A/N: So it took me like, what two months to get the first chapter out? And now three days later I'm sitting here punching out the next one? Well it seems as though my muse, who had been on a vacation, has come back and won't seem to shut up (haha Jennifer…I still need a name!!)! I've completed this chapter as well as a one parter I'm trying out for the CM challenge which will be up later in the week.
I'd like to thank you all for your lovely reviews. I was so pleased to get such a good response for the last chapter; I can only hope you all enjoy my venture into angst-ville for here is where the fun begins. At the end of this chapter, you may want to hit me, but this was something I thought of and I really want to run with it. I have all of these thoughts about how I'm going to do it and… well I'm excited.
So here's chapter two. I want to thank you again for the reviews, especially…
thesheeplover – who went back and read all of the prequels. It always makes me smile when I see that people are taking the time to read my stuff. Glad you could join us!
And for Jennifer – who wrote an amazing chapter to AUS this week and gave me a huge reception to the first chapter, including telling me that she HAD to be the first reviewer.
And just a little side note to Lainie, yes I am SAG over at SD-1.
Ch. 2 A Promise Broken
"Today was nice." Sydney smiled as she unlocked the front door, struggling under the weight of a sleeping Evelyn. "I missed being able to spend time with them like that."
"Yeah, I did too." Vaughn smiled as they made their way inside the house, Bella asleep in his arms as Danny trudged in behind them. "I'm really glad Eric was transferred back here."
"Me too." Sydney smiled as she placed her keys on the counter and made her way up the stairs, pushing Danny along in front of her, Vaughn and Bella behind them.
They made their way up to the bedrooms, Danny barely able to keep his eyes open. They had all spent the day helping Weiss and Francie move into their new home and were all exhausted. Sydney tousled Danny's hair as he peeled off into his room to change while she and Vaughn placed their sleeping daughters in bed.
"I'm glad you thought to bring pjs for them." Vaughn whispered as he deposited the 4 year old into bed. "Made this a lot easier."
"Mmm." Sydney smiled as she tucked in Evelyn and turned out the light. "I knew they would be exhausted by the end of the day." She smiled as she closed the door.
They went into Danny's room to find him sitting on his bed in his pjs, yawning. "Night, sweetheart." Sydney called as she walked over to him and kissed him softly on the head.
"Night mom." Danny mumbled through a yawn.
"Get some sleep." Vaughn smiled as he tousled his son's hair affectionately. "We'll see you in the morning."
"Uh-huh." Danny mumbled as his head hit the pillows; he was out cold before Sydney and Vaughn even shut the door.
Sydney laughed as they made their way back down stairs and collapsed into the couch. "We are never telling anyone that we'll help them move, again." Sydney smiled as she flipped off her sneakers and brought her feet up under her.
"We already told Will and Lucy that we'd help them with the nursery." Vaughn reminded her only to receive a groan in reply.
"I'm sick of being a good friend." She whined as Vaughn laughed softly. "They owe us major babysitting time."
"Well, maybe in a few weeks we'll have Eric and Francie take the kids for the weekend and we'll head up to Lake Tahoe."
"That sounds nice." Sydney yawned as she leaned against Vaughn.
"Come on, Sleepy. Let's go to bed." He smiled as he stood and held out his hand to her.
"Sleepy? What am I, a dwarf?" She smiled as she took his hand and stood up.
"Would you rather be Bedtime Bear?" Vaughn asked with a smirk.
"Yes, actually, I would. I would much rather be a Care-Bear than a dwarf, thank you very much." She smiled as he pulled her along behind him up the stairs and into their bedroom.
"You are one in a million, you know that?" Vaughn glanced at her as they changed for bed.
"That's what they tell me." She smiled as she slipped between the sheets.
Vaughn crawled in behind her, chuckling, and wrapped his arms around her as she snuggled up against him. "So Lake Tahoe?" She asked him sleepily.
"Yeah, why not? You, me, the mountains, no kids, it could be fun." He whispered into her ear.
"Let's do it." She whispered back softly.
"Yeah, lets." He smiled and kissed her neck before closing his eyes.
He turned over and reached out for her, but was met with only an empty pillow. Vaughn slowly opened his eyes to find Sydney had already gotten up and glancing at the clock, he wasn't surprised. He went down stairs to find Danny and Bella, still in their pjs, engrossed in a morning cartoon. Vaughn smiled as he walked past them and into the kitchen where Sydney was busy making breakfast while Evelyn made a mess in the corner as she ate.
He walked over to the coffee pot and poured himself a cup as Sydney moved around the room, engrossed in both the preparation of breakfast and the conversation she was having with the other person on the phone.
