of this one." She pointed her finger at him. "Not this time. This time I'm walking out on you." Her words were cold and cruel, but she wasn't about to let him break her heart again. She had already made the mistake by getting off that plane thinking that things would be different. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to see about catching another flight and then having to call my parents and telling them I'm going to be very late."

Sky watched as Syd stormed off into the direction of the ticketing counter. Tate, you're such an idiot. He had screwed up once again with her. This had not been the way he had planned things to go between them when he had decided to come to the airport to stop her from leaving, but he had let his pride get between them, not being willing enough to be the first to come forward and open up. He could feel all eyes on him, of bystanders who had all witnessed as things between him and Syd unraveled. He wanted to shout out at them, but knew that wouldn't do much good. It would only show just how much of a jerk he had been. Knowing that this might be his last shot at anything with Syd he went after her, but knew this time he couldn't shut her out. He couldn't put up his wall.

"Sydney!" he shouted and then spotted her over at the ticket booth talking with the lady working at the desk. He ran over to her. "Syd, wait!"

"I told you. I'm done here," shrugging him off. "I'm done with you."

"Okay, Miss Drew, the next flight for London leaves in six hours; shall I go ahead with the ticket?"

"Ye-"

"Hold on a second!" Sky grabbed a hold of Syd and moved her to the side.

"Sky, what the hell are you doing?" She tried to break free of the grip he had around her wrist. "Let go of me!" Her pleas were frantic enough that airport security decided to see what all the ruckus was about.

"Is there a problem here, Miss?" asked one of the guards as he looked from Sky back to her.

"No, Officer, there isn't." She glared at Sky hard. "Is there, Sky?"

"Just hear me out! …Please," he pleaded. "If you don't like what I have to say, then I'll go and you never have to speak to or see me again."

Syd sighed heavily, after everything the two had been through together, she did at least owe him that much. "All right. But you better talk this time, because this is your last shot." She was very firm with her words, she wasn't about to let him walk all over her as she had five years ago.

The two made their way over to a small bar area where they could sit and talk and have a little privacy, without any disruptions. Syd had already called her parents and told them that she had missed the flight and would get in contact with them as soon as she knew anything. She didn't dare bring Sky into the conversation, not wanting her parents to know she had missed the flight on a non-refundable ticket over some guy, especially when that guy was her ex. "Okay, start talking," she ordered him, as she put her cellphone into her purse.

He wasn't even sure where he was supposed to start. There was so much that needed to be said, things that should have been said a long time ago, but he had always been too proud to let his guard down and open up to her.

"I knew this was a bad idea…." Syd exclaimed as she got up from her seat.

"Wait." Sky reached out grabbing her wrist.

"I've already spent too much time waiting on you to make up your mind." She was tired, all she had done was wait and she just couldn't do it any longer.

"Damnit Syd! Do you think this is easy for me?" He stared her in the eyes; this was the hardest thing he had ever done in his life, besides reconnecting with his father which had been a very long and difficult road.

"It's not supposed to be easy," she responded as she sat back down, hoping that finally he would open up to her about what he was feeling. "…Do you think it's been easy for me?"

"I know." He sighed heavily. "And I know that these past five years have been hell on you. We have been more like strangers than friends. Then at the wedding, the dance, where we almost..." He bowed his head for a moment before meeting her eyes. "And that's my fault. I let what happened between us destroy everything that we ever were or ever could be."

"Yeah, you did. And that hurt even more than our breakup." Not only had she lost her boyfriend, but she had lost a good friend. "You really hurt me, Sky…"

"I wish there was something that I could say to change what happened, but there isn't. The only thing I can tell you is why, back then I didn't really understand it, but I do now."

"Okay. I'm listening."

He cleared his throat, knowing this was going to be hard for him. He never liked opening up or telling others his problems, he had always kept them locked away, not wanting to deal with it, but in doing so he ended up hurting those around him.

"….Relationships and I have never gone well together. I always had people either dying or leaving all around me. I felt abandoned and betrayed. I felt like I was losing control of everything around me." He gulped in heavily. "And I guess I was afraid to let anyone else in again, afraid of trusting my heart, because it seemed that everyone that I had in my life had let me down in some way."

And just as she had always suspected, he had admitted the one thing about himself that she had always known about him. The reason why he had put up his walls, to prevent anyone from coming in. People he loved died before they should have, people who promised to always be there for him had left him and then there was the betrayal of Dru, Sky's former best friend. That hurt Sky a lot more than he was ever going to admit. He was right; many of the relationships he had with someone had somehow ended in tragedy, it was only natural for him to want to pull away and not to deal. But what she couldn't understand was why he felt that she would have hurt him like that. "Did you really think I would have hurt you? Did you really believe I or the others would betray you like Dru had?"

