Chapter 20: I Told Her
Disclaimer: I'll let you know when I write a story that is completely mine to do with as I wish…which may be in the near future!
A/N: For those of you who wish to see Danny impaled with a fork, I'm sorry to say it's not going to happen. I'm sure you'll enjoy what does happen, though!
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"You're sure, Syd?"
Sydney had climbed out of his truck and was for Lorrie to get out.
"Positive. Michael, I have to do this now."
"Fine. But if you need anything…?"
"I won't hesitate to call you. I have your cell number."
"Even if you don't need anything, call me, okay?"
"Michael, I'll call you by the end of this week. Now go. I'll be fine," Sydney ordered.
He watched her dig her spare house key out of a cactus plant by the door, and refused to pull away until she had the door open. When she turned, waved shortly, and crossed her arms, he finally drove away.
Danny pulled into the drive about fifteen minutes after Michael left. Sydney found herself wringing her hands nervously.
"What are you going to say?" Lorrie asked softly, concern evident both in her voice and her eyes.
"Whatever comes to mind," she replied. "Why don't you take Jaime into his room?"
"And stay out of the way?" Lorrie asked, taking Jaime from his mother.
"I'd appreciate it."
Sydney was sitting at the kitchen table alone when Danny walked in.
"Sydney!" he exclaimed, plastering on a smile. "How long have you been home?"
"Only a few minutes," she answered flatly, not responding to either his kiss or hid hug.
He sat down across from her.
"Did they treat you okay?" he asked.
"Fine." She couldn't quite meet his gaze.
"What's wrong, honey?" His demanding tone was enough to convince her what she had to do.
"Danny…I want a divorce," she blurted.
Danny shot up, towering over her.
"What the hell is that about?!?" he roared.
She stood carefully, consciously separating her hands.
"I want a divorce, Danny," she said steadily. She moved back a step so he wasn't so close.
A manipulative grin appeared on Danny's face.
"You've had a rough time these past few days," he said, his voice sympathetic except for the angry undertone. "A nice, long sleep in your own bed will make you see things differently," he told her as if she were a child.
He eyes widened as she realized what he suggested. When he grabbed her arm and pulled her into the living room, she jerked away.
"No, Danny!" she said, her voice sharper than she had anticipated.
His countenance lost the facade of tenderness and became just mean.
"Come on, honey. Don't do this," he ordered.
He grabbed her arm again, and again she jerked away. She saw his hand go up.
"No!" she cried.
Lorrie had just put Jaime in his crib when she heard them start to argue. She heard Sydney cry out, ,then a slap. She thought she heard a gasp, then the next thing she heard was a crash.
Without a thought to herself or the possible consequences, Lorrie shot out of Jaime's room and up the hall.
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Michael just felt wrong about leaving Sydney alone. Well, not alone, but the presence of Lorrie and Jaime just made the situation worse.
He'd driven a full ten minutes when the feeling became so strong he turned around. He'd learned to trust his instincts as an agent, and this was one time when he was afraid not to trust them.
He wondered idly if Sydney was going to be mad when he showed back up. She had seemed to want to be alone, but hopefully she'd understand his concern.
What if he was too late?
That thought entered his mind unbidden, and he didn't like it. He didn't know if anything had happened, or if Danny was even there yet, and he was worrying about being too late…
She really wasn't any of his business. He should leave her alone, because she wanted to be left alone.
But he just couldn't do that.
As he turned onto Sydney's street, he recognized Danny's car in the driveway. Instincts that had nothing to do with being an agent drove him to jump out of his truck almost before he'd put it in park.
The same instant he reached the door, he heard a crash, and he swung open the door and took in the scene in a split second.
There was an end table overturned and the lamp that had been sitting on it smashed. Sydney was sprawled next to the table, and, from her position, Michael figured she'd probably hit her head on the table. Danny stood over her, glaring down. And Lorrie was darting out of the hall.
Sydney saw Lorrie and started to get up, but as soon as she moved Danny moved further over her, hampering her movement. Michael moved to tackle Danny before he hit Sydney again. Sydney somehow got up and started to dart past Danny to grab Lorrie, but wound up between Michael and Danny. Lorrie launched herself at Danny and wrapped her arms around his neck.
