Z5

Defenders of the Earth: This Is Their Story

By Marzena

Plot: Season 2, Episode 23

Chapter 5: Advice

"Can I talk to you?"

He startled her, appearing at her door like that, but she wasn't totally surprised. She'd expected some kind of a reaction from both Rick and April, and apparently, this was Rick trying to clear things up.

"Sure," she said, smiling, pushing away the papers on her desk. She'd never been a big fan of paperwork, but unfortunately, being a Defender didn't only consist of battles and flying around the galaxy in a spaceship. There were bills to be paid, petitions and fanmail to be answered, stuff to be filed, reports to be written. The more good they did in the world, the bigger the piles of paperwork got.

"I'm not interrupting, am I?" Rick asked while coming in, looking rather nervous.

"No. Actually, I'm glad to get away from this stuff for a while." She gave him a reassuring smile. "What can I do for you, Rick?"

"Ummm, well ... this is a bit awkward, actually," he began, stepping closer.

And here we go, she thought. And she understood where Rick was coming from. It was a strange situation. His dad had a new partner who he'd spend all his time with and who was now his lover as well as his partner. And Rick, who'd lost his mother only one year ago, probably felt like he was losing his dad to her as he'd already lost his sister, who'd estranged herself from the family, moving into a dorm at Space Academy.

"It's not," she firmly said. "I know why you're here, Rick. I get where this is coming from, and I like the way you chose to handle this. Coming here to talk to me, I mean."

"So different from what April's doing, you mean?" He gave her a weak grin. "But it's always been like that with us. She bitches about stuff, I try to get it out of the way."

"It's a difficult place to be for both of you."

"But I like you," he insisted, looking at her. "Sheila, I really do like you. That's not the problem at all. I feel like you get me, and you make my dad happy. That's good."

"Thank you." She smiled at him. "I like you too, Rick. And you're concerned about your dad, I get that. I hope you know that I'd never purposely hurt Flash in any way."

She placed that last sentence very carefully, shifting the paperwork on her desk to avoid looking Rick in the eye. Of course she knew very well that there would come the day that Flash would find out the truth about her, and he'd be very hurt when that would happen. She'd do her best to prevent that, but if she was honest with herself she could see it very clearly – there wasn't a way to prevent that. Being his lover as well as his friend made it worse, yes, but even if she'd just stayed his friend and teammate, he'd still end up hurt. It just couldn't be prevented. And she also knew that when that day was here, Rick wouldn't like her anymore.

"Yeah, I know that," Rick hastily said. "It's just that I feel like it's too early ... it's been a year since my mum, well, left us ..."

Died, she silently corrected. Because of my father. But she didn't say that out loud. Instead, she got up and put her hand comfortingly on Rick's back.

"It's too early," Rick repeated, not pushing her away. "I don't want dad to rush things. I don't want my family to break apart any more than we already have. As much as I like you, Sheila, this ... thing between you and dad isn't exactly helping. April hates you. Dad's world suddenly is centered all around you. And I don't know where I fit in anymore either. It's ..."

"It's difficult, I agree." She nodded. "But your dad and I, we're adults, Rick. We can figure this out. And your dad loves the two of you very much. He'd never put me over you, you really should know that. But maybe this thing, as you described it so nicely, is some escape for you dad as well. His world isn't centered around me, Rick. But despite Flash being a superhero and everything, he's only human. He's tired of all the problems. He's fighting Ming, he's keeping earth safe, and at home he has to fight on all fronts to."

"I don't want him to," Rick immediately said. "I want everything to be normal. As it was when mum was still alive. I mean, I know it won't ever be that way again, but ..."

"Give it time, Rick. Give you sister time to settle in at Space Academy, to get some distance between her and your family. Sometimes distance can be helpful. Let things work themselves out as good as they possibly can. And then, if there's still something to take care of, we will face it and we will be successful. But this isn't an easy situation for any of us. We all need to figure out what to do next and what will work best."

"I know." He took a deep breath, looking very young all of sudden, and she had to remind herself that this was a teenage boy who'd lost his mother and who'd gone through so many changes over the past year.

"You want to do something nice with your dad, ask him to grab a bite and watch a football game with him later", she suggested. "Don't talk about problems, about fights, about what April did or said. Just enjoy yourself. I'm sure Flash will enjoy himself, too."

"Yeah ... I think I'll do that. Sounds like a pretty cool idea." Almost shyly, he smiled at her. "Thank you, Sheila. Talking to you really helped me."

"Anytime, Rick. Anytime."

She watched him go and quietly closed the door after him, leaning against the wooden frame from the inside, closing her eyes. Yes, when the truth came out, Flash wouldn't be the only one to hate her. But maybe, just maybe, her advice would do some good, and someday Rick would remember their conversation and would be thanking her again, and, if only for a second, forget about hating her.

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Article

Author

Chapters

1: Death

April and the other Gordons face a tragedy.

2: Beautiful

Mandrake is reunited with a romantic interest.

3: Peace and Quiet

Flash is thrown into an unexpected struggle.

4: Nightfall

Sheila and Flash continue to bond.