Escape
They arrived at the hospital a short while later and Sydney was out of the car before Vaughn had fully pulled into a parking space. Vaughn parked the car and got out, following behind Sydney, a bit of a wounded expression on his face. He knew that Sydney wanted to see Will because of his close encounter with death, but Vaughn still felt a pang of resentment that Sydney couldn't even wait until he had gotten out himself—or at least parked his car.
As much as Sydney wanted to see Will, and as much as she wanted and needed to tell Vaughn about Sark, she realized that she couldn't turn her back this easily.
She stopped by the double doors to the entrance to the hospital and turned slightly to see Vaughn walking up to her. She smiled at him when he reached her, and he returned the gesture, feeling his cheeks begin to burn. Sydney sighed softly, turning until she faced Vaughn completely, and absently straightened the coat he was wearing.
Vaughn looked at her, noting the small action as well as how sincere she seemed through it. "Hey," he whispered, and she looked up. "We need to go inside so you can see Will."
"I know," Sydney replied, staring far into Vaughn's eyes. She felt her hands beginning to shake at the expression in Vaughn's jade gems—he loved her deeply and would gladly trade his life for hers in a heartbeat.
And Sydney was going to tear him apart.
She felt tears prick her eyes and she blinked them back as she pulled Vaughn into a hug. She held him until she felt the urge to burst into tears subside, and she pulled back, smiling at him again as he chuckled and kissed her forehead.
Sydney slipped her hand into Vaughn's and together they walked into the hospital.
"Hey," Sydney said as she sat down beside Will after she and Vaughn had been given the number of the room Will was in.
"Hey," Will replied, sitting up a bit and groaning a bit at the pain in his stomach.
Sydney grabbed Will's hand and implored, "How are you feeling?"
"Better," Will gruffed, as he shifted again in an attempt to get comfortable. He looked up and saw Vaughn standing by the door, and inferred that Vaughn deliberately staying back so that Will and Sydney could chat. "Vaughn. Dude. Sit."
Vaughn smiled sheepishly in response and sat down beside Sydney.
"I hate to ask," Sydney began, "but how does it, I mean, what does it, you know—"
"You want to see it?" Will asked.
"Is that too weird?"
Will laughed, "No, Syd." He jerked his head a bit and said, "Come here."
Sydney got up and went around to the other side of the hospital bed. She lifted the blankets resting on his middle while Will pushed his shirt back and undressed the wound so Sydney could see. Her eyes went wide.
"
"Syd, I'm fine."
Sydney just shook her head sadly, thinking about the events leading up to discovering Allison. "I just can't believe that I didn't see it before. I can't believe it took three months for me to finally *get* it. If I had figured it out sooner, I mean, none of this—"
"Hey," Will said softly, rewrapping the bandages and adjusting his shirt. He reached up to cup her cheek. "Syd, the only thing that matters is that we got her. She can't hurt anyone anymore, and whatever her endgame was has been foiled."
Sydney managed a nod and sighed. Will pulled her to him in a hug and kissed the top of her head.
Vaughn watched in silence, barely able to suppress the wave of jealousy that rose up in him. He admonished himself for the feeling, as he knew that Will was Sydney's best friend and could very well have died if it had not been for Sydney coming to his rescue.
Still, though, just as he had before, he felt unwanted, as if Sydney was taking him for granted and using that to put anything and everything above him.
Her behavior worried him. He wanted to believe that Sydney was simply reacting emotionally to the sudden turn of events and the less than desirable circumstances, but he couldn't help but wonder if he and Sydney were growing apart.
Vaughn looked at Will and Sydney again, finding them in the embrace still, both looking relieved to have each other. He nodded to himself, dropped his gaze, and stood up to silently pad out of the room.
As he walked through the hall towards the exit doors, he found himself not making much of an effort to walk quickly, and he wasn't sure if it was because he was hoping Sydney would realize he had left and would come to retrieve him, or if it was because he didn't seem to care how quickly he got to his car or if Sydney came to get him.
