Two Years Ago

Chapter 2

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"Hey man." Vaughn heard a friendly voice and turned to see his best friend in the doorway of Sydney's hospital room.

"Weiss! Oh man, thanks for coming."

"How's our girl doing?"

"Hanging in there. She hasn't woken up yet."

"Well it's only been a couple hours, right? She'll pull through. You staying here all night?"

"You bet I am. If she does wake up, I want to be here!"

"Well I'll keep you company for a little, but I can't stay here all night..."

"I know, that's okay. I really do appreciate you coming."

Weiss pulled up a chair next to Vaughn at his position by Sydney's bed. He laid a hand on Vaughn's shoulder. "So what happened?"

"Well, I don't know much. She's gotta be the only one that knows. Did you see her house?"

"Yeah. There's a crew there now doing an initial analysis. 2 bodies."

"2 bodies? Will?" Vaughn's attention is focused on Weiss.

"Will and Francie both. Francie was confirmed dead at the scene, but they brought Will in for testing...might be able to save him."

"Maybe I should go see him...is he awake?"

"Dunno. When they brought him in he was unconscious."

Vaughn nodded, trying to take this all in. He rubbed his forehead. Weiss started to get up.

"I'm gonna go see if I can find someone who knows something more, okay? Or would you rather I stay here with you?"

"No, that's fine. I'll be okay in here. Just let me know if you find something more out?"

"You bet. You'll be the first to know...well, you know, unless I run into someone like, oh I don't know, Jack Bristow, and he threatens bodily harm unless I tell him everything I know. Not like that would ever happen, but you know, I'm just covering my options."

This drew a chuckle out of Vaughn. "Thanks Eric."

Vaughn turned his attention back to Sydney as Weiss left. He stroked her arm softly and stopped to pick up her hand again. "Please wake up, Syd...please..."

He turned his chair slightly and rested his head on his own arms so he could still watch her. *Even this beat up, she's still so beautiful to me. What an amazing woman. I know I am in love with her. Probably have been almost the whole time I've known her. We finally got a chance with one another, should've known we weren't out of danger yet. If she doesn't make it through this, how am I going to go on without her? I should have been there to protect her. She'd hate me for saying that, she doesn't think she needs protecting, but if I'd only been there, I could have helped her. I can't even imagine what happened in there! Wow, I'm lucky she's even alive...*

Vaughn's thoughts soon faded into nothing but unremembered dreams until he stirred a few hours later. He checked his watch: 3 am. *We would've been in Santa Barbara by now.* He frowned as he thought of what they had planned, what they were going to miss out on. His frown disappeared though as he felt a slight movement.

"Syd," he whispered. He sees her eyes flutter, and called her name again, hoping to catch her awake. He watched her as her eyes blinked a few times, fighting to stay open and take in her surroundings.

"Michael..." His heart leapt at the sound of her soft voice. He wrapped both of his hands around hers and smiled at her.

"Hi. How are you feeling?"

She gave him a small smile before closing her eyes again, but she didn't black out.

"Awful. Francie..."

"She's dead, sweetheart." Vaughn reached up to brush her cheek with his fingers.

Sydney nodded her head slightly. "I thought so. I shot her twice."

Vaughn's eyebrows flew up. "What? You shot her?"

"It wasn't her, she was the double. She tried to kill me. She got Will."

Vaughn's mind reeled at this new information. "Oh my gosh, Syd..."

Sydney opened her eyes again and looked at the man beside her. "Vaughn? Am I going to be okay? Am I going to live? What about our trip, I'm sorry I ruined it for us."

"Shh, don't say that. You're going to be just fine. Soon enough, and then we can reschedule our trip. Don't worry about that." They heard a quiet knock on the door and looked to see a woman in the doorway. Vaughn leaned forward and kissed Sydney softly. "You let the doctor take care of you now. I'll be right here, I promise."

***TBC...

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