Shattered Paradise
Chapter 5: Three Months
A/N: Thanks for all the reviews everyone. I love them, really…Welcome, crasygrl! You sure did a lot of reading…Don't worry, hugefan16, I dodged it, no bruise…Sorry, I would have had this up sooner, but when I got home from work the other day, the power was out, so I couldn't write it for awhile. It's not really worth the wait or anything, and I'm sorry about that, too. Well, here it is…
They had three months of paradise before something happened. Three months, that's all they were allowed. Three months; thirteen weeks; ninety-two days; 2,208 hours; 132,480 minutes. That's it.
By that time, Sydney was in all her beauty, beginning to show, but just barely. She seemed to be one of those women who simply became more radiant during pregnancy, but Vaughn wasn't sure if that was his own biased opinion, or what others around them saw as well. It didn't matter to him; she was and would always be the most beautiful woman he ever saw.
Three months and nothing happened. It looked as if they were finally leaving the nightmare of yesterday behind. They had been so happy, they had almost forgotten. It seemed as if they were finally allowed some joy, were finally being given a break for everything that had occurred before. They almost forgot the pain and sorrow.
Almost.
But that's when it happened, when it all came crashing back, riding on a dangerously whirling wind, complete with thunder and lightning. Those three months had just been the calm before the storm.
It was a Saturday morning. The sun was shining and the birds were singing. It was a perfect day; one made just for them.
But what woke Vaughn that morning, was not the whistling of the birds, or even the sun shining in his eyes; but a sudden crash. A magnificent clatter that made his heart leap to his throat and his eyes snap open; his head immediately turning to where Sydney should have been beside him.
But she wasn't there, of course. That would have been too easy. He sprang out of bed and ran to the source of the noise, practically skidding across the kitchen floor.
Sydney was there; thank God she was there. And he had her in his arms almost before the pan, the source of the deafening crash, had clattered to a stop on the kitchen floor. The entire kitchen was now decorated in a new edible motif: scrambled eggs.
Despite how worried he had been, the first words Vaughn spoke that morning were not, "Is everything all right?" "I'm so glad you're okay," or even, "Good morning."
Instead, he held Sydney tightly in his arms, glanced lazily around the kitchen, and muttered, "Sydney, what the hell…?"
It was early, too early to be out of bed on a Saturday morning, and she laughed at him for being so jumpy.
"Michael, go back to bed," she said, pulling free from his grasp.
He wouldn't, though.
"If I do, Syd," he said with a yawn, "you'll just throw another pan on the floor to wake me up again. What's the point?" He smiled when he said it, but she could see that he was worried; he didn't want to leave her alone even if he would just be in the other room.
She swatted him with a spatula and knelt down to clean up the eggs. "Fine, then you can help me clean up this mess."
Vaughn looked down at his smiling wife, tilted her chin up so that he could look into hr eyes, and uttered six little words that caused her eyes to light up and her irresistible smile to grow even larger. "Let's go shopping for the baby."
And so the eggs were forgotten (much to Donovan's delight), as they got ready and left, in a shower of sunshine and happiness. Surprisingly, they found a store that was open so early in the morning, and spent the next few hours blissfully shopping for their new little bundle of joy.
They arrived back home early in the afternoon and carried their bags inside. A few weeks ago, they had painted the guestroom, changing it from the dark, imposing green that had come with the house, to a light and airy blue that transformed their new nursery into a bright and cheery place. They brought their purchases in there and began the joyful task of putting everything away.
Vaughn was cutting the tags off the clothing and Sydney was folding them and placing them carefully in the dresser. She held up the third little Kings shirt that he handed her.
"Michael, what are we going to do if this baby is a girl?"
"What?" he asked, innocently. "My little girl can't be a hockey fan?"
Sydney laughed and threw a teddy bear at him.
"Besides," he shrugged, "you watch hockey games with me all the time."
"No, Mike, I don't watch hockey with you," she began, dramatically. "I sit in the room, completely forgotten, and stare at the screen until a commercial comes on and you finally find a minute to tear your eyes away…"
"Oh, come on." He rolled his eyes and threw the teddy bear back at her. She hadn't been looking at him when he threw it, but of course still managed to catch it and place it carefully back on the dresser. "It's not like that."
"Okay," she agreed, laughing and coming down to kneel on the floor in front of him. "It's not. We "watch" hockey together, but somehow never concentrate very much on the game."
