A/N: So, 10 days isn't too, too long right? Hope not. Sorry about the teeny delay. Having some issues (but aren't I always?) And well, Nickell has been like stalking me to get this out, so blah. Here we go. I have no clue how this one is going to turn out, since I have absolutely no ideas for the time being. We are looking at around another 3 chapters or so after this. So basically we're winding down.

            Enjoy and please, as always read and review. As of right now this and From Two to Three are tied with the most reviews I've ever gotten here at ff.net and I would probably die of happiness if I could get this baby to 200 by the end of it. (Hell if I get to 150 I'll be ecstatic). Love you all!

Ch. 9  The Pleas of the Innocent

            He watched as his father exited his mother's room and wondered what had happened in there to make him so upset. He seemed worse than he was before and it dawned on Danny that the possibility of extremely bad news coming his way was very, very real. Vaughn walked back over to his son and slumped down in the two person couch, leaning back as he forced himself not to cry.

            "Dad? Is everything ok?" Danny asked quietly as he shut his book.

            "What champ? Yeah, everything is fine." Vaughn tried to force a smile for his son and brushed his hand through Danny's hair.

            "There isn't much time left is there Dad? Those 72 hours? They're almost gone aren't they?" Danny asked softly, tears swelling in his eyes as Vaughn's head shot up in surprise.

            "What? Who told you about that?"

            "I heard you and Uncle Eric talking. And, well, it's been almost 60 hours hasn't it? I mean, if she doesn't wake up sometime tomorrow, she's not going to is she?" Danny's voice broke as a few tears began to slide down his cheeks.           

            "Hey, Danny." Vaughn soothed as he moved his son closer to him, encircling him in his arms. "You know just as well as I do that Mom, Mom never gives up. I mean, how many times have you ever seen her give up? Do you remember when she was going to have Evelyn and she wouldn't let me help her paint the crib? Do you remember how long it took her? And she still never gave up. Your mom, she's a fighter." Vaughn whispered as he rushed to brush a few tears out of his own eyes, not wanting his son to see him cry.

            "What's going to happen if she doesn't wake up?" Danny asked as he sniffled.

            "Nothing. We're not going to think about that, ok kiddo? We're going to keep thinking about what we are going to do when Mommy does wake up." Vaughn stated strongly, trying to convince himself as much as his son that his wife was coming back.

            "Ok." Danny whispered. "I'm thirsty Dad."

            Vaughn smiled and moved to stand up. "Ok, what would you like? There's a soda machine down the hall."

            "Can I get a hot chocolate? Mom always lets me have some when I'm worried and can't sleep."

            "Sure." Vaughn smiled softly and bent to kiss the crown of Danny's head softly. "I'll run down to the cafeteria and get you some. Is there anything else you'd like?"

           Danny softly shook his head no, and Vaughn smiled before turning around and making his way to the cafeteria.

            Danny glanced around slowly as his father left and noticed that everyone else who was left seemed to have fallen asleep. Quietly, he placed his book on the couch and stood, making as little noise as possible as he made his way towards his mother's room.

            Slipping inside, he was immediately bombarded with the echo of beep, beep as her heart monitor kept a steady rhythm and the gentle clomp, clomp of her respirator. He walked slowly towards her and looked down at the form of his mother, silent tears running down his face.

            "Hi Mom." He kept his voice low, praying that she could hear him. "I miss you. A lot. Dad, Dad's getting really worried. He wont…he won't admit it to me but I can tell. You know, you know how you told me about those wrinkles in his forehead and how they all come out when he's really worried about something or really scared? Well… they're out. All of them." Danny smiled ruefully.

            "You know how you said you can tell just how worried he is by counting them? I did. There are a lot of them. I think he may have created a new one." He laughed slightly through his tears as he toyed with the end of her blanket.

            "I… I didn't tell him where I was. He went to go get me some cocoa. You know, 'cause I like to drink some when I'm worried or scared and can't sleep. I dunno if it'll help. 'Cause it won't bring you back.

            "I still remember what you told me about how to deal with Dad. I still remember and I'm trying Mom. I'm trying to do what you told me."

            He sat on his bed, the hockey sheets rumbled underneath as he sniffled and tried to control his tears. He had gotten into an argument with his father over sports again and this time he had taken it too far. He couldn't remember his father ever being so angry with him.

            His door creaked open and for a moment he was frightened that it was his dad, but he instantly relaxed when he saw his mother.

            "Hi." He whispered softly, his eyes trained on the floor.

            "Hey." She replied as she moved into the room, shutting the door behind him. She was 6 months pregnant and when she sat down next to him, the bed moved slightly, forcing him to bounce up. "So, you had a pretty big fight with Dad, huh?"

            "Yeah."

            "You hurt him pretty badly, you know Danny. He's really very upset right now. He's worried about you."

            "What do you mean?" Danny asked, alarmed to hear that his father was worried.

            "Well, he's scared that you hate him now."

            "Why?" Danny asked innocently. At only 7 he was rarely upset with his parents, especially with his father. He was his best friend.

            "Because of the way you spoke to him. It didn't just hurt him, it scared him."

            "How can you tell?"

            "Well, if you look at Daddy when he's scared, he gets these wrinkles in his forehead. The more scared he is the more wrinkles he has."

            Danny laughed slightly remembering the funny lines he had seen in his father's forehead. "I didn't mean to make him worry." He sobered quickly.

