Fate

Summary: At Jack's wedding, two former rangers are depressed at the fact that they're alone. After a night of passion, they discover that their actions have consequences. What are they going to do?

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything you recognize.

This fanfic was written for the September challenge over at SPDrangers on LiveJournal.

Fanfic Challenge: "Unexpected Marriage" - one of the characters wakes up unexpectedly married to someone - the story can be all about the reactions of the team, the reaction of the character, the dissolution of the marriage, how it happened, where they go from there, whatever - it can be sweet and romantic, two characters that never even thought they'd like each other much less wind up married, it can be a pair that was involved with other people just the night before.

-x-x-x-

“OH MY GOD!”

Sky Tate bolted awake, panic rising in his chest. He sat up and looked around wildly as if he there was some unexpected battle with Gruumm –which was ridiculous, Gruumm had been defeated years ago. He looked around the room in blind panic. What he saw, was a big and bright room. The sunlight was streaming through the windows, bouncing off the white walls, illuminating the room’s bright colors.

The first thing that Sky realized was that he was naked. His clothes had been flung everywhere, his shoes were in the corner, and one of his socks had somehow landed on top of the TV. His pants had fallen to the ground and his jacket slung over a chair. Through his confusion, his mind slowly began to recognize the fact that he was not alone in the big bed. There was a warm body next to him. One by one, Sky realized that his clothes weren’t the only ones that were all over the place. He suddenly saw a stiletto heel lying on the floor at the corner of the bed, the other heel near the door. Trailing the shoes, was a long satin dress in the lightest shade of pink and sitting on top of the dress was a… bra?

Slowly, Sky’s eyes traveled to his companion sitting next to him.

Sydney regarded him with wide horrified eyes. The white pristine sheets were pulled up to her chest, her arms wrapped tightly around herself. There was a glinting diamond ring on Syd’s fourth finger on her left hand.

Sky did the only thing that came to his mind. “AHHHH!” He reacted so fast that he tumbled off the bed, dragging the sheets with him. The sheets were yanked out of Syd’s grip as Sky fell and Syd leapt off the bed, grabbing at blanket that was lying at the side of the bed.

Sky stood up wrapping the sheets around his waist. “Did we… what… we… we…” he sputtered.

Sydney squeezed her eyes shut, the blanket wrapped tightly around herself. “I think we did,” she said finally, opening her eyes.

“We did… that,” Sky repeated. Briefly, a swarm of images of their passionate night came flashing through his mind. It was then that he noticed the ring on Syd’s finger. Immediately, he looked down at his own hand. There, on his fourth finger, was a shiny gold band.

“Syd,” his voice was a whisper. “Did we get married?”

The pink ranger looked at her hand. “Oh my god,” she gasped. “WE GOT MARRIED?”

Sky flinched at the tone of Syd’s screech. “We could always get a divorce,” he said lamely.

Syd shot him a glare. “Sky, we got married! We took vows in a church in front of God’s eyes! We can’t get a divorce! It’s a sin!”

“We were drunk!”

“We still took vows! We might’ve been drunk, but I clearly remember being in a church!”

As much as he hated to admit, Sydney was right. He remembered being in the church as well. Nothing was more awful than breaking a vow that you made in church. Sky sighed and sat down slowly on the bed. Now that the initial shock had worn off, he found that he had a million questions running through his mind. “What are we going to do? How did this happen anyway?”

Jack had gotten married the night before. Their red ranger had been dating Angelina Dawson for more than three years and they had finally gotten hitched. The pair had initially met through Sydney –Angelina had been a closer friend of hers growing up. Sydney could remember feeling depressed; everyone else had someone while she had no one. Bridge and Z had gotten married two years back, and the yellow ranger was now a month pregnant.

Sydney sighed as well and moved to sit down next to him. Whether she liked it or not, Sky was her husband now. “I remember being really depressed last night,” the pink ranger began. “The wedding was absolutely beautiful, but I couldn’t help but be jealous of Angelina.”

Sky nodded. He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees and his hands folded in front of him. He kept his gaze forward as Sydney was talking.