"And that," he said, leaning forward and kissing her lightly, "is the best part of hockey."
"You're an embarrassment to the game, you know," she murmured, her face just inches from his, "letting your wife distract you like that…"
"Alright," he countered, leaning back and pointing to the door. "You go into the living room and turn on the TV. I'll come in, in five minutes and throw myself on top of you, and we'll see how long you can concentrate on the TV…"
"I do not throw myself on top of you," she laughed, putting her hands on her hips.
"Okay, you don't. You just sit right on top of me in some of the most suggestive positions imaginable…"
"Fine," she interrupted, smacking him playfully. "You win." She leaned forward to kiss him again, but he shook his head and looked away.
"No," he said, pushing her away and pretending to be angry. "You don't believe me. Go into the other room. I bet you won't last ten seconds when I come in."
Sydney smiled at him and left the room. A few seconds later, Vaughn heard the TV turn on. He waited for a couple minutes before getting up and tiptoeing toward the living room.
He had almost entered the room, when the phone rang. He waited in the hallway and heard Sydney answer it.
"Hello?…Oh, hi. How are you?…Fine…Yeah…Sure, hold on."
Sydney suddenly came into view, holding out the phone to him. "Mike, it's for you."
"Oh, right," he said, smiling. "You're just trying to distract me…"
"It's Eric."
"Oh…thanks." He took the phone from her and slowly brought it up to his ear. "Hello?"
"Hey, Mike, it's me."
"Eric. What's up?"
Please, please, please don't tell me that I have to come in today…
"Well, I know you're not supposed to be on today…"
"No, Eric. Absolutely not…"
"…but Devlin told me to relay to you his "request" for your presence at this emergency meeting we're holding in an hour…"
"But…"
But this was his day off. This was the time he got to spend with his wife, and they were just about to…
"Listen, Mike, he did use the word request, but I don't think it's one of those ones that you have the choice of saying no to. At least, not if you still want to have a job to be able to feed your wife and baby with."
Vaughn sighed. "Fine. I'll be there as soon as I can."
He hung up the phone and down at Sydney, guilt showing clearly in his eyes. "Syd, I…I…"
"I know," she said, cutting him off. "Go get ready. I'll be waiting on the couch for you when you come back."
He smiled and gave her two kisses, one for her and one for the baby, as had become his habit whenever he had to say goodbye to her. "I can't wait."
Vaughn arrived at the office exactly fifteen minutes before the meeting was scheduled to begin, and Weiss briefed him on the situation. Just as he was getting his things together to head up to the meeting, he got a dreadful sinking feeling. Why did he suddenly have the feeling that something had gone terribly wrong?
A chill ran down his spine as he vividly remembered the frying pan clattering through the kitchen that morning. He had woken with a start and had a feeling of such dread. He had been so sure that something awful had happened.
But he had been there then, to take care of it, to take care of her. And all that had happened was that some eggs had gone flying across the kitchen. Now, though, when something really could go wrong…
Only God knew how long this meeting would last, how long he was going to be holed up in this damn office. It could be dark by the time he finally got out, and for some reason, today he didn't want to leave Sydney alone in the dark. It was stupid he knew, Sydney was a grown woman and more than qualified to take care of herself, but…
He picked up the phone and considered calling her, but that would hardly quell the fear growing inside him. It would satisfy it for the moment, he knew, but as soon as he hung up the phone, the nagging fear would start to gnaw away at him again. He could ask her to invite someone over, but either she wouldn't do it, or would agree to it only to pacify him, not having any intention of following through with his request. So, he didn't call her; he called someone else.
After Michael left, Sydney sat down on the couch and flipped through the channels on the TV. A cooking show, cartoons, a Spanish soap opera, and a hockey game. But if Michael wasn't there to "watch" it with her, what was the point?
Sighing, she turned off the TV and stretched, her shirt pulling up over her little belly. She brought a hand to the smooth skin there. She still couldn't believe it. There was a little life growing inside there. One that she and Michael had created. A little person that was going to call her mommy and look up to her, ask her questions and color her pictures. In a matter of months, she was going to be a mother. She was going to have a baby.
She smiled and went back into the nursery. She put the rest of the clothes away and stood back in satisfaction, admiring the room.
Suddenly, she felt a strange, tingling feeling in the back of her head. The same feeling she used to get over a year ago, right before she would quickly dodge a bullet that would go whizzing past her ear, or turn just in time to deflect a near fatal blow.
