Find You (Falling Skies/Ben Mason LS)

What Hides Behind

It's been a few days since they got back to the high school and Skyelar has been bouncing between sentry duty, scouting missions, and helping Uncle Scott. Skyelar likes working on mechanics and engineering, it's a talent of hers that she enjoyed before the invasion. She's no expert, but she helps where she can, and it keeps her busy. When Skyelar was awoken this morning for sentry duty with Hal, she groaned in protest at a morning shift. She was already wearing her dark skinny jeans, her socks, and her black, V-neck t-shirt, and of course her sports bra. She threw on her maroon sweater and her brown leather jacket. She pulled on her tattered boots with a big yawn. She stood up to stretch and looked over to where Lucy slept and smiled. In front of Lucy and grabbed her blanket, which had slipped off of her small body. She pulled the blanket over her sister and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. Skyelar then headed out with her gun to start her morning sentry duty with Hal.

              The duo got off sentry duty just before lunch. They looked around for Ben, who wasn't in the gym for food. The two walk outside to the area where the lookout bus is. "Ben, you out here?" Hal calls out. Hal and Skyelar follow the tapping sound coming from behind the bus. "You're gonna miss lunch!" Hal calls again. The two walk around the bus to find Ben jumping rope. Hal starts clapping which causes Ben to stop and turn to the two who had found him. "Look at this," Hal starts. Skyelar notes the nervous look on Ben's face as he wrings the jump rope in his hands. "I remember when your idea of exercising was reorganizing Dad's bookshelves." Both boys then look at the timer sitting on the ground. They both dive for it only for Hal to be victorious. Hal stands in front of ben as Skyelar walks up to stand slightly between them. Ben glances between Hal and Skyelar nervously.

              "2 hours and 40 minutes? What, are you padding your stats?" Hal asks after looking at the timer. "Uh...," Ben glances over to Skyelar who gives him a curious look. He quickly looks away from her, slightly embarrassed. "M-must have hit the button before I came out," Ben dismisses. Hal and Skyelar share a worried look while Ben looks at his feet. "Everything's all right, huh?" Hal questions as he takes a step towards his little brother. "Yeah...Sure. Um...Let's eat," Ben takes the timer from Hal with a tight smile before walking towards the school. Hal and Skyelar share one last look before following after Ben. Once they got to the gym, Ben caught up with Matt, leaving Hal and Skyelar together in line. "So..." Hal drags out. "What?" Skyelar inquires. "Have you two really talked since you kissed him?" Skyelar's eyes go wide as she looks at Hal. "Yeah, I saw it. So did Dad." Skyelar groans at Hal's words, putting her head down. "Well? Have you?" Hal asks as he puts some of Pope's bread on his plate. "No. I haven't. I've been busy, Hal," Skyelar says while grabbing a fork. "You should. After lunch," Hal states. "I can't. I'm going to help Scott and Pope figure out-you know what? You wouldn't understand. We're gonna play with the Mech pieces to see what makes it tick," Skyelar says as she sits down. "Sure. Okay. I'll drop it...for now." Skyelar rolls her eyes.

              After she ate, Skyelar went to Uncle Scott's 'lab'. "Hey, Skye," Scott greets the raven-haired girl. "Hi." Skyelar walks over to where Matt sits. "Hey, Little M. I thought Lu was with you," Skyelar looks around for said girl. "She was. Some of the other kids wanted to play with them. She just left," Matt says, not looking up from his crank radio. "Well, it's her loss. This stuff is cool," Skyelar says while sitting next to Matt. "How was sentry duty?" Scott asks, leaning on the table. "Luckily, uneventful," Skyelar admits. Before any more words can be exchanged, Pope's voice draws their attention. "All right. All right. All right!" Pope protests as he is shoved into the room. "It's okay," Scott assures the guards. Skyelar grips her rifle strap, not trusting Pope.

              "What's with the Victrola?" Pope asks as he limps by, looking at Matt and Skyelar. "It's a radio transmitter. Skye and the scouts found it at a community college. These pre-transmitter types last forever," Scott tells Pope. Skyelar watches Pope as he looks around. "Great. Maybe you can get NPR on that thing, and we can bore the aliens to death," Pope comments. "It's not supposed to kill them," Matt speaks. "Well, I'm officially not interested, but somebody's got a death wish, 'cause these bomb-making formulas are a joke," Scott and Skyelar walk over to Pope. Skyelar looks at the formulas and gives Scott a questioning look, realizing Pope is right. "He's right. The ratios are all wrong. This'll blow up in your face," Skyelar mutters to herself, but the others hear her too. "Hey, hey, hey," Scott snatches his papers from Pope. "Listen, you may have sold the colonel, you know, but I'm not buying this 'go, team' act. Guys like you don't stick their necks out for nothing," Scott states.