A/N: thanks to Demon and rin for betaing...
Huge thanks to Lor, Brynne, and valley-girl2 for reviewing. I'm late for class so, I promise I'll reply tomorrow ;) thanks again!
Chapter 10
August 03, 2005
Los Angeles, CA
Sydney's and Vaughn's House
2:14
She's still warm. She's still warm. Her temperature's still dropping fast. Too fast.
How long has she been…gone?
Think rationally.
Think, Vaughn. Think.
There's a 15-minute opening before you can't revive someone.
How long has she been gone?
It doesn't matter. She's coming back. She is. She has to. [Why did I leave her?]
Think. There's no pulse. There's no breath.
[This is all my fault.]
CPR.
Vaughn lifted Sydney off their bed. Onto the floor. She's going to lose body heat faster. She's so light. [What have I done?]
Methodically, with practiced moves, he tilted her head back to open her airway. She's still not breathing. Pinching her nose, he gave her 2 full breaths. Still no breaths and still no pulse. Placing the heel of his hand on her sternum, he laced his other hand right on top of the first. And he started the chest compressions. Oh my god. I'm hurting her… but I need to save her. Please come back Syd. You have to come back. To me. After 15 chest compressions he gave her 5 breaths. He kept going. Refusing to stop. He had to save her. He had to. There would be no reason to keep going if she left. The only solution would be to join her then. Scary how similar Syd's and his reasoning was. Need to check if there's a pulse.
Still no pulse. How many minutes have gone already? His mind was crying out. Tears were showering onto her face, neck, chest.
I still need to continue. Continue. She can't leave me.
He was getting tired. But he couldn't give up. Not on her. Never on her.
"Syd. Please. Don't leave me."
And he persevered. Until he heard the heard a noise that made warmth swarm into his heart.
She had coughed.
She was breathing on her own.
She's alive again. She came back.
Her eyelashes fluttered. Her liquid brown eyes came into view. Tears blurred her sight.
"Vaughn?"
She can't remember me after this, he thought sadly. He couldn't allow her to be put in danger.
"Vaughn?" she repeated.
"Yeah Syd?" his voice was drenched in relief and tears. Relief that she was now relatively safe. In tears because he couldn't imagine that his love would do something like this.
"Am I going to go with you now? To where you are?" her voice filled with innocence and love.
He was starting to choke up. Hearing her talk about how much she wanted to be with him was agonizing. Forcing her to go through life by herself, he didn't want to do his mission anymore. He wanted to stay home, with her. Get married, have children. Live in love forever.
"No. I can't let you do this to yourself."
"Vaughn. I want to be with you though."
"Syd. You can't do this to yourself. I will always be here. Remember? Guardian Angel?" he was starting to yell. He felt himself getting angry. Angry at her for doing this. Angry at the fact that he could have been too late. Angry at himself for leaving her. Angry at himself for not always being there.
"Vaughn? Don't be mad at me. I'm going to be with you soon. I love you too much," she was smiling.
How could she be smiling? What have I missed? And one word echoed back. Poison.
Shit. How could I have forgotten? The toxins are still in her system. She could be gone again any second.
What can I do? The hospital is too far away. Milk is contraindicated. It'll delay the emetic actions of the Ipecac.
Ipecac.
"Syd. Stay with me. I'll be right back." Slowly, he scoops her back onto the bed, and then ran off to the bathroom, calling 911 on the way.
flashback
"Syd, are you sure you want to babysit a 9 month old?"
"Yeah. It'll be good practice," she answered teasingly.
"Practice for what, love?"
"Our baby of course. What else would I be talking about, silly?"
He stopped eating his cereal. They hadn't talked about children yet, or marriage as a matter of fact.
"Really Syd?" his tone serious, all traces of jesting gone.
"Really."
That one word brightened his day. It told him that she was committed. That it was a lifelong thing. Definitely not a fling. That one day, they would have a family. Emotions rushed through him: happiness, joy, excitement, love, rapture.
"I love you, Syd."
"I love you too Vaughn." Still 'Vaughn' I see. Well… at least it's different in bed.
"But a baby?"
"Yes. A baby." Her face was alight.
The breakfast table is definitely not the setting for this type of conversation. Maybe more like the bedroom…
"How many do you want?"
"Vaughn…"
"Humor me Syd."
"Fine, 2. A boy and a girl. Both have your green eyes. One blonde, preferably the boy. And the other has my brown hair. Your turn."
"Syd… I've never really thought about it. I've never considered spending my life with any other woman, and you're the first. I was afraid that you wouldn't want something like that. I was even afraid to entertain the thought. If you were to reject me one day… I just didn't want another hope to crash down on me if you were to leave one day. I don't think I could stand that."
"Michael, I would never leave. You know that."
"A baby? Our own baby?"
"Yeah. Our own baby. One day. But we have to practice first!"
"Syd, it's still early… 7 am to be exact. It's Saturday. The baby won't be coming until around 9 am… we can practice something else you know…" he said in a suggestive tone.
They were struggling to put on their clothes when the doorbell rang at 9:03.
They were lying in bed, curled around each other—her head on his chest; his face buried in her hair. Then the door bell rang.
"Sydney! The door. The baby's here!"
"No more practicing?" she asked meekly.
"Not until tonight that is," he replied with a wink.
They hurriedly put on their clothes that littered their hallway. Half struggling to put on their pants, half falling over each other. Laughter permeated the air, tainting it with happiness.
Vaughn opened the door to their neighbors. Their appearances were already haggard at nine AM. A baby boy was clutching his mother. Little fists balled up in her auburn hair.
