Shattered Paradise

Chapter 6: What Started It All

Thanks for all the reviews and emails! We're almost to 100 already, can you believe it?…That was awfully sweet of you, manda bear, giving me that little bell to ring…You don't have to apologize for the long reviews, Emma and Michelle, I loved them. But the sharp stuff and the monitor? That's another matter :^D…I'm really glad you guys like this, I was afraid that you would all be so tired of reading "The Dream" that you wouldn't go anywhere near this story…Okay, for the chapter: expect the unexpected, and here we go…

He hung up the phone without even saying goodbye, and ran from his office. Weiss tried to grab him and pull him back, telling him that he had to go to this meeting, but Vaughn had damned the meeting to hell the moment those three words were spoken.

She's not here…

Screw the meeting. Screw his job even. Sydney and that baby had become everything that he lived and breathed for. Sydney's smiling face was what got him out of bed in the morning and the last thing he thought of at night. And the baby…just the thought of it, of what he and Sydney had created, catapulted him onto cloud nine.

Without those two, his wife and his child, he would have nothing to work for, nothing to live for even. He would be dead.

Vaughn got into his car and sped out onto the street. He made his way home in a flurry of blaring horns, yelled obscenities, and crude gestures; breaking more traffic violations than he dared to count, and thanking whatever God was still with him that there weren't any cops on the street.

He pulled into his driveway with screeching tires, the smell of burning rubber filling the air. Jacqueline was sitting on his front porch, talking calmly to Seth.

The little boy jumped up happily when he spotted his beloved uncle, running to him with open arms. "Uncle Mikey, Uncle Mikey, guess what?"

"Not now, Seth," Vaughn said, hurrying past him.

Seth stuck out his lower lip and toddled after Vaughn, tugging on the bottom of his shirt.

"But, Uncle Mikey…"

"Seth, no!" Vaughn turned and yelled at him, with more force and anger than he had meant to use. Seth's bottom lip quivered slightly, but he held his ground and didn't back away.

"Seth," Jacqueline said patiently, "Uncle Mikey needs you to leave him alone right now."

The little boy folded his arms across his chest and trudged unhappily to his mother. "Uncle Mikey's acting like Oscar the Grouch," he pouted.

"Listen, little man…" Jacqueline began, but Vaughn interrupted her.

"Seth, I'm sorry. I'm just worried about your Auntie Syddy and your baby cousin."

"Okay," Seth nodded, the glow of happiness returning quickly to his face, "Me too." He ran over to Vaughn and looked seriously up at him. "Why are we worried, Uncle Mikey?"

"Because we don't know where Syd is."

"Do we know where my baby cousin is?"

It was only the simple question of an innocent child, but Vaughn gritted his teeth, trying very hard not to lose his patience. "No, the baby's with Syd."

Seth nodded, his eyes becoming solemn as if he were immersed in deep thought.

"Jacky," Vaughn began, turning toward his sister. "Have you heard anything?"

"No," Jacqueline answered, shaking her head. "Nothing. We've been waiting here the whole time."

Vaughn shaded his eyes with his hands and peered into a window. The house was dark. Nothing looked amiss, at least nothing would to anyone else. Something was missing, though, the worst thing that could possibly be…

"Um, Mike?" Jacqueline asked softly, tapping his shoulder. "Why don't you open the front door. You have the key."

Without a word, Vaughn unlocked the door and they went inside.

"Syd?"

Please, Syd. Please…He was praying that this time, he wouldn't have to follow pools of blood to find her.

"Auntie Syddy? Where are you?"

"Sydney?"

They all knew that she wouldn't answer, all except for Seth that is. He looked in all the closets and underneath the couch cushions. "Maybe she's playing hide and go seek."

They searched the entire house, but as expected, their efforts proved fruitless. She was nowhere to be found. There was no note, no message, no trace of her at all.

In a last desperate attempt, Vaughn picked up the phone and dialed her cell. He held his breath as it rang: once, twice, three times and then four.