She instinctively brought a hand to her stomach, as if to protect the child that was there. A feeling of terror filling her as she realized that no matter how hard she tried, no matter how much training she had had, she would never be able to protect her baby from everything.
A part of her had realized this before. The thought had been lurking in the back of her mind as soon as the doctor had told her that she was pregnant. Most people thought they knew of all the evil in the world, but they didn't; they didn't know half of it. But she knew; she knew of it all, and soon she would have a little baby that she and Michael would have to try to shelter from that evil. How the hell would they be able to do that?…
Not wanting to turn around, but knowing that she had to, Sydney finally gave in and slowly spun around the look out the window; half surprised, half expecting to see the pair of dark eyes she found staring back at her.
"Hello?"
He only then noticed that his fingers were drumming nervously on the desk. Why the hell was he so worried?
"Jacky, it's Mike. Are you busy?"
"No…"
Thank God, thank God, thank God…
"…Seth and I were just on our way home from the grocery store."
"Can you do me a favor."
"Sure. What do you want?"
"Do you think you could go stay with Syd for a few hours. I'm stuck in a meeting at work, and I don't want to leave her alone."
"Yeah. No problem…." He heard a small voice in the background, but couldn't make out the words. "…No, Seth. Uncle Mikey's busy…Sorry, Mike. But, yeah, we're near your house right now; we'll be there in a minute."
"Thanks."
"Sure. Bye."
"Bye."
He sighed. Times like this made him glad that as a child, he hadn't been able to convince his mother to give his sister up for adoption…
He tried to call his house, but Sydney didn't pick up the phone. He left a quick message on the answering machine, begging her to call him back; the sinking feeling in his stomach becoming larger with every passing second.
He decided to wait in his office for a few minutes. He was going to be late, but he didn't care. Once he was in the meeting, they wouldn't be able to reach him unless it was an absolute emergency, and he wanted to wait a few minutes to see if everything was all right, to see if Sydney would get his message and call him back…
Suddenly, his phone rang, causing him to jump from his chair.
"Syd?!" he asked quickly.
"No, Mike, it's me," the familiar voice of his sister answered.
"Oh, Jacky. How's Syd?"
Please say you found her, you're sitting with her right now drinking lemonade and catching up on the latest gossip. Please, please, please…
"Actually that's why I'm calling. She's not answering the door."
Shit. Don't panic, Michael. Don't panic…
"Jacky, is her car there?"
Maybe she had gone out to get something to eat. Maybe she had thought of something else they needed for the baby…
"Um, yeah, it is…No no, Seth…Michael, could she have gone for a walk?"
She could have. He would often come home from work to find a note on the kitchen table saying that she went out for a breath of fresh air and would be back soon…
"Yeah, then she would have taken…" But just as he was starting to comfort himself with the fact, he heard Donovan barking in the background, scratching against the door. "…Never mind." Well, that meant sleeping was out, too; nobody could sleep with that damn dog barking.
Jacqueline was speaking again, but he wasn't paying attention. "What?"
"I asked if you had a key hidden somewhere, so we could..."
A key, hidden away under the doormat or in the mailbox, like any normal family would have. The problem was, they hadn't been a normal family; hadn't led normal lives. A key hidden under the doormat seemed more a threat than something that might be helpful. If he or Sydney had been locked out of the house, it honestly wouldn't take them more than a few minutes to find some way in. It would probably take Syd more time to find the key than…
"Mike?"
"What?…Um, no. We don't."
"Okay, Mike…Seth, stop…I've knocked on all the doors and looked in all the windows…She's not here…"
He had known it the minute his sister had called, but it hadn't let himself believe it.
She's not here.
Those three words repeated over and over in his head. The voice taunting him, starting out slowly, but quickly speeding up to the pitch of some psychotic cartoon character…
She's not here. She's not here; she's not here; she's not here, she's not here, she's nothereshesnothereshesnotherenotherenotherenothere…
Laughter, cruel and high and taunting, ringing in his ears. She's not here, that's all folks. Damn cartoons…
"Mike?…Mike?…"
And three months of paradise slowly began to crumble away.
Thanks for reading, and please review. I don't get home from work till 6 today :( and some nice reviews will really make my day…There were a few questions about Syd's reaction to her pregnancy, and I dealt a little bit with that here, but there'll be more next chapter, I promise…Hopefully it's getting at least a little more interesting now. With any luck, the next chapter should be up soon…