DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the Walker, Texas Ranger characters within this story, nor is any ownership implied.
Eight months of all the work, planning, and preparing for their wedding had come down to the final stretch. They were three days away from the big day and even the late September Texas weather had decided to cooperate. The heat and humidity that had covered the Dallas area like a blanket and brought intense daily storms was going to lift just in time; the weekend's weather forecast called for sunny skies and cooler, more comfortable temperatures.
Sydney's mood was just as sunny as the forecast. In three days, she'd be Mrs. Francis Gage. She could barely contain her excitement. In three days, she was getting her happily-ever-after with the man she had loved from the moment they had first met. Life couldn't be any more perfect. She had spent the afternoon with her two matrons of honor, Alex Cahill-Walker and Erika Trivette, and her bridesmaid, Gage's sister Julie, picking up their dresses after last-minute adjustments and pressing. As she drove back to her house, she sang along with the radio. Her happy thoughts and personal concert were interrupted by the ring of her cell phone.
"Sydney Cooke," she answered.
"Just think, Shorty, after Saturday, you get to answer that phone and say 'Sydney Gage,'" her fiancé's voice resonated on the other end of the line and Sydney smiled.
"I can't wait, baby," she replied, "how is today going?"
"I miss you! Trivette is a good ranger, but he sure isn't pretty to look at!" In the background, Sydney could hear their friend and fellow ranger Jimmy Trivette protesting over Gage's comment. "How did your day go?"
"I made the final arrangements with the florist and the girls and I picked up our dresses and shoes. Everything is all set, except for one possible tiny, little hitch."
"What kind of hitch?"
"Angela informed us that she no longer wants to be a flower girl, she wants to be Batman."
"Well, that's my girl! You did find her a Batman costume, didn't you?"
"Gage, there will be no tiny Batman at our wedding."
"See, there you go, all bridezilla over a two year old who thinks this is Halloween," Gage teased his bride-to-be. "It'll be fine, Syd. Alex will put her in the dress and she'll be happy. If not, she'll cry and everyone will think she's cute anyhow. You know she's going to steal the show. You're going to be upstaged on your wedding day by the cutest two year old ever."
"I know, and I'm perfectly fine with that. Hey, we're supposed to meet Julie at seven for dinner and she told me to tell you not to be late."
"Me, late? Now why would my dear sister say that?"
"Beats me, honey," Sydney laughed. Gage was not known for punctuality. "See you soon?"
"See you soon. I love you, Shorty."
"I love you more, baby."
Syd tossed her phone back onto the passenger seat just as she turned down her street. The parking space in front of her small house was – once again – occupied by her new neighbor's old Toyota. "Damn," she hissed under her breath. That was the third time this week. Now she was going to have to park in the alley behind her house and she really hated parking back there. There were rats in the alley and while not much creeped Sydney out, rats did. She was going to have to try to talk to her neighbor and remind him that he did have his own parking space in front of his own place and ask him to quit parking in her space. She'd worry about that later.
Sydney turned down the alley and pulled into the tight parking space behind her house. She cringed as she got out of her Jeep and saw a rat scurry underneath the fence that divided her property from her neighbor's. She retrieved her cell phone from the passenger seat and shoved it into her back pocket. Reaching behind the seat, she pulled out the pink garment bag that held her wedding gown and another bag that held the beaded satin shoes she'd be wearing as she walked down the aisle in just a matter of days. She bumped the Jeep's door shut with her hip and started up the steps of the narrow back porch to her kitchen door.
Wrestling with the heavy garment bag and the bag with her shoes, she tugged hard on the screen door. It always stuck, especially when the weather was so humid like it had been. She put her key in the lock for the kitchen door, but the door swung open easily; it hadn't been locked.
"That's odd," Sydney started to think as the sudden blast knocked her backwards off the porch and across the little bit of the back yard.
The explosion was so great that it lifted her Jeep, rolling it over on its side where it caught on fire. In a matter of seconds, it too, exploded. One of her neighbor's houses was knocked slightly off its foundation from the powerful blast; another was in flames. Her neighbor's old Toyota was also burning and soon caused a third explosion. The series of explosions were felt blocks away. In the center of it all, Sydney's house was a raging inferno.
The impact of the blast had blown Sydney backwards, propelling her tiny frame forcefully against the brick wall of the garage across the alley behind her house. She landed hard, debris falling all around her, including a large piece of metal she recognized as the hood of her Jeep that landed over her and tented itself against the cinderblock garage. She was vaguely aware of the intense heat from the fire. "So this is what it feels like to die," she thought, as a sense of floating overtook her, numbing the pain that wracked her petite body.
"Oh Gage, Gage, forgive me, baby, I'm so sorry," her mind drifted to black as her eyelids fluttered shut.