“I mean, here I was, a twenty-five year old woman, still single while every one of her female friends were either married or engaged. I was really depressed, so for the night, I guess I just drunk my problems away.” Sydney frowned thoughtfully. “I don’t think I drank that much though… I usually have a high tolerance of alcohol… I was definitely buzzed.”

Sky nodded thoughtfully. “I know what you mean. I was feeling really lonely myself. SPD had been most of my life –I never had time for a girlfriend. I was really regretting it.”

“I think, all I wanted was one really great night,” Syd continued on. “Just one night where I could forget all my relationship problems.”

“Yeah,” Sky sighed and then gave her a sly glance. “So, was it a really great night?”

Syd stared at him in surprise, before smirking. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Oh, I would,” Sky assured her. “It would do wonders for my ego.”

The two shared a laugh before falling into silence. “You know,” Sky spoke up, “I guess this isn’t so bad. I mean, if I had to wake up married to someone, I’d want it to be you.”

She nodded. “Yeah, I’d rather wake up married to someone I know, and not some stranger.”

“So, what are we going to do?”

Syd let out another sigh. “I guess, we stick together. After all, we did take vows.”

“This is weird,” Sky muttered. “Yesterday morning, you were my best friend. Last night, you were my lover. This morning, you’re my wife.”

”Tell me about it,” Syd nodded, and then stood up, the blanket still tightly wrapped around herself. “Well, I’m going to go take a shower. We can talk about what we’re going to do later.”

“Okay,” he nodded.

“Hey Sky?”

The blue ranger looked up to see Sydney smiling at him from the doorway of the bathroom.

“For the record, it was a great night.”

Despite the morning events, Sky grinned. “The best you ever had?”

“Let’s not go that far, Tate,” Syd smirked at him. “I just said it was a great night. I didn’t say anything about it being the best I’ve ever had.”

Sky laughed as Sydney disappeared into the bathroom. He glanced at the ring on his hand. “Wow, Tate,” he sighed. “You sure messed up this time. But still, you’ve got to take responsibilities for this. You’re married now, and that means being faithful and taking care of Sydney.” He brought the ring close to his face for a better inspection. Was it just his imagination, or did the ring look really familiar? “Strange,” he muttered, shaking his head. “I would’ve thought Sydney had better taste in buying rings. This ring is plain ugly.”

-x-x-x-

“This apartment is missing something,” Syd spoke up as they walked through the hallway of an empty apartment.

As soon as they had finished showering and had retrieved some new clothes, the pair had decided to grab some breakfast and talk things out. Eventually, they had decided that since they were married, they might as well live together. At the moment, they were hunting for an apartment that would suite both their tastes.

“Come on Syd,” Sky complained, rubbing his forehead. “There’s nothing wrong with this apartment. Just like there was nothing wrong with all the other apartments. Just pick one.”

“Well, sorry,” she mocked. “I just want our home to be a nice one.”

“And it will be nice,” Sky spoke softly; he didn’t really feel like arguing at the moment. “With you as the decorator, how can it not be nice? Just promise me one thing, please don’t decorate everything pink.”

Syd nodded, glancing around. “I do like this apartment better than all the other ones we’ve looked at,” she paused, giving the room they were in another once over. “Okay, let’s get this one.”

“Great!” Sky straightened and headed towards the door. “I’m going to go find the landlord.”

She nodded as Sky left the room. Syd walked around the apartment a few more times, and sighed. This was going to be her home. Her home with Sky. Her musings were interrupted when she hear her cell phone ring. Looking at the caller display, she saw that it was Z who was calling. Holding up the phone to her ear, she answered, “Hello?”

She held the phone promptly away from her ear as Z yelled with all her might. “SYDNEY DREW! WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?”

“Z?”

“DISAPPEARING RIGHT AFTER BRIDGE AND I TOLD YOU NOT TO MOVE… WE WERE OUT OF OUR MINDS WITH WORRY… WITH YOU AND SKY BEING SO DRUNK… WE THOUGHT SOMETHING HAD HAPPENED TO THE BOTH OF YOU… AND LET’S NOT FORGET ABOUT THE FACT THAT YOU AND SKY TOOK OUR-“

“Z!” Syd yelled into the phone. She really didn’t want to talk about her unexpected marriage to Sky right at that moment. The pink ranger knew without a doubt that the yellow ranger would tease them to no end. “Don’t worry, Sky and I are fine. I’ll call you later and we’ll talk okay? Bye!”