He shoved his hands into his pockets and walked through the automatic sliding doors. He took his keys out of his pocket and went to his car. He stood there a moment, debating, then let his eyes dart around the area as he dropped his keys and used his shoe to slide them under the front tire.
Sydney would find the car empty and the keys on the ground, and would drive back to Vaughn's apartment, assuming that Vaughn had gone for a walk. Vaughn slid his hands back into his pockets and began shuffling his feet on the ground.
He wandered aimlessly, turning a corner and shivering when the shadow the building cast over him wiped out the sun and the warmth from it. He stared down at the ground and kicked a rock, then looked up quickly to see where it would go. He cringed and looked back down when it careened towards an old lady and collided with one of her high heels. She jumped and cried out, and Vaughn pretended for about half a second that he was completely innocent before going over to her and apologizing.
The woman looked Vaughn up and down and frowned disapprovingly at him. Vaughn nodded at the assessment, saying, "I know. I'm sorry."
She looked at him again, saw the sincerity in his eyes, and commented, "You look like you've had a rough couple days."
Vaughn's first instinct was to raise an eyebrow, but instead he just said, "You have no idea."
"Well," the lady began, "why don't you enlighten me?"
Vaughn chuckled lightly and told her, "I'm sure you wouldn't be interested."
"Oh come on kid," she countered, slapping his arm, "tell me."
Vaughn sighed and directed his gaze down the sidewalk to the corner, half-expecting Sydney to be rounding it any second and telling him he shouldn't have left. Finally, he relented to the lady's request.
"It started yesterday. I don't want to get into the details, but my girlfriend's best friend, um, he was badly injured, and almost died."
The woman looked stunned and pressed a hand to her chest, exclaiming, "Oh wow, that must have been horrible for her to have to deal with!"
Vaughn's eyes flicked downward in embarrassment for his previous and now—he knew—totally unwarranted jealousy. He knew that the thought of Will dying would tear Sydney apart, seeing as she had already lost Francie. He realized that it wasn't out of line for Sydney to be shunning him. After all, she had come as close to death as Will had, and they had both escaped it, and as such, Sydney needed time to sort through her cluttered thoughts and put things into perspective so she could get back on track again.
It all made sense now.
"Hey," the woman said, seeing Vaughn's forlorn expression and lifting his chin up, "don't let her get too involved with her own feelings. Let her know you're there for her, and don't let her shut you out. You can't give up and let her have it all her way. You love her. Show her that."
Vaughn turned up one side of his mouth in an appreciative smile as a bit of color seeped into his cheeks. She was right—he would make certain Sydney knew that he was there for her and would be sure she didn't drown in her own self-pity.
"Thanks," he told her, honestly meaning it.
The woman nodded and patted the side of Vaughn's face before walking away. Vaughn watched her go, then started walking in the direction of the hospital.
Sydney pulled back from Will, brushed the hair off his forehead which she kissed gently, then backed away and looked over to where Vaughn had been sitting. Her brow wrinkled in confusion and she looked back at Will whose expression was the same as hers.
"When did he leave?" she asked.
"I don't know," Will replied. "I didn't even hear him get up."
"Damn it," Sydney said under her breath. She was suddenly failing miserably at keeping up appearances. She loved Vaughn, but she loved Sark more, and she couldn't allow Vaughn to distrust her love for him until she came up with a plan to let him down easy. She looked at Will, opening her mouth slightly to form the words she wanted to say, but abruptly shut it again.
"Syd," Will said calmly, "go."
Sydney bit her lip. "I—"
"Syd," Will said again, "*go*."
"Okay," Sydney agreed, and hugged Will. When she pulled back, she said, "But, we didn't get to talk all that much. I barely just got here"
Will sighed heavily and rubbed one temple. "Look, let me tell you what Vaughn's thinking right now. He's thinking that you're pushing him away and ignoring him to spend time with me."
Sydney rolled her eyes. "No, he doesn't. That's not Vaughn."
Will gave her a look.