"Hey Michael," the father said. "Thank you so much for looking after little Mark here."
"It's no problem Austin. Really. It's no problem at all. Sydney and I would love to have the little guy over," Vaughn said.
"We really need to get going. The wedding is supposed to start in half an hour and we're running a little late," Austin told Vaughn. He completely ignored Sydney, pretending that she wasn't there. Turning to his wife, he said, "Dana, come on. Give Mark to them already. We gotta go. Come on. Hurry up."
Dana timidly handed Mark to Sydney. The nine-month-old immediately started to cry. Sydney patted him on the back and whispered words of comfort. Vaughn watched with awe. It was the first time he'd seen her with a baby in her arms. He saw the motherly attitude and immediately knew that she'd be a great mother one day. He kept looking back and forth between the two, enraptured by the scene playing out in front of him.
Obviously not knowing that they were interrupting a tender moment, Dana started to lay down the rules, "We'll be back around 3 PM to pick him up. He needs to be fed every four hours. The last time he was fed was at 8AM. His diapers are in this bag as his is baby food." Suddenly, a baby bag was shoved into Vaughn's arms. "If he wants a bottle, give it to him otherwise he'll whine until you do. And his pacifier is also in there. He's teething again so he'll be drooling all the time. And he needs a nap from 11 to 12:30. His toys, video, and blanket are also in the baby bag."
Vaughn looked relieved that there was no more information he needed. "Alright. It looks like we're going to be having a great time."
"Dana, we really need to go," Austin complained. "Bye Michael. Thanks again." He was still dragging his wife by the arm when Vaughn closed the door.
He turned to Sydney. "Well, they looked awfully eager to hand little Mark over."
"Yeah. I'm actually glad we have him. He must hate it if his father acts like that," Sydney said, still mad at the way Austin had treated her.
"I noticed that. But you know what took all my attention away?"
"What?"
"The thought that one day, you'll be holding our baby in your arms." He then leaned over to kiss her.
Before their lips could touch however, Sydney felt a harsh tug on her hair. The baby didn't like to be ignored. Sighing, Vaughn mouthed the word 'later.'
Addressing the baby, Vaughn said, "Hey little man, do you want to go play?"
Sydney put the Mark on the floor. He sat up and looked around curiously. He toppled over forward, and Sydney was about to reach for him when she realized that he wanted to crawl. He instantaneously went towards Vaughn and reached for his face. Vaughn went down on his knees and let the baby explore his face. Mark tugged at Vaughn's hair, pulling at it until it stuck up at many different angles. His little hand then landed on Vaughn's 5 o'clock shadow and rubbed his hand against it. Mark smiled, proud of Vaughn's makeover. By then, Sydney was sitting down watching the interaction between the two of them. She grinned when she saw beautiful green eyes look up at her.
Just then, the doorbell rang again.
"I'll get it."
"Thanks Syd. This little man and I are gonna play some peek-a-boo."
She opened the door to the neighbors again. This time, they were sweating just by running the short distance from their car to the door.
Huffing and puffing, Dana took out a small bottle. "It's Ipecac."
"What?"
Rolling her eyes, she explained, "Ipecac. It's that liquid thing that induces vomiting?" Seeing Sydney's blank stare, she rolled her eyes. "You know how babies are curious?" Without waiting for an answer, she hurried on, "Well, this syrup makes them vomit within 20 minutes. It irritates their gastrointestinal mucosa. Basically, it gets rid of the poison."
"Okay. I'll make sure he doesn't put anything in his mouth."
"You better make sure, missy. Otherwise you're gonna have a lawsuit waiting for you," Austin said in a snobby tone. "Where is the baby now anyway?"
"He's with Michael in the living room. They're playing peek-a-boo," Sydney replied, biting back an angry retort.
"I see," Austin said in a disapproving voice.
"Well then. Is that all? Aren't you late for that wedding you're supposed to attend?"
"Yeah. We are. But thanks to Dana's forgetfulness, we had to come back here," Austin said, glaring at Dana. Dana was suddenly interested in the invisible dirt on her shoes. "We'll be leaving now."
Refusing to show them how angry she was, she closed the door gently behind them.
Walking into the living room, Sydney showed Vaughn the little bottle.
"What's that?"
"Apparently our good neighbors don't trust us. It's Ipecac."
"Oh. So they think little Markie here will swallow something bad."
"Yeah. But we won't let him, will we?"
"Nope," Vaughn said as he leaned in for a kiss.
End flashback
The Ipecac was still in the medicine cabinet. They had forgotten to give it back to the neighbors after their babysitting adventure. Grabbing the bottle, Vaughn ran back to Sydney's side.
Damn it. How much am I supposed to give her?
"Vaughn, what are you doing?" Sydney asked in a trembling voice that reminded him of a lost eight-year-old girl.
Opening the bottle, Vaughn said, "Syd, I need you to drink some of this."
"No. I wanna be with you," Sydney retorted, shaking her head furiously.
"Syd. Please. This is the only way. We'll be together soon, but just not right now. It's not your time. Please. Drink it."
Tilting her head back, Vaughn forced her to drink half the bottle.
Coughing and choking, she heard Vaughn whisper, "You're going to live. You're gonna be all right. You're going to live. Shh… Syd. Je t'aime, mon amour, je t'aime."
In the distance, the sound of an ambulance could be heard. Its sirens penetrated the sound of nearby traffic, of laughter, of children.
"You're gonna be all right," and with that, he laid her back down on the pillow, kissed her forehead, and sheltered himself into the darkness. When Sydney blinked, he was gone.
~tbc~