"No, I totally understand…Yeah that shouldn't be a problem…no, no…yeah, he just got up." She turned and smiled at Vaughn as he sipped his coffee. "Yeah, I'll talk to him about it…Ok. Give my love to Dad…you too…bye." She was all smiles as she hung up the phone and clicked off the stove. "Morning." She turned and kissed Vaughn lightly.
"Morning. That your mom?" He asked and nodded towards the phone.
"Yeah. She wants to get together next weekend."
"What day?"
"Sunday, I figured that wouldn't be a problem." She pulled out several plates and placed them on the table as she began dishing out breakfast.
"Hmm." He mused as he began to walk out of the room.
"That's ok, right?"
"Hmm." Was all she got in response as he walked back upstairs to get dressed.
The rest of the day, Vaughn was incredibly reserved. He barely spoke at all and when he did it was in short phrases. By 4 in the afternoon, Sydney had become annoyed extensively with his attitude and behavior and after Danny and Bella had been left for friend's houses and Evelyn had been taken by Will and Lucy ('getting-ready-for-baby-Tippin-training') she pulled him into the living room and sat him down.
The weather outside seemed to parallel her emotions as it began to rain, softly at first, but increasingly heavier. "What the hell is going on with you?" She asked as she stood in front of him.
"What are you talking about?"
"Don't pull that with me, Michael. You've been distant and quiet all day and I want to know why." Her voice was strong but pleading as she looked at him.
"I don't want to talk about it." He spoke softly.
"Well that's just too damn bad, because I do. What the hell is going on with you?"
"I really don't want to get into it Sydney." He said stronger.
"You know what? I just don't care. We have always been able to talk to each other about anything. ANYTHING, Michael." She glared at him. "So stay with that and tell me what the hell is going on with you."
"You wanna know what the hell is going on with me!?" Vaughn stood as his voice rose to reach hers. "Fine! I find it overly amazing that your mother wants us to go and spend the day with her on Sunday."
"That's what this is about?! You don't want to go to my parents' on Sunday?" She asked in disbelief.
"No, this is not just about going to visit your parents. It's about the audacity that, that woman has to think that I would allow my children to visit with her on Sunday of all days!"
"Excuse me!?" Sydney hollered. "Excuse me?! Your children? Your children?! Since when are they your children?!"
"Yes, my children! My children who will not be forced to spend 'quality time' with that…woman."
"That woman is my mother!" Sydney couldn't believe her ears.
"You're damn right she is! Your mother who ruined my life at the age of 8. Who took away my father and left my mother a widow. Your mother who forced my children to never know what a wonderful person my father was, all because of her."
Sydney stood in front of him, listening as he let it all out, but by the end she had become just as emotional and angry as he was. "We talked about this and we both agreed she would never receive nor deserve forgiveness for that. But we also promised never, never¸ to deny our children the right to see their grandparents. Or to fight about this. That it was something that neither of us could fix. We promised that to ourselves, to each other, and to our children." Her voice had calmed as she finished but Vaughn was too upset and heated to realize it.
"That's right we did. Unfortunately because of one grandparent they can never meet another! I don't think you see that. God! I've been so blind!" Vaughn cried in exasperation as he ran a hand through his hair. "That's it, isn't it? You got your mother back and you stopped caring about what happened in the first place. You stopped caring about what she did to me!"
"How could you ever think that?" Sydney's voice had dropped to a whisper but she spoke with true vehemence. Tears swelled in her eyes as she locked them on Vaughn's. "You know that you and our children are the most important things to me."
"Yeah, well, I just don't see it. I sometimes think everyone would have been better off if we never had gotten together. Life would have been a lot simpler had I just married someone else." Vaughn finished.
Tears spilled over onto Sydney's cheeks as she heard him and she wanted to be sick. She briskly walked over to the hallway and threw on a jacket. She grabbed her keys and purse and looked over at him. "Fine. You know what, maybe it would have been. But no one is keeping you here Michael. No one forced you to marry me. So just do whatever the hell you want." She cried as she walked to the door and left the house, slamming the door behind her.
Vaughn glanced at the spot where she had been standing only a moment before and couldn't believe that the words he had spoken had actually come out of his mouth. The fact that they had, made him sick. As he heard her peel out of the driveway, he made to chase after her but as he passed the table that she had picked her keys up from, something caught his eyes. There lying on the table were Sydney's wedding rings.
Vaughn stared at them for only a moment before he collapsed to the floor, tears streaking down his face as the storm raging its way outside drowned out his cries.
He paced around the room, the phone in his hand. No one had heard from her in the 3 hours that she had been gone and as the clock made its way towards 8 o'clock, Vaughn began to panic. It was getting dark and the roads were wet and dangerous and she was emotional. He was about to call Weiss and Francie again when there was a knock on the door. He rushed to open it, only to find an officer standing on the other side.
