Title: Fade to Black
Author: Carrie
Rating: PG/PG-13
Summary: Post season finale "The Telling." My take on what happens. Going to be a short series (hopefully).
~~**~~__~~**~~__~~**~~__~~**~~
Vaughn slowly creaked open the door, not knowing what to expect. Almost immediately, she was in his arms. Sydney was in his arms, shaking, crying, holding onto him for dear life. He didn't know how to deal with this, but he knew that if he didn't do it soon, he'd lose his nerve. He pulled away from her a little, and she immediately began speaking.
"They doubled Francie." She said quickly.
"I know." He replied, looking at the floor.
"What happened to Will? To Francie? Are they dead?" she asked, her questions coming like rapid fire.
"Will's okay," Vaughn answered.
"What? How?" she asked. He could read the confusion on her face, and knew that she had no idea what had happened.
"You—" He paused. "Sit down," he suggested softly. She sat down on the bed, and he sat opposite from her. He just stared at her, not knowing what to make of this situation. Not knowing if she was real, what had happened to her, or how to tell her everything he had to.
His intense stare was starting to irk her. "Vaughn?" she asked hesitantly.
"We thought you were dead," he said. She could tell that he was starting to lose his well-practiced composure. "They asked me to come back to…to explain."
"Come back from what? What are you talking about?" she asked. She was so confused and just wanted a straight answer. Vaughn brought his hand up to his forehead rubbed it, before bringing it down again. She saw it immediately. The ring. Just seeing it made her heart plummet into her stomach. "Vaughn…why are you wearing that ring?" she asked, terrified of the answer.
Vaughn could barely register what she was talking about. He realized that he'd been so stunned that he'd forgotten to take the ring off. He decided that he didn't want to get into that now, didn't want to explain. "Syd, since that night…you were missing…" Vaughn's eyes began to burn as he dredged up that memory. He could feel his eyes fill with water and his vision go blurry. He hated the shake that was in his voice. He willed himself to continue and look up at her. "You've been missing for almost two years." He finished. He looked back down at his feet, not able to bear the look on her face.
She was shocked. Utterly and completely dumbfounded. Two years. Two years of her life gone, and she didn't even remember. "Two years?" she asked, barely above a whisper. Vaughn nodded, still looking at his feet. So many questions were running through her head. Where has she been? How did Will live? Where is her mother? Sloane? Where did Vaughn come back from? How is he married? The last one stuck out particularly in her mind. She couldn't bear to be around him anymore. She needed him gone.
"I want to be alone right now." She said harshly.
"What? No, Syd, I think we should talk." He said. He needed to explain, as hard as that may be.
"Please, Vaughn, leave me alone." She begged. The pain in her voice destroyed him, and he solemnly walked out of the room.
As soon as the door shut, Sydney fell to the floor, unable to control her sobs. 'This isn't happening,' she kept telling herself. 'It can't be true.'
She thought back to everything she could remember before she woke up in Hong Kong. She remembered shooting 'Francie,' fighting her, finding Will in the bathtub. She remembered her last words to her mother on the roof of the building in Mexico.
"Get off the ledge!" Sydney shouted.
"I'll tell you what you need to know." Irina responded.
"Get off the ledge now!" Sydney said more forcefully.
"Sloane believes that he's been chosen to realize the word of Rambaldi. But you too have been chosen." Her mother said, a crazed look to her.
"If you think I'm bluffing…" Sydney warned.
"It's you in the prophesy Sydney, not me. Only you can stop him. Good Luck sweetheart." Irina said.
"Get down now!" Sydney said again.
"I love you." Those were Irina's last words before jumping off the building.
She couldn't believe that that had been two years ago. It seemed like only a few days ago. She remembered getting the message from Will, telling her that Francie was a double.
"Sydney, it's me. Listen, this is going to sound insane, but just listen. I just found Provacillium in the bathroom and I think that—I think that—Just think about it. I think that the double is Franc--."
Sydney felt tears form in her eyes as she thought about her last conversation with Vaughn.
"So I did it." He said.
"Did what?"
"I booked the hotel." He said smiling.
"No you didn't."
"Yes I did."
"Santa Barbara?" she asked.
"Three nights, starting tonight. I mean it was probably the greatest phone call I ever made." He said.
"You're a genius." She said, leaning over to kiss him.
"Thank you." He said before capturing her mouth in a kiss.
"So after the debrief, I'll come pick you up."
"Okay." She was all smiles as she walked out of the car.
Sydney wondered when Vaughn came back to pick her up, and what he found when he got there.
She was exhausted just from thinking about all these things. Before she knew it, her world faded to black again.
~~**~~__~~**~~__~~**~~__~~**~~
Sydney awoke to a soft knocking on her door. She sat up slowly from her position on the floor and took a moment to assess her surroundings. All of the sudden all of the events from the night before hit her like a truck. She could barely breathe as she stood up, choking on her own air. She opened the door and saw the same man that had escorted her to her room the night before.
"Yes?" she asked, her voice hoarse from crying.
"Mr. Tippen is here to see you," the man said.
Sydney perked up immediately. "Thank you," she said, "please send him in." The man nodded and took a few steps down the hall. Sydney peered around the corner and saw the man motioning for Will to go into the room. A few feet behind them, Sydney saw Vaughn sitting in a chair against the far wall. He began to turn his head toward her direction and Sydney quickly ducked back inside the room, still not ready to deal with him. She sat back down on her bed and waited for Will.
He entered the room slowly, much as Vaughn had, and Sydney immediately ran into his arms, hoping that he still didn't think that she'd ruined his life. She was relieved when she felt his arms go around her back and envelope her in a hug.
"I can't believe you're real." He said softly, still holding her.
She pulled back from their hug and looked at him. "How did you—? I thought you were dead." She said.
"We all thought you were dead too," he said, then reverting back to her question, he replied, "I don't really know what happened that night. It's all so blurry now. After I called you, I stepped out of the bathroom and Francie—Allison—attacked me. She stabbed me. When I woke up, I was in a hospital bed. Apparently Vaughn came in and found me and took me to the hospital." Will said. He could see the question in her eyes. "You weren't there when he came." Will answered, looking down.
"What's happened the last two years. To you, to my mom, my dad, Sloane…" she trailed off.
"Vaughn?" Will asked.
"I already know what I need to know about that." She answered harshly, not sure where all the anger was coming from.
Will maneuvered her over to the bed and sat her down. "I don't think you do." Will told her. "And I think you should be talking to him right now."
Sydney began to protest, but Will cut her off. "Please." Will asked. Sydney reluctantly nodded.
"Okay." She replied.
~~**~~__~~**~~__~~**~~__~~**~~
Okay, let me know what you think (please). I've got a lot of (hopefully) good ideas coming, so I hope I'll be able to get them out there. I know this was kind of a nothing chapter, really just recap, but I felt I kind of had to establish how everyone was feeling…hope you all didn't mind. Thanks for reading and please review! - Carrie