“NO, WAIT-“

Click.

Sky came back into the room with a stack of papers just as Syd was turning off her phone. “Who was that?” he asked.

“Z,” she replied. “I think she and Bridge knows what happened last night. Z wanted to talk about it.”

“Oh,” Sky nodded, than jumped as his own cell phone started vibrating. Pulling the phone out of his pocket, once glance at the caller display had let him know that this time it was Bridge calling. “It’s Bridge,” he told his new wife, raising an eyebrow. “Should I answer it?”

“Don’t answer it,” Syd said immediately. “I bet Z had Bridge call you so they could grill us about last night. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want anyone knowing we’re married just yet.”

Sky nodded. “I agree,” the phone stopped vibrating and indicated that he had missed a call. Quickly, Sky used the opportunity to turn of his phone before Bridge could call back.

Syd blew away a strand of hair that had fallen into her face. “Alright,” she said, “let’s get those papers signed. And then we can begin moving in.”

-x-x-x-

Three weeks passed and they had slowly become accustomed with living with one another. There were things that took very little to get used to –like the fact that they both liked things to be extremely neat and orderly. Sky learned that Sydney liked to keep on her makeup in a precise order on their dresser. Sydney learned that Sky liked to have everything arranged in a neat orderly fashion before going to bed. For the most part, everything was coming along nicely and at times, they even found that they were having impure thoughts about one another.

Their apartment only had one bedroom and with great consideration, they had decided to share a bed. After all, they were married. The first night had been awkward –but slowly, they became used to each other’s rhythmic breathing through the night. Each kept to their side of the bed, but within the first few days of living together, their attraction to one another had escalated.

For Sky, his attraction for Sydney started one day when he arrived home to see Sydney sitting on the couch, wearing one of his shirts. Her feet were propped up against the coffee table, displaying her long silky smooth legs. Her hair had been tied up in a casual ponytail, while she leaned back against the couch, watching TV while eating a tub of ice cream.

She made a sexy picture.

He remembered that certain parts of his body had starting acting up –to which she had been oblivious too.

“My husband!” Sydney looked up at him from the couch, grinning widely. It had gotten to a point where they could joke around about their marriage, while still maintaining their sense of humor. “There’s the apple of my eye! What are you doing home so soon?”

Distracted, Sky stared at her, or rather, stared at her legs. Sydney had a great pair of legs. “Huh? Um… oh… I decided to let the cadets go early.”

“Oh,” Syd replied cheerfully, stretching her legs a bit. Sky gulped. Sydney was wearing nothing but his shirt and her underwear. He could feel the heat rushing to his cheeks. Sydney took another lick of ice cream from her spoon and Sky subconsciously found himself swallowing. She noticed him still watching her and offered him her spoon. “Want some?”

For Sydney, the attraction started when she had accidentally walked in on him in their bedroom.

“Sky?” Syd called as she opened the front door to their apartment. “You home?”

Hearing no response, Syd assumed that her husband wasn’t home yet. Deciding that now would be the best time to take a shower, she headed toward their bedroom to pick up a change of clothes. Opening the door, she let out a squeal of surprised as she spotted her husband in the room.

Wearing nothing but a towel, Syd stared at Sky, her jaw dropping open and her eyes wide. Still wet, the water droplets dripped from Sky’s hair, down his neck, and onto his firmly chiseled chest. Subconsciously, she licked her lips.

Noticing her reaction, Sky smirked and folded his arms across his chest. “Like what you see?”

She blinked. “Hell yeah.”

Things had been changing for the both of them. The tension between them was building. Somewhere within the three weeks that they were living together, their attraction toward one another grew. It wasn’t love, it was more of on the way to becoming more than friends.

It wasn’t love yet.

Part of the tension could be due to the sexual frustrations that both felt. They both knew the other was attractive, and ever since their first passionate night, things had been a lot more frustrating. It didn’t help that it had been great sex.

Sky exited the kitchen, only to bump into Sydney. The moment they collided, there were sparks of electricity shooting through both their bodies. And suddenly, they were kissing heavily. It was as if something in both of them snapped, giving into their mutual desires. Somehow, the two of them made it into the living room of their apartment and they fell to the floor, each grabbing at the other with force.