He had almost given up hope, almost hung up when the ringing suddenly stopped, and a small voice answered. "Hello?"

Maybe there was hope after all…

"Sydney?!" desperate, frightened, pleading, praying, wishing, begging…

He was answered by silence. Bitter, taunting silence. He hated silence.

He tried again, quieter this time, the hope left behind, "Syd?"

Nothing.

Seth suddenly toddled into the room. "Uncle Mikey," he said, holding something out to him. Vaughn didn't pay much attention and Seth tugged impatiently on his shirt. "There's a scary man that wants to talk to Auntie Syddy."

Clutched in his little hand was Sydney's cell phone. Dammit.

Vaughn hung the phone back on the wall, resisting the urge to slam it down, to scream and shout, to swear as he never had before. Not now. Not in front of the kid…

"Thank you," he said quietly, taking the phone from his nephew and fighting the impulse to throw it across the room, break it, smash it into a thousand pieces, grind it into dust.

Without another word, Vaughn went back outside, searching the front of the house for God knows what; a hint, a clue, piece of mind perhaps…even he didn't know.

He sat on the porch steps, his head in his hands. Jacky sat down next to him and put her arm around him. "Mike, it'll be okay…I'm sure it'll be okay."

She didn't know. She didn't have a God damn clue. As far as she was concerned, Sydney had been a banker who had just happened to have a lot of unfortunate and painful accidents. She didn't know that she had been beaten within an inch of her life, she didn't know that she had been raped. She didn't know anything.

Vaughn had tried to create a normal life for himself and Sydney, to make up for what had gone wrong before. Why was he having such bad luck? He always seemed to lose, at everything…He had taken a Chance card, hoping for Boardwalk: Go directly to jail. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200…Sorry! Back to start! And that little red piece didn't give a damn if his blue piece had been right next to the base…Tornado tilts house. Pay $125,000. And his salary was only $30,000. Shit…He was stuck in the muck right before the candy castle, all he needed was a blue square and his damn little gingerbread man would be home free…But this; this wasn't a game. This was real, and if he lost this time, he would lose everything…

Seth continued to search the front yard, still convinced that Sydney was playing a game with him. Vaughn heard his little voice float through the air, "Auntie Syddy?…Baby cousin?…" He searched every crack in the driveway and behind the all tires on Vaughn's car. "Auntie Syddy?…Auntie Syddy!"

Vaughn almost didn't catch the change in his tone. Seth's tiny feet were pounding down the driveway before it caught up with him. In a matter of seconds, his nephew's little voice had gone from questioning to triumphant.

"Seth! Stay in the…"

But Seth didn't listen to his mother, and neither did Vaughn. Both the grown man and the little boy ran through the front yard and down the sidewalk, twin pairs of emerald eyes focused on the same object…

"Syd! Oh, thank God!"

It was like an angel had fluttered down from heaven and was walking toward him. He had never seen a more beautiful sight in his entire life.

Sydney spotted them and broke into a run. Vaughn quickly overtook Seth and caught up with her, picking her up and twirling her around.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him close. "Oh, Michael…" She was almost in tears. Almost, but she wouldn't let them fall.

He kissed her cheeks, her nose, her eyelids, her forehead, everywhere that his lips could reach. It was as if he wanted to make sure she was all there. And she was. She was safe now. He had her in his arms and she hadn't been hurt, at least not physically. There was no blood, none at all. If he closed his eyes, he could see it, pooling on the ground, dripping down her face; but when he opened them, it wasn't there, and that's all that mattered.

Even if there was no blood, he knew that everything had not been right before. Something had caused her to run away, something had scared the hell out of her. And now that so much was at stake, that there was so much more to lose…

"Sydney, what the hell happened?" he whispered into her hair.

"I…I was in the nursery and there was someone outside the window, staring at me…"

Dammit. Please, say it wasn't him. Please…

"Do you know who it was?" he interrupted quietly, almost afraid to hear her answer.

