The Way it Should Be
~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:
Despite the amazing-ness of the season finale, my shipper side has to write this to relieve some of the tension.
Sorry in advance if the final product turns out to be extremely unrealistic or cheesy.
As of this moment, I do not know what words will come out of my mind but I know that I have to let them come or writhe in agony until the season premiere.
LONG LIVE THE S/V LOVING!!!!!
*NOTE: despite this story, I DO believe that Vaughn stupidly did get married. ::tear::
~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:
1.
"Vaughn… why are you wearing that ring?" Her voice was soft, scared.
His heart broke despite his wonderment at seeing her again as he allowed his eyes to roam around her face again, this time making sure that he was aware of how lucky he truly was to be able to look at her. It was almost as if another person had taken control of his body as he saw his arm lifting slowly to her face.
Tears crept down and slid down to his chin in a noiseless stream as he fell onto his knees in front of her, his hands cradling her face. "Oh Syd… Sydney…" He closed his eyes as he lightly traced her cheekbones and the contours of her face.
He felt the fear coursing through her as she lifted him up, scared of why he should be on the floor. "Vaughn… what's going on?" There was wariness in her voice. It was almost as it he could hear the tears trembling in her eyes, threatening to brim and fall over at any moment.
"Oh my God Sydney… I can't believe you're here right now. I- I- you were missing. Everyone thought you were dead Sydney."
"Dead? I called headquarters."
He loved her for the confusion that sparked in her eyes and slowly allowed himself to start believing in this truth, that she was not some apparition that appeared to him as she did sometimes in the loneliest of nights. She was true and tangible and crying before him.
"Syd… you've been missing. You have been missing for almost two years."
Shock was written all over her face as she took in his words and tried to let them sink in. "T-two years?"
He closed his eyes for a moment, feeling another teardrop make its way down his cheek. "My God Sydney… I knew you couldn't be dead; I knew that you wouldn't leave me. I couldn't move on."
Chills ran up his neck as he felt her touch for the first time in two years. Her fingers lightly smoothing away his tears seemed to be more than he could take.
He caught her fingers and brought them to his lips, letting the skin of them linger on his mouth. "I wish I had told you before Syd. I wish you had been able to know during whatever you went through."
"Know what?"
"That I love you."
And that was when the truth completely sunk in and she realized the words that he was saying. The meaning of them arrested her motion and she sat still in a daze, her arms falling from his face down to her sides as they rested on the bed.
He looked up at her them, scared by her sudden lack of movement. Her eyes
were fixed on his ring, her mouth was open in a tiny "o" and all he could do
was beg her internally to look back up into his eyes.
As if that would somehow make everything alright.
"I've been gone for two years?" The question was spoken from the mouth of a dead woman- the shock had somehow taken the life from her and when she finally shook her head free, it was to look down at his left hand.
Her own hand lifted until it lay only a few inches from his own and then landed gently only on the ring, as if she was scared to touch any of his skin. As if she was afraid of him.
Lifting her head, her eyes were closed in silent suffering, hot tears finding their way under her eyelids to come out into the open and into plain view as they dropped down the sides of her face. Her next question came in a whisper. "Who is she?"
The answer swelled in his throat; it should have been so simple to say but the name lodged itself in his throat so that it constricted and he was rendered unable to speak.
Her delicate fingers left the band and returned to the mattress, clasping the metal frame with a tightness that he could not help but wonder at. She was trying, he knew, to keep a hold onto reality despite the fact that two years of her life had passed her by. The tears kept coming and she silently shook with inner sorrow.
He hated himself for being frozen, for staying on the ground on his knees like a fool merely because he still couldn't believe her eyes.
He opened his mouth tentatively, willing himself to speak the words that were for some reason so hard to say. His hands rested lightly on her for just a moment before they were jerked away from him.
And then he was only subject to the red glare of her bloodshot eyes. "Don't answer that question Vaughn. I don't want to know anymore." Her voice shook.
"Just let me ask you one thing. Why? It wasn't even two years and- how could you find someone to replace me so quickly?" Her eyes begged him to contradict her words. "How long did you search for me? How long did it take you to lose hope?"
Her gaze slid back down to her tightly clasped hands in her lap. The questions came slowly, steadily without the frenzy that should have accompanied them. "When did you find her and how long did it take you to love her?" She paused, taking a breath, and he saw the light glinting on a tear that fell from her down turned face onto the floor. "When did you decide to give up on me and marry her?"
He shook his head but his mind was still unable to form any coherent thoughts. "My God Sydney… I can't believe you're here."
Her hair flew around her head as she flung her head back up. "It's me Vaughn. Were you hoping I was still dead? Were you hoping that you would still be in the right doing what you did? Because it allowed you to love somebody else and call it moving on?"
He found his voice.
"No. Sydney, you don't understand what I'm trying to say-"
"I want to hear what you're trying to say Michael. So say it. My life is already destroyed; it has been living without me for the past two years. Everything has managed to move on and my existence in this world has become extraneous so anything you want to say, say it now. I can't think of any way I could possible be hurting more."
If he hadn't had tears brimming in his eyes already, they would have come now. He brought his hand to her cheek. "Sydney, I could never hurt you. You are… the one thing in my life that I could never see hurting for any reason."
She shook her head, her skin still in contact with his palm. "You're hurting me right now. You're just like everyone else… you've moved on. The best thing for you to do right now is to sit down at the other side of the room. As far away from me as you can. Tell me what happened to the remnants of my life and the people I used to know. And then open the door and leave; I'll be behind you."
He slid the ring off his finger and placed in into her palm.
"Michael, what are you doing? Trying to rub it in that I'm not yours anymore? That you now belong, heart body and soul, to someone else?" She looked up with tearing eyes and the expression of someone who truly was out of place in the world. "Please leave."
"Sydney-" he swallowed the lump in his throat, hating himself for the suffering he was needlessly causing her because of his own inabilities. "Sydney- I'm not married."
TBC…
Jenn is back!!! After two hellish weeks of writer's block, inspiration finally hit! *Thank goodness… I was beginning to think that Gracie (my muse) was dead*
Umm… do you want me to keep going? I do have a plot lurking around in my head so let me know if I have an audience~
Anyone reading this at all? Worth it to go on?
Danke for any feed back in advance, you guys have no idea how much support that it gives and the inspiration it spurs.
~jENnIFer