Michael crashed into Sydney, who in turn landed on Danny, and Lorrie got dragged down with them. Lorrie screeched, Danny roared, Michael growled, and Sydney, surprised by the initial impact, gasped, then, as she was crushed between the men, Michael heard her make a sound like a whimper.
They landed in a heap, Michael shoved Sydney away, and she grabbed Lorrie and pulled her out of the fray. Lorrie and Sydney watched wordlessly as Michael and Danny rolled around, neither gaining the upper hand nor doing much damage to the other at first.
Danny had a slight advantage over Michael in the way of size and weight, but Michael had the advantage of extensive self-defense training. It didn't take Michael long to maneuver into a position where he could deliver a solid blow to Danny's left temple, leaving him out cold.
Michael stood, breathless and disheveled, and had the nerve to grin at Sydney. She was gaping at him, afraid he'd really hurt Danny, angry that he'd come back and just walked right into her house, aching all over from being body slammed, and yet almost glad for all of it. For no reason she could or even wanted to explain, she grinned back.
The next thing Sydney knew, she was in a bone-crushing hug. She winced at first, realizing her shoulder hurt, but then gave as good as she got. She didn't care that she couldn't breathe, or that every one of her ribs hurt every time she moved.
Even though she didn't really want to fight him anymore, she mumbled, "I would have been fine."
"The hell you would. See why I wanted to know what you were doing?" he whispered back. "What did you say?" he added, releasing her so he could see her face.
"I…told him I wanted a divorce," she said, grinning. Feeling like a fool, but still grinning.
"I'm glad," Michael said.
Suddenly, they all heard the sound of a baby crying.
"Hold that thought," Sydney said quickly, disappearing down the hall.
"I told her. She didn't believe me, but I told her," Lorrie said softly. She hid a grin.
Michael had almost forgotten she was there.
"What did you tell her?" he asked, eyeing her warily.
Lorrie smiled. "I told her you liked her. Several times, actually. But she never believed me."
"Great. How come you never told me anything?" he asked jokingly.
"Because she didn't like you at all for a while," she answered seriously, enjoying the look of surprise on his face. "Not until today. You got on her nerves, made her mad all the time." She shrugged. "Can you blame her?"
He sighed when he realized she expected an answer.
"I guess not. I gave her plenty of reasons not to like me."
"That's one way to put it," she mumbled as Sydney came back in.
"Um, what do we do about Danny?" Sydney asked, curious as to Michael's opinion.
"He'll be out for a while. What do you want to do about him? We could call the police and file abuse charges," Michael suggested, gently but with a certain conviction of justice in the statement.
Sydney looked at Danny, a sadness creeping into her eyes. She shook her head, and when she looked up her eyes were clear again.
"I don't want to do that. That sort of charge could ruin his career," Sydney said.
"So your not the vengeful type," Michael murmured, mostly to himself. "Well, you could just leave, and file for divorce on your own."
She looked at him for a moment, obviously trying to decide.
"Where would I go?" she asked, watching him closely.
"You'd stay with me." he watched her open her mouth to say something, so added, "You'd all stay with me, Syd."
Sydney smiled a slow smile, looked over at Lorrie, who winked and grinned, then looked back to Michael.
"Okay. Thank you, Michael."
He moved closer and held her by her shoulders and, leaning around the baby, kissed her cheek.
"No problem," he whispered, then stepped back.
"I…I guess we should pack some stuff. If we leave now we can't really come back for a while," Sydney said, flustered. "Uh, do you want to go with Lorrie so she can pack some stuff?" she added, figuring Lorrie wouldn't want to be in her house alone.
Michael glanced disdainfully at Danny, who still lay motionless, uneasily.
"You said he'd be out for a while," Sydney reminded him.
"Still, I'd rather stick around. Go ahead and get your stuff, then we can all get out of here together," Michael suggested protectively.
"I'd be fine," Sydney said with a grin before she started down the hall.
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Yeah! Danny is down for the count! Now, if Danny had impaled himself on a fork, BudgetBuddy, I couldn't have let Michael hit him! And we can all safely say he's wanted to do just that for a while! Wasn't that fun?
I'm really enjoying this now, I love writing romance! What kind of self-respecting Alias addict wouldn't like writing about Syd and Michael falling in love and Michael knocking out her current husband?