"Can I help you, officer?" Vaughn asked, fear surging through his body.
"Mr. Vaughn?" Vaughn nodded as the officer removed his hat. "My name is Officer Kane. I'm sorry to be the one to inform you that your wife has been involved in an accident."
Vaughn's heart stopped for a moment as the words of the officer sunk in. "Is she…is she ok?"
"She was taken to St. Joseph's hospital." The officer informed a shell shocked Vaughn.
Vaughn nodded and reached behind him to grab his coat, keys and cell phone. "Mr. Vaughn, am I to be correct in stating that you are an intelligence officer for the CIA?" Vaughn nodded absentmindedly as he made his way outside. "If you'd like, I can lead the way, getting you there faster." Vaughn simply nodded as he followed the officer into his car and followed the cruiser out of the driveway.
As Vaughn followed the officer down the street, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed Weiss's number. His voice was shaking as he spoke, tears pouring down his face. "Eric? It's Mike…Yeah, um well she got into an accident. I'm on my way to the hospital now…no I have no idea how she is…I need you to go to my house and be there when Danny and Bella get dropped off and um call Will and let him know and have him meet us at the hospital with Evelyn. And I need you to call Jack and my mother too and then if you could, bring the kids to St. Joseph's that would…thank you Eric. Thank you…Yeah I'll let you know…Ok…I'll see you in a bit. Thanks." Vaughn hung up as he pulled in behind the officer at the hospital.
He clicked the car into park and turned it off, making a mad dash for the entrance, Officer Kane following behind. He reached the receptionist and after a few rushed words, ran down the corridor to find his wife.
Outside her door he was met with a tall white coated man holding a clip board. "Mr. Vaughn, I'm Dr. Bloomer."
"How is she?" Vaughn pressed, wanting to know how his wife was, not the doctor's life story.
"Your wife was admitted after another car and her's collided on the highway. The roads were wet and the rain was making it difficult to see. She came in and we took her straight to the ER where we tended to a broken left wrist and 5 stitches on the left side of her head. There is no internal bleeding and no other broken bones." Vaughn heaved a sigh of relief. "However, the severe trauma and shock as forced your wife's body to go into shut down and she has slipped into a coma."
Vaughn's heart stopped for the second time that night as he followed the doctor into Sydney's room. New tears welled in his eyes as he saw his wife lying on the hospital bed, her left wrist in a cast and numerous wires protruding from her body. "Will she…will she wake up?" Vaughn spoke so softly it was barely a whisper.
"We've done a few CAT scans and MRI's and concluded that she hasn't suffered any brain damage as far as we can tell. In all likely hood she will wake up. It's just a question of when. The next 72 hours will really be crucial. They'll let us know whether she will be able to wake up. I have every hope that she will." He paused and looked over at Vaughn, who stood staring at his wife. "All we can do now is wait."
"Thank you." Vaughn whispered as Dr. Bloomer nodded and quietly left Vaughn alone with his wife.
Vaughn took the last remaining steps to reach her bedside and looked down at Sydney. She looked so peaceful. He could feel the tears falling down his face but made no move to stop them. "Oh, baby." Vaughn whispered as he dropped to his knees and clutched her hand in both of his own.
"Baby. You have to come back to me. God. Sweetie, I am so sorry. You know I…I…" He couldn't get the words out as a sob wracked his body. "You can't leave me." He whispered as he brought his forehead down to their joined hands. "Please, Sydney, come back to me."
A/N: So? Was it ok? I've never done angst but I seem to be in an angst mood and BOOM! Out comes this chapter. I have this really cool idea for the next like at least 10 chapters. I'm talking long fic. This one is going to be a long work in progress. But I have vacation next week so expect at least one new chapter if not more. Don't expect big happiness in this one for a while. I have entered in angst-ville and I plan on settling down for a while.
I hope I got the doctor and the officer parts ok. No one in my family is a doctor and the only car accident I've had experience with, my brother was in and he wasn't hurt so I don't know much. I'm only 17!!
I hope you enjoyed it and are looking forward to more. I was so excited to get this chapter out because now I get to start on the chapters I really want to write. Oo I am so excited!!!
And the Ducks won again last night!! YAY! Which means the Red Wings are out and the Ducks are moving on!! GO DUCKS!! Jean-Sebastian Giguere Rocks my world (167 saves out of 171 shots on goal in the 4 playoff games!!) And so doesn't Jason Krog (two playoff goals so far!!)
And thanks Nana for cheering on my Ducks with me!!
GO ANEHEIM!!
Thanks for reading and please review and let me know what you are thinking. I'd really like a response for this given that it is my first time in angst-ville.
Merci,
-SAG