"….I honestly don't know. I was so driven with anger for everything that had happened in my life, that I didn't know what to think." It was a difficult road for him to get over the majority of what had happened in his life, but with the help of his father, Eric, and even Drake, he was able to get past it. "It was just easier for me keeping everyone at a distance, that's why I put all my concentration into SPD, being the best." He sighed heavily. "…Back then I thought as long as I had SPD, I didn't need anything else in my life." He bit his lips and looked into her eyes. "But then you and the others happened…. And I realized that what I really needed was to have people in my life."

Syd reached out to take Sky's hand into her own, holding it tight. "Thank you for telling me. I've waited a long time for you to say that."

"I've been needing to say it for a long time." He bit his lip. "Especially to you." He reached across the table to brush a blonde curl out of Syd face, looking into her eyes in a way he had never really done before, there was more warmth to it, instead of cold distance. "I know I'm not the easiest person to get along with …I can be a real jackass, that I miss dates, that I let work get in the way, and that I'm not the most romantic guy." He looked into her eyes. "But the one thing I do know is that ….I love you, Sydney." He pulled his hand away. "I know I'm five years too late, but I needed you to know that before you leave, because I don't know when or where or if I'll see you again." He smiled faintly and got up from his seat. He had said everything he had come here to say; there was nothing else, except for: "Have a safe flight." He gripped her shoulder gently. "….All I want now is for you to be happy."

He was getting ready to leave, until Syd stood up and stopped him, looking at him face to face. "….Who says you're five years too late?"

Sky's eyes widened as if he wasn't sure he had heard her right, but the look in her eyes said it all. "Syd. Wh-wha…."

She put a finger to his lips to hush him. "No, you've done enough talking, now it's my turn." She stared him in the eyes. Even after all this time, everything they'd been through, she couldn't deny one thing. Maybe she was stupid, because it hadn't worked out the first time, in fact it had ended horribly, but in that moment she didn't care. All that mattered to her were those three words that she had waited for him to say to her. "I love you, too."

He couldn't believe what he had heard, after everything he had done to her, the way he had treated her. She still loved him. But could they really jump back into a relationship, after a history such as theirs? Was it even possible? "I…I don't know what to say. How….Wh-what about London, your parents? All your plans?"

"A girl's allowed to change her mind." She reached up to wrap her arms around him, to pull him down closer to her.

He looked her in the eyes, becoming very serious with his words. "Have you really thought about this? I've told you…."

"I know. SPD, being both a Ranger and Commander, it's important to you." She looked him in the eyes, knowing that, yes, there would be times when his work at SPD would come first, especially since now he was in charge of the entire Earth base. At twenty-six years old he had a lot of responsibility put onto his shoulders. But she couldn't help how she felt about him, this was what she had wanted for so long and she was willing to work at it, if he was up for the challenge. "But I want to try to again and I know things will be different."

Sky smiled, he knew he didn't deserve a second chance with her, but he wasn't about to let it go. He would do everything in his power to make sure this time things were a lot different. Damn sure. "….Thank you."

"For what?" Her bright blue eyes sparkled.

"For never giving up on me." He brushed his thumb against her cheek and then her lips. "You always believed in me, Syd, you saw the side of me that I was always afraid to show." The two looked each other in the eyes, full of love and a new beginning. And for what had seemed like an eternity, Sky pressed his lips to Syd's, it was a kiss of many kisses to come. They didn't know what the future would hold or even what tomorrow would bring, but that didn't seem to matter to them, all that mattered was this moment, as they held each other, ignoring everything that was going on around them.

"…..You know there is one problem though," Syd said a little breathlessly, as they pulled away slightly.

"And what's that?"

"I don't have a place to live."

Sky smiled as he caressed her cheek. "…I think we can solve that problem. I happen to have a three bedroom apartment, with two empty rooms." Chase had moved out over a year ago and Megan rarely stayed at the apartment anymore.

"That could work." She kissed him lightly on the lips. "…As long as we take things slow, get to know each other better." Maybe that had been one of the problems the first time around, in one moment they had gone from being friends to something more, before they really had a chance to get to know each other.

"I think I'd like that." He was about to return one of her kisses with one of his own, when his cellphone started ringing. He smiled faintly at her. He didn't want this to be like it was six months ago during their dance, but he knew he needed to take this call. "…Sorry."

"It's okay," Syd answered assuring him everything would be alright, that she wan't going anywhere. "It might be important."

Sky nodded and answered the phone. "….Dad?" He ran his hand down the back of his head. "Dinner?" He looked over at Sydney who was smiling back at him. "…Yeah. You better set an extra plate. …..Yeah… We'll see you soon. …Bye." He closed the cellphone and put it back on his belt.

"So I take it we're having dinner with your father?" She wrapped her arms around him.

"…If it's okay with you."

"Depends." She grinned, toying with him a bit. "….What are you having for dinner?"

Sky didn't answer; he just smiled back at her, knowing he should be grateful that out of all the guys she could have, that she had chosen him. He took her hand in his and the two started on their way. They knew their future might not be perfect …nothing ever is, there would be ups and downs, and a few arguments here and there, but they also knew that it wouldn't be imperfect either, all they could do was give it their best shot and see where life takes them…. And just maybe this time around they would find what they both had been searching for.