            "I know that." Sydney cooed softly as she pulled Danny against her, rubbing his arm soflty. "But, you shouldn't have said those things Danny. Daddy's doing his best with you. He was only a little bit older than you when Grandpa died and he really doesn't know how to handle certain things."

            Danny nodded his head softly. "I know. But I want to play and he won't let me."

            "It's not that he won't let you, its that he's worried that maybe you're still too young to have so many things going at once. That and he's worried that you'll get hurt."

            "But I play hockey." Danny argued back.

            "Yes, but so doesn't Daddy. He never played football as a kid and he doesn't know much about the equipment and all of that."

            "But, I wanna play." Danny whined softly.

            Sydney sighed and forced herself to remember that her son was just shy of his 8th birthday and sometimes didn't understand everything that she was trying to convey to him. "I know. And Dad knows that too. You just gotta know how to deal with him when you want something." She smiled as Danny looked up and met her eyes.

            "How do you do that?"

            "Well, you have to know that your Dad only wants what's best for you. He wants you and Bella and the new baby to be safe. He doesn't want to have to worry all the time about whether or not you could get hurt. So when you want something from him, like the permission to play football, you have to know how to talk to him, reason with him.

            "See, when you talk to your dad about this kind of stuff, you have to reason with him. Let him know that you are going to be careful, that you aren't going to fool around when you are on the field. That you'll work hard to do your best, the same way you do hockey. Let him know that this is something that you would really like to do, to share this new experience with him.

            "The one thing you don't want to do is tell him that you don't love him anymore because he said no and that you wish he wasn't your dad." She said pointedly as Danny looked down at the carpet again, tears forming in his eyes.

            "I didn't mean it." He whispered as Sydney pulled him close again.

            "I know that baby. But your Dad, he's still getting the hang of this. He never had the father-son relationship when he was growing up and so this whole thing is new to him. You just have to trust him. Ok?"

            Danny nodded in agreement and pulled his mother into a hug. "Thanks Mom." He whispered as he leaned against her stomach, only to receive a kick to the cheek. He laughed slightly as he felt the movement against his face and sat back up. "The new baby kicked me."

            "They just want to let you know that they are there." She smiled as she ruffled his hair and kissed his forehead. "Now, go talk to your Dad while I go wake up Bella. You need to talk to him and tell him that you are sorry. Let him know how you feel about playing but don't get angry. Remember that this is all new for him too, ok?"

            Danny nodded and stood, giving his mother a quick kiss on the cheek before walking out of his room in search of his father.

            "I talked to Dad about how I was feeling, Mom. Just like you told me to. But, he, I don't think he really understands. I think, I think that he doesn't want to think about you not coming home with us. This time it's you who's scaring him Mom. Not me. And I think you need to come back and talk to him about it and tell him that you are sorry. After all, it's the only way to really deal with Dad, right?" He asked softly as he turned and dragged the chair over so that he was sitting directly next to his mother.

            "If it's ok with you, I think I'm just going to sit here for a while and think." He whispered as he settled into the chair, picking up a magazine from the table by her bedside.

            Vaughn walked back into the waiting room, a cup of hot chocolate in his hand searched around the room for his son. It was closing in on midnight and everyone else in the room had fallen asleep. When he saw Danny's book lying perfectly on the couch, he knew that he had been fooled into giving his son the perfect opportunity to sneak into his mother's room.

            Picking up the book, he turned and walked back to Sydney's room, opening the door slowly, expecting nothing more than to find his son in there.

            When he stepped inside, he smiled as he saw his son sitting in the chair, pulled up as close as possible to his mother's bedside. A magazine lay on the ground next to him, but Danny wasn't sleeping. He was sitting up, leaning in towards his mother talking softly. Vaughn stepped closer and noticed the tears pouring down his son's face and the desperation in his voice.

            "Mom. I don't want you to go. I don't want to grow up with out you. We were supposed to go to the movies next week. And you were going to help me make that gift for Grampa's birthday. And… if you come back, I promise never to leave my hockey stuff in the hallway again. And I'll clean my room. And then I'll keep it clean so that you don't have to ask me again. I promise. I'll be a good kid. Just… wake up." He broke down then, his silent tears becoming large, wracking sobs.

            "Hey… shhh." Vaughn soothed as he placed the book and the cocoa on the nearest table and moved to his son, embracing him tightly.

            "I promise to be a good kid and not to make a mess. And I'll do extra chores and I'll never make her angry and I'll play nicely with Bella and I'll share and…"

            "Shh. Danny. This is not your fault. Nothing that you did made this happen ok? Your mom loves you and you are a good kid. Nothing you did caused this to happen. I promise." Vaughn whispered as tears rolled down his face, his heart breaking.

            "I'm sorry I was such a bad kid… I'm sorry… I'm sorry." His tears became muddled words and all Vaughn could do was hold his son close and rock him as he cried himself to sleep.

            Tears began to pour down her face as she heard Danny crying. The sound of her son's tears, tearing at her heart. She wanted nothing more than to comfort her son, to tell him that it was ok. That everything was going to be ok. But the darkness was getting thicker by the minute and it was becoming hard for her to move, hard to breathe as the voices became louder. She struggled through it, tears continuing to fall as she heard the anguished cries of her 9 year old.

            A/N: Hmm. So that's where I went with it. Interesting. Hopefully I will get the next one out by the end of this week. I have several going now and this one, I fear, is coming to an end.

            Please review and let me know what you think.

            Merci,

            -SAG