“Are you sure you want this?” Sky asked, as his shirt flung off and he moved to nibbled at Sydney’s neck. “If you want me to stop, you better tell me now, or I won’t be able to control myself.”

“I don’t want you to stop,” she hissed.

That was all Sky needed to hear. He moved so that soon they were kissing with great intensity. There were no more words spoken between them for the next few hours.

-x-x-x-

Exhausted, he fell onto her chest, and her arms were wrapped around his shoulders while one hand was on the back of his head, her fingers in his hair. There was a thin line of sweat between them and their panting breath filled the room and all he could do was lay there. “Wow,” Sky managed to say. “Wow.”

“Hmm,” Syd agreed, too stunned to think about anything else, except their wild encounter just moments before. “I take back what I said before, that was definitely the best I ever had.”

Sky couldn’t even bring himself to brag. “You were the best I’ve ever had too, holy cow.”

Syd giggled. “I’m glad you think so.” He rolled over and Syd positioned herself so that her head was resting on his chest. “We’re really going to go through with this, huh?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he answered, a grin coming to his face as he played with Sydney’s blonde hair.

They had been friends for years and that fact had helped a lot. They knew each other, knew the likes and dislikes. And they had gotten along very well. They had served with one another and fought with Gruumm. Being married to Sydney didn’t sound so bad, in fact, it sounded very appealing. “Looks like you’re stuck with me, Mrs. Tate,” he teased.

There was another giggle. “That doesn’t sound so bad to me, Mr. Tate,” she shot back.

The two laughed and for the first time, shared a soft sweet kiss. Their future with each other, though unplanned, was looking much brighter.

-x-x-x-

Marriage life wasn’t easy, but Sky and Syd were giving it their best efforts. Their friendship had made it easy for them to interact around each other. For the most part, they acted like they were dating, mentioning their marriage in joking phrases. A week passed, and things were more or less going smoothly. They had decided to take a walk through the park one afternoon, holding hands and to just enjoy each other’s company when they were ambushed by some unexpected company.

“THERE THEY ARE!” Z hollered.

Suddenly, Z and Bridge were in front of them.

“SYDNEY DREW, I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU HAD THE NERVE TO IGNORE ME FOR A MONTH!” Z yelled. Bridge and Sky flinched at the tone of the yellow ranger’s voice, but Sydney just stared back.

“Actually, it’s Sydney Tate,” she said smoothly.

“IT’S BEEN A MONTH! I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU MOVED OUT AND DIDN’T TELL ME! I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU NEVER PICKED UP MY PHONE CALLS, I-“ Z stopped and paused. “What did you just say?”

“It’s Sydney Tate now,” she said again.

“WHAT?” Bridge and Z’s jaws dropped opened, and they stared at Sky and Syd incredulously. “You mean… you… you… married?” Bridge sputtered.

The yellow ranger pulled herself together. “Since when?” Z demanded to know.

“Since the night of Jack’s wedding,” Sky answered, giving Syd’s hand a slight squeeze.

The green and yellow rangers stared at them. “Let me get this straight,” Bridge spoke up, “you guys got married the night of Jack’s wedding?”

“Yeah.” The both of them nodded.

“Where’s the proof?” Z demanded.

Simultaneously, Sky and Syd lifted their hands to show Bridge and Z their rings. Their friends stared at them for a moment, before bursting into hysterical laughter. “You guys thought you got married?” Bridge gasped.

“Yeah,” Syd held up her hand. “Don’t you guys see the rings?”

“Idiots,” Z wheezed through her laughter. “Those aren’t your rings. Those are OUR rings!”

Sky and Syd stared. “WHAT?”

“Oh man,” Z sputtered up in laughter. “You guys must’ve been really drunk if you don’t remember what happened.”

Z stared at her former roommate with wide eyes. She had never ever seen Sydney this drunk. She hadn’t seen Sydney this way ever. She took a step toward her friend, reaching out to grasp her arm. “Syd? Are you okay?”

“I’m just dandy!” the pink ranger giggled, as she leaned onto Z, stumbling as she did so.

“Jeez, how much have you had to drink tonight, Syd?” Z questioned, as Sydney stumbled some more as they walked along.

