Part Eighteen

Sydney sits on a couch in the lobby of Michael's office, thumbing through a magazine. She hopes he finishes up soon. They have plenty of time to make their plane, but she will feel a lot better once they're actually on their way to the airport.

She is halfway through reading an old issue of Entertainment Weekly when, to her surprise, Lisa Reynolds comes storming through the lobby.

"Lisa," Sydney says with surprise. "Hi. I'm so--"

She hasn't even made it halfway through the sentence when Lisa throws open the door to Michael's office. It's Saturday, so there is no secretary to try to stop her from going in there. Sydney realizes too late that she should have tried to stop her.

"You son of a bitch."

Sydney has a good view of Michael's desk from where she is sitting, and she sees Michael and Jake both look up from the files they had been poring over. "Can I help you, Lisa?" Michael asks calmly.

"You can help me by telling me who the hell you think you are," Lisa spits. "My husband works his fingers to the bone for you, he's here nights, weekends, and you can't even support him when he makes a mistake, you have to just toss him aside like he's-- he's--"

"You don't know anything about what goes on here, Lisa," Michael interrupts, still speaking in that infuriatingly calm tone of voice. "And the details of Todd's dismissal don't concern you."

Sydney winces. She would kill him if he ever condescended to her like that, she'd absolutely kill him.

Lisa doesn't handle it much better. "Don't concern me? Oh, that's right, Mr. Vaughn, I'm just his wife, I'm just supposed to keep his house clean and fix his meals and fuck him and crank out babies and keep my nose out of his business affairs, like your pretty little wife does."

Sydney can't help but gasp, wondering how the hell she became a part of this.

Her gasp earns her a quick glance from Michael; seeing that she is witnessing this seems to be the thing that finally gets him angry. "No, Lisa, I would never say that. I know that you wouldn't appreciate me pretending to know what you're supposed to do with your personal life, just as I don't appreciate you coming in here and telling me how to run my business. Call security," he tells Jake.

"No, you don't have to," Lisa says. Sydney can hear tears in her voice, and her heart sinks a little. "I'll let you dismiss me like you dismissed him. I just didn't want you to make a decision like that and think you didn't hurt anyone."

Lisa leaves with none of the bravado she stormed in with. Sydney sees the look on her face as she passes by, and all she sees is sadness, defeat, and fear. She wants to say something, but she knows that nothing she could say would possibly be enough. Instead, she waits for Lisa to get on the elevator, and then she stands with shaky legs and walks to the doorway of Michael's office.

He sees her standing there, and he shakes his head a bit regretfully. "Jake," he says, his voice quiet, unsteady. "Could you leave us alone, please?"

Jake nods. "We're done here, right? You're leaving?"

Michael looks away, biting his lower lip. "I feel like such a bastard, firing a man and then jetting off to Jamaica."

"We don't have to go, Mike," Sydney says quietly.

"No, hey, you should definitely go," Jake says hastily. "You've had this trip planned for weeks, and anyway-- you did what you had to do, Mike. You don't have to feel bad about that."

"Yeah," Michael says, his voice hollow. "Listen, thanks for coming in so early on a Saturday, Jake. Go home, okay? This-- it can wait till Monday."

Jake laughs. "Thanks, Mike, but no it can't. Todd's wife coming in here and throwing a hissy doesn't resolve the problem Reynolds caused."

Michael shakes his head. "No, I guess it doesn't."

"We don't have to go, Mike," Sydney repeats.

"No. Seriously. Go," Jake says firmly. "You shouldn't have to miss your vacation because Reynolds--"

"Yeah," Mike interrupts. "Thanks again, Jake. I'll be back in town Tuesday night, back in the office Wednesday, and you have the number to reach me if anything earth shattering happens."

"Okay," Jake says, gathering his things and starting out of the office.

"Jake?" Michael calls after him.

Jake pauses.

"Please don't call unless it's earth shattering."

"Got it," Jake says. "Have a good trip."

He leaves, and Michael looks up at Sydney from his office chair. "Do you think I'm the biggest bastard of all time?"

"No, baby," she says softly.

He offers her a shaky smile. "Then will you come here? Please?"

She moves toward him, and he pulls her onto his lap. She lets him pull her tight to him, and she rests her head against his chest.

"I love you," he says.

"I love you, too."

They sit in silence for a moment before she speaks again, hesitantly. "You know what bothered me about last night?"

She feels him tense up against her as he asks, "What?"

"The way it seemed you made the decision to fire him so quickly, so coldly."

He shakes his head. "I didn't like firing him, Sydney, I didn't. But mistakes like that-- they could cost me the firm, Sydney. Right now Todd and Lisa think I've ruined their lives, but if I lost this…" he lets the sentence trail off, but Sydney knows what he's getting at.

"You're just as scared of our perfect existence crumbling around us as I am," she realizes.

"Terrified," he whispers, pulling her closer to him. "Of losing everything I've worked so hard for, not being able to take care of you and the kids, losing you to someone who can."

"That will never happen," she says firmly.

"I know that, I do," he says. "But in my nightmares…sometimes it does."

"You have nightmares, too?"

"Sometimes."

They sit in silence for a long moment before Sydney speaks again. She wants to tell Michael that he doesn't have to be so strong for her all the time, that he can talk to her about his insecurities. Instead, she whispers, "This is life, isn't it? Trying to make something for yourself, for your family, and then doing everything you can to keep from losing it."

"Yes," he whispers, holding her tighter. "And hopefully, if you're lucky, somewhere along the way you'll find someone you really love to share it with."

She smiles, pulling away from him just enough so that she can kiss him lightly.

"Let's go to Jamaica."