"…I don't know. He ran when I turned around. But Michael, he looked so familiar. I swear, I've seen him somewhere before. I got this awful feeling…like something was going to go terribly wrong…His eyes, Michael. God, you should have seen his eyes…I've only seen one other person who looked at me like that…"

"Shhh, Syd. Everything's all right, now…"

It couldn't have been him. If it had been, he wouldn't have fled. He wouldn't have let her get away. But that didn't mean that it wasn't someone who worked for him, that didn't mean that it wasn't one of his henchmen, sent to…Now wasn't the time to think of things like that. Now wasn't the time to panic…

"Where did you go?"

"I went to the neighbor's house," she looked away, her cheeks reddening, "pretending to return the eggs that I borrowed last week…"

"Why didn't you call me?"

Why, Syd? Why? She had scared the hell out of him, if she had only called…

Her voice dropped to a whisper. "I'm so sorry, Mike. I didn't want to worry you and didn't think I'd get through to you anyway. It was stupid of me to be so scared…"

He could tell she was embarrassed. She had been, after all, Miss Kick-Ass Super Spy, and she had let a mere trespasser frighten her. Something told him, however, that their little lurker was not as innocent as he might have appeared. He had set off warning bells for both himself and Sydney, and he knew that his wife would not have run from any ordinary trespasser. There was something different about this one. She had told him that it had been in his eyes, you can always tell about someone by their eyes…

"It's okay, Syd. You don't have to apologize. I'm just so glad you're okay."

Jacqueline had caught up with Seth awhile ago, and had taken his hand in order to slow their arrival at where Sydney and Vaughn were standing. They had approached them by now and Jacky was attempting to hold the fidgeting toddler away from his aunt and uncle for a little while longer. He finally broke free from her grasp and ran over to them.

"Auntie Syddy, you didn't follow the rules," he declared, hands on his hips. "Mommy says that when you play hide and go seek you have to stay in the yard."

"I'm sorry, little man," Sydney answered, pasting that well-known smile on her face and ruffling her nephew's hair.

"I knew we'd find you, but Uncle Mikey sure was scared. He thought you hided in a spot where we'd never ever find you."

"Your Uncle Mikey can always find me," Sydney said, smiling at Vaughn. "He knows that."

Vaughn smiled back at her, wishing that what she said was true.

"Did you find my baby cousin, Auntie Syddy?" Seth asked, tugging on her arm.

Sydney nodded. "He's with me, remember?"

"Yup. Mommy said he's in your tummy," he answered, peering up curiously at Sydney. "Is he gonna be able to play with me soon?"

"In a few months, little man."

It hit him as soon as she said it. A few months and that was it, he'd be a father…

"That's a long time," Seth sighed mournfully.

"Not too long," Sydney answered, smiling down at him. "You have to be patient."

Seth seemed to think about this for a minute and then put a hand up to Sydney's stomach. "Does he have toys to play with in there?"

Sydney laughed and Jacqueline took Seth's hand. "I think it's time for us to go," she said to her son, and then turned to Sydney and gave her a hug. "I'm so glad you're safe."

"Thanks," Sydney answered, hugging her back.

"And thanks for coming over, Jacky," Vaughn said, giving his sister a peck on the cheek.

"Any time."

"Bye bye, Auntie Syddy and Uncle Mikey!"

"Bye, Seth," they answered in unison, watching the little boy as he skipped happily down the sidewalk.

Sydney and Vaughn waved to them as they left, waiting until their car was no more than a little speck on the road before finally walking back to the house. Vaughn put his arm around Sydney and turned his head to face her. The smile had left her face, and he could clearly see the fear haunting her eyes.

She felt his gaze and tilted her head towards his, giving him a small smile and trying to shake the fear from her eyes. He knew it was still there, lurking in the depths of her eyes…


Vaughn was awakened that night by a sudden movement, something jerking violently and slamming into him. His eyes snapped open and he found Sydney beside him, thrashing and whimpering in her sleep.