Sydney frowned, saying, "Maybe you're right. But you're obviously my number one priority right now, and I mean—my god, Will, you could have *died* last night! What am I supposed to do, just accept the fact that you're okay now and forget about what happened? I can't get over this in a day."
"No one's asking you to," Will told her.
Sydney looked at Will for a few moments, then sighed and said, "Okay, I'll get going."
"Good."
Sydney smiled a bit. "Love you."
"Love you too. Now go."
Sydney's smile widened and she left the room, heading down the hall towards the exit.
Vaughn reached his car and picked up his keys under the tire where he had left them. He slipped them into his pocket and began walking towards the hospital doors when he saw Sydney coming out. He waited, unsure of what to do, and watched as Sydney drew closer and closer to him.
He gave her a smile when she was within a few feet of him, intending to tell her that he had just come outside to get some fresh air. He was surprised when she didn't slow down and instead reached him and threw her arms around his neck, kissing him deeply. Vaughn was stunned at first, but relaxed after a moment, kissing back with equal intensity and wrapping his arms around her.
Sydney pulled back first and touched her forehead to Vaughn's, the two of them breathing in unison. "I'm sorry," she whispered, and considered elaborating, but decided against it, and simply repeated, "I'm sorry."
Vaughn nodded and whispered back, "It's okay. I understand."
"Okay," Sydney replied, nodding as well. She put both hands on either side of his face. "You know I love you."
"Yes, I do," Vaughn grinned. "I love you, too."
Sydney returned the grin and murmured, "I wouldn't have it any other way."
They went to kiss again, but were rudely interrupted by the trilling of Sydney's cell phone. They both sighed at the same time and exchanged sad smiles as Sydney dug the phone out of her pocket and answered it. "Hello?"
On the other end, Kendall intoned, "Sydney, I need to see you and Vaughn in my office right now."
Confused, Sydney asked, "Why? What's going on?"
There was a pause on the line before Kendall informed her, "Sark escaped."
A torrent of emotions swept through Sydney, but she managed to ask the question most relevant to the situation, "How the hell did that happen?"
"I'll explain when you get here."
"Why can't you—"
"Just get your ass over here now." He hung up and Sydney fumed silently as she dropped her phone back into her pocket.
"What happened?" Vaughn asked.
"Sark escaped."
Vaughn's forehead erupted with nine-hundred wrinkles. "What? He escaped?"
"Yes," Sydney said.
"How?"
"I don't know, that's why Kendall wants us to go over there now." Sydney stared at Vaughn, seeing how distraught he looked and said, "I'll drive." Vaughn just nodded and handed over the keys. Sydney got in and unlocked Vaughn's door.
She shoved the keys into the ignition and turned them, the satisfying sound of the engine roaring to life filling her ears. She pulled out of the parking space and was met by a loud horn honking behind her. Without looking back, she flipped the person off and started driving, tearing out of the parking lot at a dangerous speed.
She couldn't understand how Sark escaped, but she could only assume that her mother had had something to do with it. She couldn't even imagine the elaborate scheme that had obviously been cooked up to break Sark out.
She pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling a headache coming on.
Why wasn't I involved? she wondered. She realized that it could have been a spur of the moment idea that Sark had orchestrated himself, but it wasn't likely. She knew that her mother had to be involved somehow, and she would find out soon enough.
A/N: Yay, I finally got a new chapter done. Okay, so anyways, it was mostly an SV chapter, but oh well. SV is tolerable in fics, IMHO, but not on the show. *shrugs*
I'm hoping to wrap this up in a few more chapters, starting with an explanation of the break-out, and maybe a mission, and maybe a little sad stuff. I'm sort of on the fence about how to end this. I might have a happy ending with or without character deaths, or I'll have an unhappy ending with character deaths. I'm not really sure. There might also be an appearance by another character soon, which might factor in with some of this stuff.
Anyways, I'm working on chapter 38, and I'd love to have it up this weekend, so I'll try my best to accomplish that.
Sorry about the two-and-a-half-month wait. ;x
{{{{{y'all}}}}}
~E