*largely dialogue*

Secrets



"I don't quite understand what you're asking of me."

The confusion was as evident in her face as the determination was in Lauren's. "I'm sick and tired and looking over at my husband and seeing him looking over at you."

Sydney furrowed her brow. "I'm not telling him to look at me and I'm not looking at him back. I can't control what Michael does and I don't see how telling you about our relationship is in any way relevant."

"When I heard that you were coming back… I felt threatened. And I hated myself for that because I sympathize what you're going through. What you lost. But no matter how much time I spend with you, no matter how much time I spend with Michael, there's always something missing and it's always the same piece that's missing. What is it with you?"

"Excuse me?" Her voice was a harsh whisper. "How can you stand here in this building and ask me what "is it with me"?"

"Because I'm not coming to you as an agent or a woman or anything else I might be classified as. I'm coming to you as a wife. I'm coming to you for answers so that I can make my life better-"

Sydney took a step closer, burning pain evident in the look in her eyes and the clenching of her jaw. "I sympathize with you in that your life is no longer as wonderful as it was before I came back. And I'm sorry that my return has given you any measure of uncomfortableness or insecurity. But I am not about to let you make me feel bad that I came back or that I'm finally beginning to make sense of what my life now is. So if your marriage is no longer as stable as it once was, I'm sorry but it is not… my fault.

"I'm not trying to win Michael back, I'm not giving him signals or feminine glances or whatever the hell you did to get him. If you want answers, you are going to have to find them yourself. Because there is no way in hell that I am going to allow you to touch my past when that's the only thing I remember. The only happiness that I can come back to.

"Ruining what's left of the memories of my relationship with Vaughn is not going to make yours better. You don't have to appreciate what kind of love we had for each other. Our story isn't so radical. It's a story of a man and a woman who were able to be together. It's about the ultimate happiness that comes from the accumulation os all the little things. It's-" she paused for a moment, feeling the tears stinging at her eyes, not knowing how to read the other woman's expression, aware herself of where she was, and wondering if she should be saying anything at all.

"I want to be civil with you. But you know that I still love Vaughn. You should also know that I will never try to break your relationship with him because I accept that the circumstances have drastically changed and it is neither your fault nor mine. But please don't ask me to divulge stories from my past with him. Don't ask me to relive my happinesses and my tears that I shared.

"And don't expect anything better with what you expected to take from me. They're my secrets and they're all I have left. Just a story. It's just a story that's now over.

"You should leave it at that."