The pink ranger frowned, thinking hard. “I don’t remember.” Then she tripped and fell. “Whoops,” she giggled, “did I fall?”

Z sighed and shook her head. She extended a hand out to her heavily inebriated friend. “What am I going to do with you?”

“Ooooh,” the pink ranger cooed as she grasped Z’s hand. “What a pretty ring! Can I wear it? Pretty please?”

Not used to seeing Sydney this way, all she could think to do was agree. “Sure Syd, as long as you get up okay?”

Sydney giggled as she slowly stood up, swaying a bit. “See, now I’m standing! Let me see your ring!”

Nervously, Z slipped off her wedding ring and handed it to Syd. “Don’t lose it, okay?”

The yellow ranger was a bit alarmed as Syd’s emotions changed instantaneously. “I WON’T LOSE IT!”

With great difficulty, Z managed to get Syd seated on a chair at an abandoned table. She gave a sigh of relief as Syd managed to sit still. The yellow ranger straightened and blew a strand of hair out of her face.

“Z!”

The yellow ranger turned to see her husband dragging Sky alongside of him. The blue ranger looked as equally drunk as Sydney did. Z gestured towards Sky as Bridge seated him into a chair next to Sydney. “What happened to him?”

“Drunk,” her husband replied. “I think it’s because of all the wedding and whatnot. He’s feeling depressed because he’s twenty-seven and doesn’t even have a girlfriend.”

“I think it’s more or less the same situation with Syd,” the yellow ranger gestured a hand toward her former roommate.

“Syd stole your ring too?” Bridge noticed as Sydney played with the ring.

“Yeah,” Z grumbled. “Boy, she’s moody when she’s drunk.”

Bridge raised an eyebrow. “Really? Sky’s super friendly when he’s drunk.”

“Its funny how their personalities switch under the influence of alcohol, huh?” Z mused. “Well, I’m going to try and find some Tylenol for them. Keep an eye on them, would you?”

Bridge nodded as Z left. Moments later, there was a huge racket as a waiter crashed into him from behind. While Bridge was preoccupied, he didn’t notice Sky and Sydney slipping from his sight.

Sky and Syd stared at Bridge and Z with looks of disbelief. “So, you’re saying that we stole your wedding rings, slipped them on, and then got a hotel room?” Sky asked.

Grinning, both the green and yellow rangers nodded.

Syd gave a tiny sigh. “Thank goodness,” the pink ranger turned to Sky. “I thought the wedding ring looked a little tacky. I thought you had better taste. Now I know it wasn’t you at all.”

Sky nodded. “No offense taken. I actually thought you had better taste in jewelry as well.”

“Hey!” Both Bridge and Z protested. Sky and Syd slipped off the wedding rings and handed them to their friends.

“Come on,” Sky held out his hand to Syd. “We need to talk.” The pink ranger nodded and gave a small wave to the green and yellow rangers. “See you guys later.”

They walked along the park in silence, and sat down when they saw a nearby bench.

“So, what now?” Syd spoke up. She felt a little sad, she had just begun to enjoy being Mrs. Sydney Tate.

Sky sighed. “I don’t know,” he gave a soft chuckle. “We’re not married anymore.”

There was a silence.

“I don’t want this to be over, though,” Syd blurted out, unable to stop herself. “I care about you Sky, I don’t want this relationship to be over.”

Upon hearing those words, Sky felt himself grin. “To be honest, I don’t want this to be over either.”

“And I want us to continue living together.”

“I want that too.”

The stared at one another, grinning. “So basically,” Syd summed it up. “Everything will be the same. The only difference is that we’re not married anymore.”

“Right.”

“It must’ve been fate,” Syd said, thoughtfully. “I mean, how else can you explain us getting together?”

“Coincidence?” Sky supplied helpfully.

“I don’t think so,” Syd gave him a knowing look.

“Well, whatever it is, I’m glad it happened,” Sky leaned forward and pulled her into his arms. He meant every word too. After all, if hadn’t been for the events that led them to believing they had married, he would’ve never considered pursuing a relationship with Sydney Drew.

Sky smiled as he swooped in to give Syd a kiss.

Maybe it had been fate after all.