A/N: thanks for waiting so long for an update. thanks to angel and rin for betaing.
Thank you to:
S@nd: lol… I'm addicted to Prevert's poems! I first started with (and since I can't remember the title right now… I'll start with the stanza) "deux et deux quatre, quatre et quatre seize, repetez dit le maitre…." Hehe… what fun! Me, speak French?! Err… no. I had a really really strict French teacher freshman and sophomore year in high school, but it was my junior high school French teacher who got me hooked on Prevert… and actually, yes I did know you were French because I've been reading your fic ;) and just haven't reviewed… ::starts whistling:: hehe. Thanks for reading!
valley-girl2 (for 2!): lol… I was dead tired yesterday too… which is why this fic is probably going to up later than usual (it's currently 6:36 in the morning and I usually upload it at midnight…) hehe… you know what? I actually don't remember what I wrote… maybe one day, I'll go back and reread it all… ;) nap time? Sorry it made you tired… I can definitely tell you that getting tired has never been a symptom of this fic before. And thanks for the 2nd review as well!
Brynne: well… he could be there as a ghost right? Because the title of this fic is "wraith" which means phantom or ghost… lol, French is a great language to learn, ya just have to embrace all those… tenses… and not want to beat your teacher over the head with a stick ;)
Chapter 6
February 14, 2005
Los Angeles, California
Ops Center
7:43 am
Sydney had had a horrible night. She had not been able to really sleep, but rather, just drift. And when she did drift, there was one image that was continuously suspended in her mind. The same one every time she closed her eyes. It was of a darkened angel, always in the shadows, surrounded by fog. She had never been able to see its face nor distinguish which gender it was.
"Hey, Sydney, wait up!"
"Good morning, Weiss. How are you doing?"
"I'm okay actually. I just dropped by to tell you that there is a meeting in…" his voice dragging the syllable out as he checked his watch for the time. "In 15 minutes."
"Oh okay. I'll be there soon. I just needed to grab a cup of coffee."
"Before you go again… Sydney… I know this is something that you really want to do, but are you sure you want to go back to field duty?"
Her knuckles were white as she clenched the surface of her desk. She took a deep breath. "Weiss, this is something I need to do. I need to keep my mind off… Vaughn…" She sometimes still had problems speaking his name. The sounds always got lodged in her throat. "I can't continue thinking about him day and night anymore. I still have responsibilities in this life."
There was a moment of awkward silence.
Seeing that Sydney was getting uncomfortable with the situation, Weiss steered the conversation to a safer topic. "Ya wanna here this new joke I got over the internet?"
"Weiss… not now… please."
He didn't understand why she was still in such a depression. He was already over Vaughn's death, as hard as it was to pick up and move on after losing his best friend. Sure, they had been serious, but it wasn't as if he had proposed to her yet… although he knew that Vaughn was going to before he died. Ever since Vaughn died, Sydney had been acting oddly. Everyone knew, it was no secret. On some days, she was depressed, immersed in her despair. And yet, sometimes she would be joyful and happy. Her mood swings were never predictable. They were sporadic, never following a definite pattern.
It was queer though. She had been able to compartmentalize after Danny's death, pack up, and move on within a matter of months. Vaughn on the other hand… she was still hanging on to him… as if one day he would come back and take her away. She had to realize that Vaughn was not going to come back. He was going to make her understand. If only for her sanity. His mind was going in different directions, trying to come up with a plan to make her see the reality.
"Oh, I forgot! Sarah and I were wondering if you would like to join us for dinner tonight…" Sydney glanced down and saw the new wedding ring on his finger. They had been married for less than a month and he was clearly enjoying the married life. It reminded her of her own ring tucked under her shirt. She caught her attention veering and tuned back in to hear Weiss say, "…just a dinner between friends; today being Valentine's Day and all…we didn't want you to be alone."
Sydney had completely forgotten. February 14. Valentine's Day. Roses. A dozen. It had always been a dozen.
"Sydney? Hello?"
Except Sydney was already in a dreamland all her own. Surrounded by good memories and bad. All swirling together, and then crashing down.
Je t'aime toujours. Je veux. Je désire. Je souhaite. J'espère. Vous êtes mon ange, mon amour pour eternité.
She was forgetting what his face looked like when he said those words of endearment to her. She was forgetting his voice when he said those words. What she remembered was the feel of the happiness and love she felt whenever she saw him or was with him. And it was only then that she had ever been really happy. Truly happy. The memory of his bloody body was still fresh in her mind even after over half a year, carrying with it the reminder that she would never be happy again. Never happy to that degree again. Never to the edge of parfait again.
Tears flooded down her cheeks. Encompassing her life, drowning her.
In the back of her mind, she could hear Weiss swearing. "I knew I shouldn't have brought it up. I knew it."
She heard him flip open his cell phone. "Jack, this is Eric Weiss. You need to get here right away. Sydney…"
And the rest was muffled as she caved into the comforting darkness.
~*~*~
Date: unknown.
Place: unknown.
Time: unknown.
The darkness was shrouded with mystery. If she squinted enough, she could see the fog around her. And gradually, she was able to see clearer and clearer. She was in a dense forest, the foliage glazed over with moisture. No, it's not moisture… it's ice… sleeted ice. Even though she was beset by ice, she was warm. Not the tepidness that's produced by a heater; it was the type of warm induced by the sun- the carefree, happy, loving warmth.
For the first time in a long time, she felt her body relax, giving into the hands of the light.
Suddenly, she heard a voice. It was amplified as if over a loud speaker. One so familiar. One she thought she had forgotten.
~*~*~
February 14, 2005
Los Angeles, California
Hospital
8:13 am
"What did the doctors say?" Weiss looked at the shadow of a father, bent over his daughter, his strength ebbing away.
"The doctors? They don't even know what the hell is wrong with her. There is nothing wrong with her!"
They both stared at the body on the linen sheets.
"She just needs to wake up."
~*~*~
Date: unknown
Place: unknown
Time: unknown
Sydney…
And she drew closer into the darkness.