He put a gentle hand on her in an attempt to reassure her. But it didn't work. Her mumbles turned to whispered words, her movements becoming more fierce. "No…no…no…"

"Shhh, Syd…" He tried to quiet her, to wake her, but instead of her turning to him with open arms as he expected, her fist shot out at him, smacking him in the face, a painful reminder of her strength, even when she seemed so vulnerable.

Still asleep, but becoming more agitated by the second, Sydney sat straight up in bed, breathing heavily, whispers turning to shouts. "No! No, not again! Please not again…" she was sobbing uncontrollably now, tears streaming down her cheeks, shoulders shaking. "Please…please…please…" she was begging, pleading with him not to hurt her.

Vaughn wrapped his arms carefully around her, holding her tightly. She was struggling to get away from him, trying to break free, not from him, but from the man who was haunting her dreams.

"Sydney…Sydney, please…"

"…Don't hurt me!…Not again…not again…"

"Syd, it's me…"

"…No, not again!…The baby!…Please, not my baby…Please, no…"

"Sydney!" He was shouting now, in an attempt to be heard over her screams.

When he was beginning to become frightened, beginning to think that he would never be able to wake her, her eyes suddenly snapped open. The screams died down once she realized who really held her, but the tears persisted. She stopped struggling to get away from him, instead holding him so tightly that he almost couldn't breathe.

"Michael…Michael…" she hiccuped between sobs.

At least he was still Michael. Maybe all hadn't been lost to yesterday…

"Shhh, baby. It's all right."

…Maybe they could still pick up the pieces and put them back together…

"No, Michael. It's not all right…What if I can't do it? What if I can't protect the baby?"

"Syd, it's not just you. I'll always be there. We'll protect the baby together…"

With the events of the day, with the recurrence of her nightmares, all of her fears came crashing to the surface, every last one, going back as far as she could remember, as far as she dared. There were the fears that had been hiding in the back of her mind the moment she had been told she was pregnant, those that had been instilled in her after she had been hurt so badly, and even a few that she had held onto from before.

He listened to them all. What if I turn out like my mother? What if he tries to hurt me again? What if… He tried to reassure her, to tell her that it would be all right, but some fears were harder to rid than others. Some ghosts would haunt her forever.

Finally the tears stopped falling and she lay back, sighing, more on his side of the bed, than hers, both of them sharing his pillow. He finally let himself hope that this would be the last of it, that he had been able to quell all of her fears and uncertainties.

But awhile later, long after he thought she was asleep, she took his hand and whispered through the darkness, "Michael…I know we said that we didn't care what the sex of the baby was, just as long as it was healthy, but…I hope…I hope it's not a girl…I don't want my little girl to be hurt like I was, Michael. I don't think I could take it."

He didn't tell her that it was a cruel world, and that her little boy could be hurt just as badly. That was the truth, but it was too painful to reveal just yet.

"Syd," he murmured, brushing a light kiss against her temple. "Whether the baby's a girl or a boy, we'll take care of it, protect it, and love it like there's no tomorrow. We'll do just fine."

He couldn't see her eyes in the darkness, didn't know if she believed him. He could only hope that he was right.

She lay her head down on his shoulder and he held her tightly until her breathing steadied, and he knew that she had finally fallen asleep. But it wasn't until the sun was beginning to come up, when he finally closed his eyes; and even in his sleep, he never let her go.

And that's where it all began, on that seemingly innocent, lazy Saturday that had seemed so perfect. But somehow, things are never as they seem, as Sydney and Vaughn had already learned, but were soon to be given yet another painful lesson. The seed of fear and uncertainty had been planted in them both, and had started to grow, slowly becoming a strangling vine that choked away whatever happiness they had been able to scrape up after the incident of that day. But if they had only known that in a few months, they would have traded anything to have that gnawing, haunting fear as the worst of their troubles. If they had only known that that Saturday was not the end, but the beginning. If they had only known that that would be what started it all…

Sorry, once again, for the lack of action. I know some of you are looking for it, but I couldn't completely shatter their paradise just yet. Don't worry, the action's coming soon, I promise. We just need a little angst and drama before the really bad stuff happens…Please let me know what you think. Reviews really do help me to work quicker…